Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

Billy Joel - Say Goodbye To Hollywood

Billy Joel - Say Goodbye To Hollywood Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Turnstiles
Released: 1976

Say Goodbye To Hollywood Lyrics

Bobby's driving through the city tonight
Through the lights
In a hot new rent a car
He joins the lover in his heavy machine
It's a scene down on Sunset Boulevard

Say Goodbye To Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby

Johnny's taking care of things for awhile
And his style is so right for troubadours
They got him sitting with his back to the door
Now he won't be my fast gun anymore

Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby

Moving on is a chance that you take every time
You try to stay together
Say a word out of line and you find
That the friends you had are gone
Forever, forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last, some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again

Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby

Moving on is a chance that you take every time
You try to stay together
Say a word out of line and you find
That the friends you had are gone
Forever, forever
So many faces in and out of my life
Some will last, some will just be now and then
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again

Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Say goodbye my baby

Writer/s: JOEL, BILLY
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Say Goodbye To Hollywood Song Chart

Joel wrote this with Ronnie Spector in mind, which he talked about on The Howard Stern Show, where he also explained that it's written in a high key and challenging to sing - he had an easier time hitting those notes when he wrote the song. As for Spector, he was a big fan of her and loved the girl-group sound she exemplified. He met her a few times over the years, but only after he wrote the song.

Joel had recently moved from Los Angeles to New York, which helped inspire this song. He is from Long Island, and did not like life on the West Coast.

This was released in the US as the B-side to "I've Loved These Days" a month before it was put out as an A-side. Neither song charted, but in 1981, a live version recorded at the Milwaukee Arena was released on Joel's Songs In The Attic album and hit #17 in the US. Songs In The Attic was the first digitally-recorded live album.

Ronnie Spector, who was the inspiration for this song and leader of the popular girl-group, The Ronettes, recorded this song in 1977. She said at the time: "In a way it's my life story 'cause I was married in Hollywood, I lived in Hollywood, my life fell apart in Hollywood and now I am saying goodbye to Hollywood."
Spector's version was produced by Little Steven Van Zandt, who she met while singing backup for Bruce Springsteen in 1976. Springsteen's E-Street Band played backup for her.

We Are Toonz - Drop That #NaeNae

We Are Toonz - Drop That #NaeNae Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Single Release Only
Released: 2013

Drop That #NaeNae Lyrics

Crank that nae nae, drop that nae nae
Work that nae nae, that's a nae nae
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae,
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae

Crank that nae nae, drop that nae nae
Work that nae nae, that's a nae nae
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae,
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae

Huah! Hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna
Huah! Hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna
Huah! Hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna
Huah! Hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna

Nae nae that's the new thing poppin'
Got your girl over here in the corner and she jockin'
All you gotta do is put your hands up and walk it
Don't be scared lil' momma Toonz got you

Now this here funky,
Who was the man with the plan my boys up on that
Nae nae what we called it while
Y'all guys out here stallin'
While we ridin' by, claims she really be diggin' me
Lovin my style she feelin' me
She like the way I jig on a beat
Jig on a beat

Huah! Hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna
Huah!
Huah!
Huah!

Crank that nae nae, drop that nae nae
Work that nae nae, that's a nae nae
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae,
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae

Crank that nae nae, drop that nae nae
Work that nae nae, that's a nae nae
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae,
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae

As I smooth through the crowd, got my hand up in the air
And I rock it side to side, man our dance is everywhere
Radio station showin' love got our name all on the air
Yeah this nae nae takin' over so y'all better be prepared

Ladies jig wit' me (nae nae) turned up on the beat (Yo)
You ain't gotta dance we call it jiggin' on the beat (Hold up hold up)
T-double-O-N-Z, nae'n nae'n in the streets
Hands up! And a touch up in they face 'cause you don't care now one time

Huah! Hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna, hunna
Huah!
Huah!
Huah!

Crank that nae nae, drop that nae nae
Work that nae nae, that's a nae nae ay
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae,
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae

Crank that nae nae, drop that nae nae
Work that nae nae, that's a nae nae ay
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae,
Nae nae, nae nae, nae nae, nae nae

Writer/s: BING-GARDNER, KAVIN TITUS / BING-GARDNER, TAVIN ISAIAH / SOLOMON, GREGORY B / GLASS, CALVIN / JOHNSON, DEANDRE / PHILLIPS, VINCENT
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Drop That #NaeNae Song Chart

We Are Toonz is an Atlanta hip-hop quartet and dance crew who formed in 2013. The group comprises Tavin "Levi" Bing-Gardner, Christopher "Crash Bandit" Major, Kavin "K.B." Bing-Gardner and Calvin Larmar "Callamar" Glass. Levi and K.B. are brothers and Crash Bandit is their cousin.

This is We are Toonz's debut single, which was released without fanfare in 2013. The song went viral thanks to its accompanying dance, the Nae Nae, which is based on Martin Lawrence's Sheneneh Jenkins character from his 1990s sitcom Martin.

As the song gained momentum various college football teams posted videos of them dropping the #NaeNae on YouTube. However, We Are Toonz was unimpressed when Miley Cyrus did an interpretation of the dance while promoting her Bangerz tour. In a video made by the collective they wagged their fingers at Cyrus, calling out her version of their dance, and showing the singer how to do it the right way.

Limp Bizkit - Counterfeit

Limp Bizkit - Counterfeit Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Three Dollar Bill Y'all
Released: 1997

Counterfeit Lyrics

Freakin' me out you wear a mask called Counterfeit,

You're freakin' me out you wear a mask [Repeat: x5]

Freakin' me out you wear a mask called counterfeit,
You're freakin' me out you wear a... fake
Hey man wake up and smell the concrete
Strange to see you've changed like the LB

Could be identity crisis but I can't buy this
Reality bites but that's what life is
Pitiful you, your hideous behavior
Hate what God gave ya, fakin all the flava

Artificial minds seekin out the new trends
Get in where you fit in
Quit thinkin like a has-been diggin in my culture

Let me let your punks know I'm an old school soldier
With the funk flow
A damn shame you want to change yourself

[Chorus]
Because you're sick of yourself
Well I'm sick of you too, fake
You're a, a counterfeit, fake
You know we figured you out
Well I'm sick of you too, fake
You're a, a counterfeit, fake

I wonder, I wonder
I wonder what it's like to be a clone
Doin' nothin, nothin' on my own
Alone in your misery, you're bitin on my new style

Filed as a counterfeit, going down in history as nothin but a copy cat (copy cat)
So if your fakin that you're phat you need a ballbat
Right where your head is at
All your desperation causes separation

Now I grab the mic to intimidate
Your weakness screams from the limb on your siren
Phonies get the hint quick smacked with funk flick
Pain for the fakers fame can't maintain

[Chorus]

All these phonies
You disregarded your life (disregaurded your life)
You disrespected your friends (you disrespected your friends)
You've even stolen your appearance (stolen) from hangin out with my family

But I should have never dropped my guard (shoulda never dropped my gaurd)
So you could stab me in the back (stab me in the back)
But you were faking me out (you were faking me out)
Just faking me out you wear a mask (you wear a mask)

Freaking me out you wear a mask called counterfeit, you're freaking me out you

Wear a mask called counterfeit [Repeat: x2]

Freaking me out you wear a mask called counterfeit [Repeat: x4]

Now you're steadily startin to change
You want to rearrange your lifestyle with live like the wild child
With the vibe alive you could lie to try and be so fly
A lie but you deny you're a fake

You know we figured you're a phony (fake)
You know we figured you out (fake)
You know we figured you out, figured you out, figured you out
Fake (a bunch of times)

You're probably freaking me out (a bunch of times)
Back to the top

Writer/s: DURST, WILLIAM FREDERICK / OTTO, JOHN EVERETT / RIVERS, SAMUEL ROBERT / BORLAND, WESLEY LOUDEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Counterfeit Song Chart

This song is historically significant for two reasons:
1) It was Limp Bizkit's first single.
2) They paid to get it on the air.

Primed by Korn, the band came on the scene when the fusion of rap and hip-hop was building momentum. "Counterfeit" didn't have any chart impact, but the Three Dollar Bill Y'all album would go on to sell over 2 million copies, with the band's cover of George Michael's "Faith" being their breakthrough single.

Since the band was unknown, radio stations had no interest in playing "Counterfeit." To get it heard, their record company paid KUFO, a radio station in Portland, Oregon, $5000 to play it 50 times. The deal was legal because the station ran a disclaimer before the song saying that it was paid for by Flip/Interscope Records. The airplay on KUFO helped launch the career of Limp Bizkit, whose second album, Significant Other, sold over 7 million copies.

The song is about how people try to be "cool" and be something they are not. When Limp Bizkit started out, rock bands that wore tight clothes and had long hair gave LB a hard time because they were trying to be "black" and were not like the rest of rock music world. When Limp Bizkit became more well known, other rock bands began to copy their style - wearing baggy pants, acting ghetto and rapping in their songs. Fred Durst thought, "Okay, when we were nothing you hated us, and now that we're popular you just have to start acting like us even though you use to hate us. That's not right." (thanks, Nick - Paramus, NJ)

The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like

The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?
Released: 1980

I Know What Boys Like Lyrics

I Know What Boys Like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like
I've got what boys like
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I see them looking
I make them want me
I like to tease them
They want to touch me
I never let them
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like, boys
like, boys like me
But you, you're special
I might let you
You're so much different
I might let you
Mmmmm would you like that
I might let you
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I liow what boys like
I know what's on their minds
I what what boya like
I know what guys want
They talk about me
I got my cat moves
That so upset them
Zippers and buttons
Fun to frustrate them
They get so angry
Like pouty children
Denied their candy
I laugh right at them
I know what buys like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like,
boys like, boys like me
Na, na, nya, nya, nya, nya..............
I feel sad now
I will let you
Sorry I teased you
I will let you
This time I mean it
I wil1 let you
Anything you want
You can trust me
I really want to
You can trust me
How would you like it
You can trust me
Sucker. Hmmmmm....
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like, boys
like, boys like me
Gny, nya, gna nyah nya..............

Writer/s: CHRIS BUTLER
Publisher: SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Know What Boys Like Song Chart

This song was written by Chris Butler , who at the time was a member of a popular Akron, Ohio band called Tin Huey. He got the idea for the song when he and the band's drummer Stuart Austin were at a local bar called The Bucket Shop. Chris noticed that the ladies at the bar were giving their attention to the lawyers and other white-collar types while ignoring the lowly musicians.

"I got into this mindset, and it wasn't a pretty one," Chris said in our interview. "It was about women in a bar situation wheeling and dealing their wares, so to speak, for the highest bidder. And I was definitely the lowest bidder."

Chris Butler recorded a demo of this song (with him singing) hoping his band Tin Huey would record it. When he played it for his bandmates, however, they were incredulous, believing the song was nowhere near their standards. He put the song away, but revived it when he reconnected with Patty Donahue, who he know when they were students at Kent State University. He convinced Patty to sing on a new demo of the song, which he put together at the home studios of two local engineers, Mark Price and Rick Dailey.

Again, he presented it to Tin Huey, but with a twist: Chris proposed that at the end of their sets, they bring Patty up on stage to sing it, with the band transforming into a different act called "The Waitresses." The band went for it, and the bit became a staple of their shows. At the end of their sets, the band would put on T-shirts that said "Waitresses Unite" (Chris got them at a Kent eatery called Jerry's Diner) and Patty would join them for a few songs, including "I Know What Boys Like."

It was all a joke, but it went over very well, so Chris decided to turn The Waitresses into a real group. He and Patty moved to New York City and assembled a band that included drummer Billy Ficca and bass player David Hofstra. They released "I Know What Boys Like" as a single in 1980, but it went nowhere. The group got a deal with Polydor, however, and included the song on their 1982 debut album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?, re-releasing it as a single that same year - this time it charted at #62 in the US. The Waitresses lasted just a few more years and never had another chart hit in the US, although their 1981 song "Christmas Wrapping" became a holiday mainstay.

Ralph Carney, who was also a member of Tin Huey, played saxophone on this track. His nephew, Patrick Carney, is one half of The Black Keys, another Akron band.

The song was conceived with a more straightforward vocal sound, but lead singer Patty Donahue didn't have a strong singing voice, so Chris Butler had her do it in more of a spoken word style, which became the group's signature sound.

This singing style also accommodated Butler's songwriting technique of cramming lots of words in his compositions. "I think it was kind of endearing, it was very one-on-one," he told us. "It gave me the opportunity to come up with a writing style where it's a one-sided conversation where you assume that the other person is listening and contributing. I didn't know it at the time, but we definitely came into an interesting technique that I think other singers have used."

Lead singer Patty Donahue was essentially acting when she performed for The Waitresses, and Chris Butler's lyrics were her scripts. They considered her a character: a tough, working-class girl with big dreams.

Between this song's first release in 1980 and it's second in 1982, MTV went on the air. The network had very few videos, and while the "I Know What Boys Like" clip didn't have tremendous production value, it had the captivating Patty Donahue and a band with the modern, new wave look. "The mainstream of American pop music was flannel shirts and long hair," Chris Butler told us. "This whole new wave thing was all nice and crisp and neatly dressed, and all of that was novel and new. And thankfully, it did look good on camera."

A new version of this song was used at the end of the 2008 movie The House Bunny, in a scene where the sorority sisters make a video to the song. It was sung by the stars of the film: Katharine McPhee, Emma Stone, Rumor Willis, Kat Dennings and Kiely Williams.

This song got a lot of attention when it was used in the 1982 film The Last American Virgin. It has also appeared in the movies I Was a Teenage Zombie (1987), Shoot or Be Shot (2002) and Another Gay Movie (2006). TV shows to use the song include The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Nip/Tuck, Ugly Betty, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Californication.

Puff Daddy - I'll Be Missing You

Puff Daddy - I'll Be Missing You Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Way Out
Released: 1997

I'll Be Missing You Lyrics

featuring 112, Faith Evans
Intro: Puff Daddy
Yeah... this right here (tell me why)
Goes out, to everyone, that has lost someone
That they truly loved (come on, check it out)

Verse One: Puff Daddy
Seems like yesterday we used to rock the show
I laced the track, you locked the flow
So far from hangin' on the block for dough
Notorious, they got to know that
Life ain't always what it seem to be (uh-uh)
Words can't express what you mean to me
Even though you're gone, we still a team
Through your family, I'll fulfill your dream (that's right)
In the future, can't wait to see
If you'll open up the gates for me
Reminisce some time, the night they took my friend (uh-huh)
Try to black it out, but it plays again
When it's real, feelings hard to conceal
Can't imagine all the pain I feel
Give anything to hear half your breath (half your breath)
I know you still living your life, after death

Chorus: Faith Evans
Every step I take, every move I make
Every single day, every time I pray
I'll Be Missing You
Thinkin' of the day, when you went away
What a life to take, what a bond to break
I'll be missing you

[Puff] I miss you Big
Verse Two: Puff Daddy
It's kinda hard with you not around (yeah)
Know you in heaven smilin' down
Watchin' us while we pray for you
Every day we pray for you
Til the day we meet again
In my heart is where I'll keep you friend
Memories give me the strength I need (uh-huh) to proceed
Strength I need to believe
My thoughts Big I just can't define (can't define)
Wish I could turn back the hands of time
Us in the six, shop for new clothes and kicks
You and me taking flicks
Makin' hits, stages they receive you on
Still can't believe you're gone (can't believe you're gone)
Give anything to hear half your breath (half your breath)
I know you still living you're life, after death

Chorus
[Faith Evans] Somebody tell me why
Interlude: Faith Evans
One black morning
When this life is over
I know
I'll see your face

Outro: 112
Every night I pray, every step I take
Every move I make, every single day
Every night I pray, every step I take
[Puff] Every day that passes
Every move I make, every single day
[Puff] Is a day that I get closer
[Puff] To seeing you again
Every night I pray, every step I take
[Puff] We miss you Big... and we won't stop
Every move I make, every single day
[Puff] Cause we can't stop... that's right
Every night I pray, every step I take
Every move I make, every single day
[Puff] We miss you Big

Chorus 2X with variations
Chorus 1X with interlude 2X over the top to fade

Writer/s: Sumner, Gordon Matthew
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I'll Be Missing You Song Chart

This song is a tribute to Notorious B.I.G., a rapper and good friend of P. Diddy (known as Puff Daddy at the time) who was shot to death on March 9, 1997 at age 24. The incident happened in the early morning after an industry party in Los Angeles when B.I.G. was riding in the passenger seat of an SUV. A gunman opened fire from a vehicle that pulled alongside, firing four shots that hit the rapper. No arrest was made in the case.

Notorious B.I.G. was signed to Diddy's Bad Boy label, and after the shooting, another Bad Boy artist, the Lox, recorded a tribute song called "We'll Always Love Big Poppa." This prompted Diddy to record his own song for his fallen friend as a way of getting closure. "When I made the record, I was finally able to talk to him," Diddy said. "That's all it was, a conversation."

This samples "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, which was one of Diddy's favorite songs. He didn't sort out the legal issues until after the song was released. Sting, who wrote the Police song, was granted a writers credit, resulting in substantial royalties. Sting appreciated the sentiment in Diddy using "Every Breath You Take" to honor his fallen friend. The Police frontman even performed the song with Diddy and his crew at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he sang the chorus.

Faith Evans, wife of Notorious B.I.G., sings on this along with the R&B group 112. They all recorded for P. Diddy's Bad Boy record label.

This won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. No Way Out also won the Grammy for Best Rap Album. This didn't go over well with Wu-Tang Clan's Ol' Dirty Bastard, who came on stage during the ceremony while Shawn Colvin was accepting an award to complain. Said Bastard: "Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is for the children."

Combs was sued and settled with Albert Brumley and Sons, a Gospel and Country music publishing company that owned the rights to a 1929 song called "I'll Fly Away," which contained the line "Some glad morning when this life is over," which Evans sings in the chorus.

It was later revealed that P. Diddy's lyrics were written by the rapper Sauce Money (Todd Gaither). Sauce had previously worked with Jay-Z on the song "Show and Prove."

This song sold over 3 million copies in America, the second-biggest seller of 1997 in that country. It was a distant second to another tribute song: Elton John's "Candle In The Wind '97," which was re-written in honor of Princess Diana and went on to sell over 11 million copies in America.

On July 1, 2007, Diddy performed "I'll Be Missing You" at the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium in London. This performance was downloaded so many times that it returned the song to the UK chart, this time making #32.

The song topped the charts in numerous countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand UK and the US. It is the biggest selling rap single to date in the UK with over 1.4 million copies sold.

Frank Sinatra - Cycles

Frank Sinatra - Cycles Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Cycles
Released: 1968

Cycles Lyrics

So I'm down and so I'm out
But so are many others
So I feel like tryin' to hide
My head 'neath these covers

Life is like the seasons
After winter comes the spring
So I'll keep this smile awhile
And see what tomorrow brings

I've been told and I believe
That life is meant for livin'
And even when my chips are low
There's still some left for givin'

I've been many places
Maybe not as far as you
So I think I'll stay awhile
And see if some dreams come true

There isn't much that I have learned
Through all my foolish years
Except that life keeps runnin' in Cycles
First there's laughter, then those tears

But I'll keep my head up high
Although I'm kinda tired
My gal just up and left last week
Friday I got fired

You know it's almost funny
But things can't get worse than now
So I'll keep on tryin' to sing
But please, just don't ask me how

Writer/s: CALDWELL, GAYLE
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Cycles Song Chart

Written by Gayle Caldwell, this is the title track for Sinatra's 1968 album of folk-rock songs. The album was released through his own label, Reprise Records, with arranger and composer Don Costa at the helm as producer and Sinatra's longtime pianist Bill Miller as conductor.

Guitarist Ralph Casale, a top New York session musician for an array of artists throughout the '60s (including Simon & Garfunkel and The Four Seasons), worked with Sinatra on the Cycles album, but he was careful not to look into those ol' blue eyes. He remembered in a Songfacts interview : "Sinatra used the best people and allowed them to do what they do best. His humility impressed me. The songs on this date were 'Cycles' and 'My Way Of Life,' arranged by Don Costa. I remember being careful not to stare at Sinatra since I was directly in front of him. I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable and affect the date in a negative way. I'm glad I had that insight because a few years later Glen Campbell did an interview on television and talked about playing guitar on a Sinatra date. Before Glen got hit recordings as a singer he played guitar on sessions. He said that he was in awe and kept staring at Sinatra while they were doing the recording. Glen said that Sinatra approached him and asked him to stop staring."

Sinatra performed this on his 1968 TV special Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing. The show included musical guests Diahann Carroll and The 5th Dimension.

Me'Shell Ndegéocello - If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)

Me'Shell Ndegéocello - If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Plantation Lullabies
Released: 1993

If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) Lyrics

You say that's your boyfriend
You say I'm out of line
Funny he said I could call him up anytime
You can say I'm wrong say I ain't right
But if that's you boyfriend he wasn't last night

Now I'm the kind of woman
I'll do almost anything to get what I want
I might play any little game
Call me what you like but you know it's true
You're just jealous â??cause he wasn't with you
Don't mean no harm I just like what I see
And it ain't my fault if he wants me
Got what I wanted and the feeling was right
So if that's your boyfriend he wasn't last night!!!

Boyfriend boyfriend yes I had your boyfriend
Now late at night he calls me on the telephone
That's why when you call
All you get is the busy busy tone
You're upset â??cause you're one stuck-up bitch
Maybe he needed a change a switch
And who am I not to oblige
Especially if the man is fly
So call me what you like
Call me what you like
While I boot slam your boyfriend tonight

Writer/s: NDEGEOCELLO, MESHELL
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night) Song Chart

In our Meshell Ndegeocello interview , she called this "The most misunderstood song there is." She explained: "It has such bravado, but it's more about how at that time I was seeing somebody and I didn't know they had been seeing someone else. That person confronted me in public. I wasn't as pretty as they were, and they just really gave a scathing attack on my person. So that's what came to mind: 'Well, if that's your boyfriend, he wasn't last night.' That's what that song is about."

The video for this song was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who made strikingly artistic videos with a cinematic quality - he previous work included Madonna's "Justify My Love" and Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer."

The video integrates the images and voices of different women who don't appear in the recording. Throughout the clip, they make statements like "I have no one to speak to" and "I'm a very jealous person, I don't like other women." The idea was to deconstruct the ideals of beauty and what they do to women. This is something Ndegeocello struggled with as soon as she gained a modicum of fame. She found that she was suddenly being judged based on her looks, with industry types trying to calibrate her weight and forge her image.

The video did well on MTV, earning MTV Video Music Awards nominations for Best New Artist in a Video and Best Female Video.

This was the most popular song on Ndegeocello's first album. It was her only Hot 100 hit as a solo artist, although in 1994 her duet with John Mellencamp on "Wild Night" went to #3.

Ndegeocello showed a lot of swagger in this song, which belied her true personality. She is actually very soft-spoken and introspective, which posed a problem when she was expected to aggressively promote her work. After a period of frustration, she retreated from the spotlight, choosing instead to focus on intimate shows. She continued to make albums that earned high acclaim - Peace Beyond Passion (1996), Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape (2002), and The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel (2005) were each nominated for Grammy awards - but were consumed by a smaller audience.

"I like my personal space," she told us. "I wanted to figure out how I could make music, yet not be so much into promoting myself or trying to create some sort of image."

The break in this song where Ndegeocello chants, "yes, I've got your boyfriend" was done in the style of a nursery rhyme as if she was taunting her rival. "That tone and that sort of melody is for taunting, and that's how it came to mind," she told us. "I'm going to taunt you with this, no matter what bad things you say about me. Why aren't you berating him?"

R.E.M. - Finest Worksong

R.E.M. - Finest Worksong Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Document
Released: 1988

Finest Worksong Lyrics

Finest Worksong Song Chart

This was the third single from R.E.M.'s fifth album. Though it wasn't a hit on the US Pop charts, it did peak at #28 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

Peter Buck wrote in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: "It's a great intro although it's just me hitting a b-string, and Mike has that great bass line. When I brought it in, I felt like I knew what I wanted to and kind of vaguely knew what the guys should do, but we played it once and it just kind of came out of nowhere. Mike and Bill have always been particularly good at coming up with stuff off the tops of their heads that's kind of amazing. It sounded great, but I was afraid that Michael might have trouble writing to it just because it's a B note. That whole song is in B except for the chorus. It reminded me of touring with the Gang of Four. It kind of had that vibe to it."

Frontman Michael Stipe references nineteenth-century poet Henry David Thoreau in the lyrics ("To throw Thoreau and rearrange"), completely by accident. He wrote: "My friend Chris told me that I was our generation's Whitman, I think because I was an ecstatic, and I liked men and women, and I was a poet in his eyes, even though I hated the word poet. Anyway I meant to write Whitman into the song, but I got mixed up and wrote Thoreau in instead."

The music video, directed by Stipe, shows workers throwing, smashing and burning a globe, among other things.

Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down

Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Full Moon Fever
Released: 1989

I Won't Back Down Lyrics

Well, I Won't Back Down
No I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

No I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground

And I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
Well I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground
And I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
(I won't back down)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey I won't back down
(I won't back down)
Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
No I won't back down

Writer/s: LYNNE, JEFF / PETTY, TOM
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Won't Back Down Song Chart

This was Petty's first single without the Heartbreakers credited as his backing band. Members of the band did play on the album.

This was the first single from Full Moon Fever, which was produced and co-written by Jeff Lynne. Petty and Lynne worked on the album at Mike Campbell's house. As guitarist for the Heartbreakers, Mike has written and produced many songs with Petty. He told us what happened when they brought the album to MCA Records: "We thought it was really good, we were real excited about it. We played it for the record company and they said, 'Well, we don't hear any hits on here.' We were very despondent about the whole thing and we went back and recorded another track, a Byrds song called 'I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better,' thinking at the time that maybe they'll like this one. In the interim, they changed A&R departments and a whole new group of people were in there. We brought the same record back like six months later and they loved it - they said 'Oh, there's three hits on here.' We were vindicated on that one. It was the same record. We played the same thing for them and they went for it. I guess it's a situation of timing and the right people that wanted to get inspired about it. At the end of the line, if the songs are good and if the public connects with certain songs, that really is the true test, but you've got to get it out there." (Read more in our interview with Mike Campbell.)

Before recording Full Moon Fever, an arsonist burned down Petty's house while he was in it. He escaped and spent much of the next few months driving between hotel rooms and a rented house. It was on these drives that he came up with many of the songs for the album, and the fire was a huge influence. Petty felt grateful to be alive, and the whole incident had a calming effect on him.

The video featured The Beatles' Ringo Starr on drums and George Harrison on guitar. It also featured ELO frontman Jeff Lynne on guitar. (thanks, Melania - Moscow, Russia)

George W. Bush used this in his 2000 Presidential campaign. When Petty found out, he threatened to sue, as he did not support Bush. Bush stopped using the song but won the election anyway. Petty's home state of Florida decided the election when Bush won the state by a very slim margin.

Petty performed this for Al Gore at his house an hour after he conceded the election (the second time) to George W. Bush.

Petty played this on September 21, 2001 as part of a telethon to benefit the victims of the terrorist attacks on America. Celebrities at the event included Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Cruise. Almost 60 million people watched the special in the US.

In response to this being used as a patriotic anthem after September 11th, Petty said: "The song has also been adopted by nice people for good things, too. I just write them, I can't control where it ends up."

This was one of four songs Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played at the halftime show of the Super Bowl in 2008. The others were "American Girl," "Runnin' Down A Dream" and "Free Fallin'."

Petty recalled the recording of this song to Mojo magazine January 2010: "At the session George Harrison sang and played the guitar. I had a terrible cold that day, and George sent to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses, and then I ran in and did the take."

R.E.M. - New Test Leper

R.E.M. - New Test Leper Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Released: 1996

New Test Leper Lyrics

New Test Leper Song Chart

This was recorded at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington, four months after the band completed their Monster world tour. Like many other songs that would become part of the Hi-Fi album, this song debuted during the tour, but none of the guys remembered playing it until frontman Michael Stipe found a cassette of them performing it. "I remember writing it, but I don't remember showing it to anybody," Peter Buck recalled for the compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage.

'"New Test Leper' might be the only song on this entire collection that wasn't actually, to my knowledge, released anywhere as a single," Stipe noted. "It is, however, the song I think of when people who wrote maybe four good songs get big heads [Brit pop anyone?]. I always feel like when they write a 'New Test Leper,' then I will listen to them."

Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al

Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Graceland
Released: 1986

You Can Call Me Al Lyrics

A man walks down the street
He says why am I soft in the middle now
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I need a photo-opportunity
I want a shot at redemption
Don't want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard
Bonedigger Bonedigger
Dogs in the moonlight
Far away my well-lit door
Mr. Beerbelly Beerbelly
Get these mutts away from me
You know I don't find this stuff amusing anymore

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You Can Call Me Al

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al

A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says Amen! and Hallelujah!

If you'll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty when you call me
You can call me Al
Call me Al

Writer/s: SIMON, PAUL
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

You Can Call Me Al Song Chart

Simon started recorded this song in South Africa, where he worked with local musicians and experimented with their sounds. He recorded with many different musicians while he was there, and he loved the work of the guys from a local group called Stimela, whose guitarist Ray Phiri came up with the riff for this song during one of their jam sessions. These recordings were edited together in New York by Simon's producer Roy Halee - a monumental task in the age of analog recording, since in South Africa, they rolled a lot of tape that Halee had to sort out with a series of splices.

The lyrics contain some intricate wordplay that Simon wrote very carefully around the track, and the character in the song symbolic of his South Africa experience. At the time, South Africa was divided by Apartheid, a policy that separated blacks and whites, and a cultural boycott was in place (check out the Songfacts on "Sun City"). Simon defied this boycott and went anyway, taking a lot of heat for his actions - even though his intentions were good, many black leaders in South Africa felt that any violation of the boycott hindered their cause. Because of the boycott, music from the area was secluded, and when Simon released Graceland, he brought the music of the country to the world. In the documentary Under African Skies, Simon explained: "'You Can Call Me Al' is really the story of somebody like me, who goes to Africa with no idea and ends up having an extraordinary spiritual experience."

This song is about a self-obsessed person becoming aware of his surroundings. In a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine, Simon explained: "'You Can Call Me Al' starts off very easily with sort of a joke: 'Why am I soft in the middle when the rest of my life is so hard?' Very easy words. Then it has a chorus that you can't understand. What is he talking about, you can call me Betty, and Betty, you can call me Al? You don't know what I'm talking about. But I don't think it's bothersome. You don't know what I'm talking about but neither do I. At that point.
The second verse is really a recapitulation: A man walks down the street, he says... another thing.
And by the time you get to the third verse, and people have been into the song long enough, now you can start to throw abstract images. Because there's been a structure, and those abstract images, they will come down and fall into one of the slots that the mind has already made up about the structure of the song.
So now you have this guy who's no longer thinking about the mundane thoughts, about whether he's getting too fat, whether he needs a photo opportunity, or whether he's afraid of the dogs in the moonlight and the graveyard."

So where did "Al" and "Betty" in this song come from? That stems from a 1970 party that Simon hosted with his wife, Peggy Harper. Simon's friend, the composer Stanley Silverman, brought along another composer named Pierre Boulez, and when he made his exit, Boulez called Simon "Al" and his wife "Betty." Boulez was French, and he wasn't being rude - it was just his interpretation of what he heard - Paul=Al Peggy=Betty.

Silverman's son is Ben Silverman, a television mogul who was executive producer of the American version of The Office. In 2011, Ben commissioned a work composed by his dad called "Les Folies d'Al," which includes variations of "You Can Call Me Al" and is a send-up of the incident.

This was the first single off Graceland, which won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1988. It was Simon's first hit since 1980, when "Late In The Evening" went to #6 in the US.

The best we can tell, this is by far the biggest hit containing a penny whistle solo. It was played by Jy Morr (Morris) Goldberg, a white South African who was living in New York.

Simon arranged for some of the musicians who played on this song, including guitarist Ray Phiri, bass player Bakithi Kumalo and drummer Isaac Mtshali, to came to America, where they worked on some other tracks for the album and backed Simon when he appeared on Saturday Night Live, where he performed this song on May 10, 1986, a few months before the album was released. These musicians later accompanied Simon on his worldwide tour for Graceland.

The video featured Chevy Chase lip-synching the vocals while Simon pretended to play various instruments. Most videos at the time were "Performance Videos," meaning the bands would pretend to be playing the song. This video did a great job mocking them. The clip was also notable for its simplicity - it was shot in a small, unadorned room using a single camera.

When they recorded the tracks for this song in South Africa, Simon and his producers were sure they had a hit with this song. Even though the Graceland album did very well, this song was a slow starter. The single did well in the UK, where it made #4 in September 1986, but in America, it stalled at #44 in October. After the album and video gained momentum, the song was reissued with more promotion in March 1987, and this time it went to #23 in the US. It was Simon's last Top 40 hit in America.

Al Gore used this while he was running for Vice President in 1992. Simon has played at various Democratic fund raisers.

This echoes a line from the folk song, "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime," about a guy who has fallen on hard times:
Say, don't you remember?
They called me Al
It was Al all the time.

Say, don't you remember?
I'm your pal.
Brother, can you spare a dime? (thanks, Andy - Los Angeles, CA)

The University of Florida band plays the tune to "You Can Call Me Al" at every basketball game and has done so for a number of years. It serves at an unofficial theme for the basketball team. The student section at the O'Connell Center (where the basketball team plays) is called the Rowdy Reptiles and while the song plays students sing along with "Da da da da, da da da da..." waving their hands with the music. (thanks to Gator fan and alumnus Sarah Burchfield)

A Day to Remember - I'm Already Gone

A Day to Remember - I'm Already Gone Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Common Courtesy
Released: 2013

I'm Already Gone Lyrics

I'm Already Gone Song Chart

This acoustic lament was written by vocalist Jeremy McKinnon on the tour bus during the band's 2009 tour with Bring Me the Horizon in the UK. It was demoed acoustically a couple of years later before being included on the Common Courtesy album.

The music video was shot in London. "The song was actually written in the UK, so it just seemed fitting to do a video that was based there for it," vocalist McKinnon told MTV News. "It was just cool to see the city like that. It was different for us, and that's why I liked it. It turned a rainy day into an experience I'll never forget."