23 facts you didn't know about classic songs

[@DavidBennettPiano]

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[@wyattstevens8574]

Was your section about "Smells Like Teen Spirit" there because of 12tone's analysis of that song? He mentions that toward the beginning!

[@MarkLewis...]

I wonder David, how many musicians today look at music from a scientific or even a subliminal point of view, and primarily write their songs in what is believed to be the most appealing chord progression to the human ear? Thanks for teaching me!

[@cypothingy]

Another fun fact about American Pie, while the official lyrics that Don wrote have never been fully released it’s speculated that in the chorus he isn’t saying “And good ol’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye” but instead “…whiskey in Rye…” At the time he was writing the song he lived in the city of New Rochelle in Westchester County, NY, with neighboring town Rye just a few miles away. Tying into that, the “levee” he mentions earlier in the chorus (“Took my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry”) is likely a reference to the Levee Bar in New Rochelle. With that bar closed you would have had to gone over to Rye to get a drink, hence the lyrics of the song.

[@chaz6399]

Damn, this one comment alone made scrolling through the other comments worthwhile. Thank you!

[@AndrewFullerton]

That comes across as a bit overly literal to me. What would that interpretation of the lyrics actually *convey* to make it worth writing into the chorus of a song?

[@acbenepe]

That lyric has been bugging me for nearly half a century. Your theory makes more sense than any i've heard.

[@jacobnacho]

He was also reading Catcher in the Rye when he wrote the song

[@GRAHAMAUS]

It's still a terrible song.

[@toronado455]

"A Demolished" 😂 Sting has a sense of humor.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😂

[@illegal_space_alien]

Sting's always thinking in modes.

[@JonahNelson7]

Brits got that humor gene. Makes me jealous sometimes

[@tiyenin]

Richie Valens went to my alma mater, San Fernando High School

[@mirkovisi6367]

Another fun fact: Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin is the first acapella arranged song to chart in the Billboard 100 ever

[@D_Tuned]

Never say "ever". 🙂 The song "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Boyz II Men went to number 2 on the Billboard 100.

[@RunOfTheHind]

It was a number one jam.

[@jasonremy1627]

"Mercedes Benz" by Janice Joplin charted, didn't it?

[@mirkovisi6367]

@@D_Tuned better say "first" then

[@mirkovisi6367]

@@jasonremy1627 no, it wasn't released as a single I think. She entered the Billboard 100 with Me And Bobby McGee, Kozmic Blues, Cry Baby, Down On Me and Get It While You Can

[@TheKiteless]

Another one about "Beat It"; rhythm guitar was by Steve Lukather of Toto. Anyway, Steve gets a call from Quincy giving him the heads-up that MJ wants him to play on one of his new tunes. Steve thinks, "Yeah, right. Of course he does" . Shortly after, Steve answers his phone and the voice on the other end said, "Hey, Steve. It's Michael". Steve thinks it's a wind-up and puts the phone down! Almost straight away, Quincy calls back and says, 'You do know you just hung-up on Michael Jackson, don't you?'

[@BenjiDarius]

Incorrect, that's the guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen A guy from Toto did write Human Nature off the same album tho

[@SciFiGodfather]

@@BenjiDarius Nope, Steve Porcaro is in fact on 'Beat It' as well. He actually had to re-record the entire rhythm section with Jeff Porcaro using a track that just had Michael's lead vocals and EVH's guitar solo. He's actually on a lot of the rest of Thriller album too! Toto were all incredible studio musicians, well trusted by Quincy Jones.

[@DeGuerre]

I think most people know this one: The whistled section from "(Sittin on) the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding was improvised during recording because Redding hadn't written lyrics for that section yet. He died before it could be fixed. I think that most people know that Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" samples Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise". What you may not know is that Stevie Wonder would not allow the use of the sample unless there was no profanity. This is how it became Coolio's most radio-friendly track. "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison was originally "Brown-Skinned Girl". Two of Dolly Parton's most famous songs, "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You", were written in one day. On the same day.

[@williamspalace]

Also the bee gees hit 'to love somebody' was originally written for Otis Redding but he passed before getting a chance to record it so the bee gees released it themselves

[@davidl570]

@@williamspalace Dang, he would've done a great version of that! Speaking of a soulful cover of that song, Rod Stewart with Booker T. and the MGs did a great cover of that in '75 which I highly recommend---and not to be morbid, but it was recorded shortly before drummer Al Jackson was murdered.

[@williamspalace]

@@davidl570 ooof just listened to it then. Thanks for the recommendation it's a cracker

[@davidl570]

@@williamspalace Y/W! Rod does soul very well.

[@bohbro]

I like how great artists simply work with what’s around them to make the magic happen. Sometimes legendary moments are completely spontaneous.

[@brianarbenz1329]

John Lennon’s share of Day in the Life came from an afternoon of reading a newspaper on a not very fast news day.

[@5alpha23]

oh my god, PLEASE MORE OF THIS!!! That is some nerdy music gold there - I love it!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad you liked it 😃😃

[@5alpha23]

@@DavidBennettPiano Does it show? 😉 Sorry to show that kind of reaction on one of your more mainstream videos, I'm just easily entertained from time to time. 😅

[@patrickkparrker413]

God's title again .

[@chassmash8903]

...also the gigantic bluesy guitar solo on Let's Dance is played by Steve Ray Vaughan. Though being a fan SRV at that time I always thought Bowie was playing it. And I thought to myself "well Bowie was heavily influenced on this by Stevie..." who was to become a star at that time... I only found out a few years ago that he actually played it himself. Great co-work of two legendary musicians.....

[@germanroses333]

I waited 30 years for the answer to what is the intro to ‘Wish you were here’. Thank you

[@michaeladavis5225]

thank you for this. I'm 68 and was blown away.

[@KingGrio]

Usually videos like this make me roll my eyes because they're really well known facts about famous musicians. But you've managed to surprise me and tell me a whole bunch of facts I didn't already know.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊

[@GodofMMA23]

Some were still obvious though, like the origin of the title 'Smells like teen spirit' and Kate Bush being the 1st female solo Performer/writer and sweet home alabama being a reply to Neil young

[@ewmlloyd]

What has REALLY fascinated me about 10cc's _I'm Not in Love_ was the way they built the choir using tape loops and volume sliders many years before digital technology would've made it trivially easy.

[@cakemartyr5794]

Absolutely. There's a phenomenal number of multi-tracking on it, with about 128 vocal tracks or something silly like that.

[@jackhaugh]

Every member of 10cc was a record producer as well as musician. I’m not at all surprised.

[@bobinscotland]

@@jackhaugh The name 10cc was used because it was TWICE the 5cc amount of sperm produced by the average male...

[@mocker63]

@@bobinscotland Complete untrue. Just read the 10cc Wikipedia page: "King signed the band to his UK Records label in July 1972 and dubbed them 10cc. By his own account, King chose the name after having a dream in which he was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon in London where the boarding read "10cc The Best Band in the World". A widely repeated claim, disputed by King[19] and Godley,[20] but confirmed in a 1988 interview by Creme,[21] and also on the webpage of Gouldman's current line-up is that the band name represented ten cubic centimetres, a volume of semen that was more than the average amount ejaculated, thus emphasising their potency or prowess.:"

[@bobinscotland]

@@mocker63 You just agreed with me while trying to disagree... the second part of your statement is the story to which I was referring and is more or less what I said.

[@beatrixxxkiddo]

The reversed bass on you can call me Al is so cool and pretty creative imo

[@22ergie]

I was confused about that one, Was it played in reverse or recorded in reverse? Or am I completely confused?

[@irTaeke]

That sgt peppers bit in the run out groove actually made me want to trade in my record player for another one, because I couldn't stand that the record player would automatically switch off before reaching that run out groove

[@uVueD2b]

I think I read it in the liner notes of the CD anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper that the mixed up in every way imaginable run out clip was John's idea to annoy the dog.

[@3ggshe11s]

No, but I know what you're thinking of. In the space between the end of the piano chord of "A Day in the Life" and the runout groove, the Beatles dropped in a high-frequency pitch that, it was assumed, only dogs could hear. It was like putting a dog whistle in the song.

[@davidl570]

@@3ggshe11s Actually, according to the liner notes for the CD release of Pepper, it actually WAS a dog whistle.

[@daveandrew589]

Led Zeppelin's sublime Going to California was inspired by their first trip to California, where Jimmy Page listened to Joni Mitchell playing guitar in altered tunings. His takeoff of that resulted in GTC, played in Double Drop D tuning. The lyrics are broadly reflective of the LA Basin: 'Where the sea was red and the sky was Grey', with a tribute to Joni 'Found a Queen without a King, who plays guitar, and cries and sings'.

[@Denise11Schultz]

My iconic line from this still makes me cry every time: “tryin to find a woman who’s never never never been born”. ✨🦋🌈

[@treetopjones737]

He used a drop tuning for Kashmir.

[@22ergie]

... "La, la la la..."

[@beaudure01]

Funny twist on Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young -- they actually got along quite well, even after Sweet Home Alabama's release.

[@laggindragn]

Drive-by-Truckers tell a great story about the relationship between the two on their Southern Rock Opera album. They also explain how Sweet Home Alabama was a slight tongue in cheek jab at the people offended by the Neil Young songs and they compare it to merle Haggard’s Okie from Muskogee, in that it is sarcastically aimed at the people that unknowingly embrace the song as an anthem.

[@Barabus-yx2cn]

I doubt that very much. Skynard were hard rocking fast fighting Southern boys. Young is a loudmouthed, gutless Marxist a$$hole.

[@sp00ky_guy]

Since I'm early, I feel like now would be a good time to say thank you very much David! Your music content is some of the best on KZbin, and has really done more than anything else to help (at least my own) understanding of music theory. You really have a knack for teaching, and for the video format.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you! That means a lot 😊

[@KentBuchla]

@@DavidBennettPiano it's true

[@DavidBennettPiano]

@@KentBuchla thank you 🙏 😁😁

[@sphericalharmony1603]

I wasn't keeping an exact count but I think I knew around 8 of them. To elaborate on the Her Majesty one, it originally went between Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam. The crash at the beginning is the last note of Mean Mr Mustard. It was actually engineer John Kurlander who saved it and added it to the end of a rough mix of the medley after Paul McCartney had told him to throw it away (my source is Mark Lewisohn's Sessions book).

[@mariesyvian8187]

someone made a version where it's back in place kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpTZYnh8pMaLY5o

[@StarQueenEstrella]

Additionally, the extended version of the song, which doesn’t appear on the album, was later released as DLC for The Beatles: Rock Band game. It restores the final chord that the song ends on.

[@mfi-cf7sp]

Nile Rodgers is so freaking legendary and has a huge hand in combining blues with dance with rock ❤ thanks

[@JeremiahPickardMusic]

One that found out relatively recently is that Rick Wakeman was asked by David Bowie to be in his band The Spiders From Mars. Only the same day he was asked by Steve Howe to join yes.

[@nabooster]

And he plays on “Space Oddity", “Changes, “Life on Mars” and “Oh! You Pretty Things.”

[@SameAsAnyOtherStranger]

@@nabooster Just in my head I can hear the acoustic guitar part played by RW on "Space Oddity" being overlayed by an electric played by someone frantic to play the part RW played. That's what I'm hearing anyway.

[@cakemartyr5794]

One prosaic factor in being offered the job in Yes is that Wakeman could give Howe a lift to the studio as Howe didn't have a car!

[@clifffurgerson5378]

Rick Wakeman played piano on Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken".

[@NoelLackey]

and he literally had to threaten David to get his name added to the credits

[@jayorag]

If you speed up the dreamy aaaaahs in the middle of The Beatles' "A day in the life", you get the chorus of "Hush" by Joe South/Deep Purple

[@Rowe4900candymachine]

My favorite part of roxanne is the sitting on the piano part, it fits so well.

[@djangohick]

I was in a band with Randy Cierley, who was Neil Diamond's bassist for a while. According to Randy, the intro to Diamond's hit "Cracklin' Rosie" is, note-for-note, lifted from the interlude of "The Beer Barrel Polka."

[@victorhawkins3461]

Exactly the kind of content I enjoy! Many of the facts I already knew -- I'm 68 years old and I've been following rock -n-roll since I was about 5 or so (a brother 14 years older than I was a rock guitar player as early as '58...). But several items you discussed were new to me. Thanks for further enlightening me!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊😊

[@ednicholson7839]

"My Way" has a fairly interesting history. It started as a French pop hit called "Comme d'Habitude" with completely different lyrics, sung by a singer named Claude Francois. Paul Anka adapted it with totally different lyrics with Sinatra in mind, who at the time really wanted to quit the music business.

[@outtathyme5679]

Bowie reworked it into Life on Mars

[@ednicholson7839]

@@outtathyme5679 Yeah, I guess I can hear it in there a little bit.

[@Greenballoffire]

Bowie was originally offered it

[@norobotsrecords]

The inevitable mention of David Bowie's original attempt to write an English lyrics for what became 'My Way' and subsequent rejection of 'Even a Fool Learns to Love'. BUT did you know..? The third line of Bowie's version contains the words 'My way'! Inspirational or what?

[@FreddieHg37]

​​@@outtathyme5679 He was originally working as a lyricist and transcriber for a record comoany and was offered the song to arrange and modify/write new lyrics for it in English (regardless of it being a faithful copy or translation of the original) but then his version was rejected and he was refused the opportunity to sing a version or record a demo of it to showcase his lyrics, so he told them he didn't care since he could write a better song by himself and as a "revenge" he wrote "Life on Mars", which in my opinion, as an iconic song and legendary Glam Rock tune, is way better than "My way" either way…

[@bradleyfelsman413]

Chicago's "Feeling Stronger Every Day" in the background vocals just before the end chorus they sing "let's spend the night together" and then next bar is "jumping jack flash is a gas gas gas." Hard to hear in the original but there's a youtube of the isolated guitar/bass/drums/vocals and it's clear.

[@zyzzyvacation]

A 1960s American girl group called The Crystals were a popular recording act with a number of top 20 hits to their name including, "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me". However, their only number one hit - "He's a Rebel" - (in 1962) never featured any of the girls on the recording. Due to deadlines involving the release of the song, producer Phil Spector commissioned in-demand L.A. girl group "Darlene Love and the Blossoms" to substitute for The Crystals who were on the East Coast and unavailable on such short notice. And so Darlene and her blossoms had a number one hit without ever receiving any credit for it. Incidentally, Darlene Love played Danny Glover's wife Trish in all four "Lethal Weapon" movies, after a career of backing the likes of Elvis Presley and Tom Jones in their various Las Vegas shows.

[@RaysTrack]

Wow - worth the watch just to learn about Jeff Beck on drums.

[@aldenroswell8504]

I love how this video flows from fact to fact, super well done!

[@patrickkparrker413]

" Super " , sake .

[@GuitarLessonsBobbyCrispy]

Another song fact: The 1967 hit song 'Different Drum' by The Stone Poneys was written by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. He wanted it used for The Monkees TV show, but the producers turned it down.

[@mayorb3366]

You probably already know this, but Mike's mom invented Liquid Paper. It was a godsend for those of us who were not-so-good at typing.

[@joedurantguitar1447]

'You Oughta Know' also featured then RHCP guitarist Dave Navarro. Apparently they just happened to be in the same studio so just spontaneously jammed it out.

[@illegal_space_alien]

Always wondered how then-unknown Alanis managed to get half of RHCP to session for her.

[@lordkreigs1978]

10cc "I'm not in love" came out in 1975, I was 15 years old. Today at 63 years old, I just found out I was having a mondegreen with the 'be quiet, big boys don't cry'... I always heard "Be quiet, stay quiet, be quiet, stay quiet." As it was a whisper and said so fast and much together, well, go listen to it with be quiet, stay quiet on your mind and you can't un-hear it.

[@cakemartyr5794]

The female backing vocalist on David Bowie's Sound and Vision is Mary Visconti, who, as Mary Hopkin, had a number one hit in 1968 with "Those were the days", and represented the UK at the 1970 Eurovision song contest.

[@lorenzodicapo6305]

Once upon a time, there was a tavern...

[@davidbeadle3270]

Mary Visconti was married to Tony Visconti who produced T-Rex, one of the biggest bands at the time in the UK

[@mk-kj9lu]

Another fun fact：The fade-out part of Pink Floyd's song Wish You Were Here was recorded with Stéphane Grappelli, famous as Django Reinhardt's violinist, who happened to be in the studio next door. Originally described in the biography Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd.

[@AndyA1]

The piano intro to "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger plays two times. It was only supposed to play once.

[@jtmichaelson]

It was my understanding that the "Ticket to Ride" bleed over is from using old tapes at Abbey Road. It's coincidental that they would run into Paul and WIngs for the interview section, and then use old Beatle tapes, but it is Abbey Road Studios. Look it up, I think you'll find many articles pointing to that fact about "Ticket to Ride". Awesome work, as always.

[@MrMont-ue8kh]

Well done, David! I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about music, and I knew only 5 of the 23. Thanks!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Excellent!😊

[@lisas7741]

There is an accidental recording of a hand held football video game in The Clash’s Rock The Casbah.

[@NewFalconerRecords]

Great list! Another fun fact about Suzanne Vega's 'Tom's Diner' is that the original Tom's Diner (actually called Tom's Restaurant) in New York is the exterior for Seinfeld's Monk's Diner.

[@apdesmits4985]

And she lived in the apartment across the street from Tom’s (and so did British artist Joe Jackson).

[@SarahDigsHockey]

I figured I wouldn't know most of the songs mentioned here because they were before my time. But being classics, I should have known better. Don't know how many times I caught myself saying "wow! while watching and learning about some of these songs. Thank you for putting them together and sharing them with us.

[@maxharrison257]

Hello Sarah 👋

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

1. All the backing vocals on Ringo's cover of "You're Sixteen", from the lowest to the highest, are Harry Nilsson. 2. That album, "Ringo", is the first post-breakup album to feature all 4 Beatles (though not on the same track) 3. Because Eric Burden had already found a new guitarist, he gave Graeme Edge and John Lodge the sack of mail from an ad he'd run. The first envelope they pulled out was Justin Hayward. 4. On Bowie's "Let's Dance" the guitar solo is Stevie Ray Vaughan. 5. On Weird Al's parody of Beat It, "Eat It", the blazing solo is by Rick Derringer of Edgar Winter's White Trash. 6. The first "Wing's album was engineered by Alan Parsons. 7. The bass on Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" is played by Tony Sales, son of comedian Soupy Sales.

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

2.1 The kazoo duet on "You're Sixteen" is by Paul and Linda McCartney.

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

8. Lead guitarist on Boz Scagg's first album is Duane Allman. 9. Dave Mason was a founding member of Traffic. 10. Paul McCartney and John Lennon learned guitar fingerpicking from Donovan. 11. In the video for "Stuck in the Middle with You" the lead vocal is lip synced by Joe Egan, because the real vocalist, Gerry Rafferty, nad already quit the band. 12. The amazing but slightly obscure Jude Cole recorded his first album entirely on guitars loaned by his best friend Kiefer Sutherland.

[@mknewlan67]

Don’t get number 3. What’s a Justin Hayward and why was he in an envelope?

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

@@mknewlan67 Yes. Excellent question, since I was in a hurry and rather vague. The whole story: The Moody Blues lost their guitarist, Denny Laine, when Paul McCartney called him to join Wings. Graeme Edge and John Lodge, drummer and bass player for the Moody Blues, went down the pub to drink and think. Friend and neighbor Eric Burdon overheard, and said he'd recently put an ad in a music magazine for a lead guitarist, but found someone before the ad even ran, so now he had a big sack of mail in his flat from guitar players looking for work. Graeme and John were welcome to it. They went round and took the sack home. Pulled out an envelope, called the chap, and liked him so much they had him come audition. That was Justin Hayward, who wrote virtually all their hits, sang and played guitar, essentially, made the Moody Blues the group they were.

[@mknewlan67]

@@joeldcanfield_spinhead that’s pretty awesome. Never heard that story, thank you sir!

[@nielsschelbeck-pedersen8733]

4:54 I've always thought that it was played backwards but my music teacher didn't believe me. Thank you for myth busting it!

[@RobGrognerd]

The Eagles etched messages in the space between run-out grooves. on Side 2 of Hotel California, it's "VOL is 5 piece live". the instrumental tracks of VOL were tracked live as a band, with vocals overdubbed later. Side 1 is "is it 6 o'clock yet" . Producer Bill Szymczyk wouldn't let the band do drugs or drink before 6pm. some days they would just sit around & ask each other "is it 6:00 yet?"

[@davidl570]

Another Eagles fact: their debut (like the rest of their output) reflected southern California country rock (as we all know)....................so you'd think it was recorded in that state. Nope...............the whole album was recorded in London, England.

[@claytonjones8358]

Also Stevie Ray Vaughan played the guitar solo on let's dance

[@joermnyc]

By putting “Her Majesty” on the end where it just cuts off made both sides of Abby Road end with a sudden cut. “She’s So Heavy” was supposed to fade out… eventually, but John was sitting there listening back with someone doing edits and said, “Nah, just cut it” so it was cut off at that spot (literally, old analog tape was sliced with a razor blade on a special block that made sure the cut was perfectly perpendicular (otherwise tape splices and cuts would be uneven and have weird sound artifacts.)

[@bobinscotland]

Great fact on ABBEY ROAD was the swapping of tracks on the CASSETTE version from the original vinyl. This was done to make the sides more equal in length, which avoids having a long gap at the end of the tape before turning over for the other side. Come Together and Here Comes The Sun were the tracks swapped with each other, and the running order on CD matches the vinyl.

[@adamnoakes2550]

A fact I enjoy is that "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple tells the real-life story of the band's experience while recording their album "Machine Head", on which the song appears.

[@rockerjim8045]

Took me all day but I finally found the Grand Hotel. It's been converted into Apartments but theyve kept the Grand in the title

[@AnniePA1960]

​@rockerjim8045 Isn't there a statue of somebody there? Freddie maybe?

[@rockerjim8045]

@@AnniePA1960 yep

[@patrickkparrker413]

​@@AnniePA1960 Freddie who ???

[@bobinscotland]

@@patrickkparrker413 Freddie Mercury, who recorded six albums there.

[@myrv_the_ocelot]

Van Halen causing the speakers to catch fire reminds me of Weird Al's parody of Beat It because in the video the guitar player explodes from all the shredding 😄

[@illegal_space_alien]

That's where Weird Al got the idea for it. It was fairly well-known back then.

[@davidl570]

Reminds me of a fact about another loud guitar band: the Ramones played so loud while recording their debut that they destroyed several pieces of studio equipment.

[@mattiefee]

You know you are a living legend when the the studio speakers catch on fire during your solo.

[@uVueD2b]

A Stevie Wonder fact: When you listen to the song Saturn from the Songs In The Key Of Life album digitally (CD, streaming, etc.), the line " People live to be 205" will come at the 2:05 mark of the song.

[@mayorb3366]

I love this stuff. It reminds me of a show on VH1 years ago called Pop Up Video. There'd be a music video playing with tidbits of trivia about the band, and many stories behind the story. People involved in the making of the music you never would have suspected. Looking forward to more of this on you YT channel, just subbed!

[@nolesy34]

Yes such a good thing

[@nolesy34]

Yes such a good thing where have you gone 🎶

[@UnwrittenSpade]

I miss pop up video. The intro song still pops into my head from time to time: “pop up video” 🎶 hahaha and the bloop noice it made when the facts popped up was also seared into my mind

[@nolesy34]

@@UnwrittenSpade same with X file theme The sit you sit Movie intro, the lion etc Viacom Etc

[@Joelster-og4pf]

With the Roxanne piano bum note, I’ve always thought it was quite intriguing and funny at the same time. I’ve noticed it since my first listen. Also, Empty Chairs is a fav of mine from Don McLean.

[@LeonBerrange]

Great video. I didn't know a single one. The most startling was Quincy working with Sinatra. That really took me by surprise!

[@mortenriisberg]

Quincy Jones originates from Jazz, and often arranged big bands. There's a live album, Frank Sinatra at the Sands, with Count Basie, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

[@afwagner]

The You Can Call Me Al fact blew me away.

[@LageYouTube]

There wasn't even supposed to be a bass break. When it was being recorded, it was Bakithi Kumalo's birthday, and he asked if he could do a little bass lick, and somehow they ended up having it reversed the second time

[@CraftAero]

At a party in the 70's, a guest called Paul (Al) and his wife Peggy (Betty). They started calling each other by those names at home as a joke. "I will call you Betty, you can call me AL." I guess when you're Paul Simon you can pull inspiration from anywhere.

[@summerof67]

Bobby Troup, who wrote the song Route 66, also played Dr. Early on the TV show Emergency. His wife, Julie London, played the nurse and was also a singer. Her most famous song was Cry Me a River.

[@nabooster]

Brilliant video as usual David. Very nice track at the end too!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks!

[@jasonremy1627]

Another fun fact about the Eddie Van Halen solo is that he refused cash payment for his studio time. He only asked for a case of beer.

[@HenritheHorse]

Also he ruined the original tape and Lukather and Porcaro had to rerecord the whole song.

[@jasonjerusalem]

The legend says, he didn't ask for money to keep his cool face, while working on a pop project. This plan backfired: Eddie's pals had a good laugh when they found out "Thriller" sales flew to the moon and Eddie got nothing out of it.

[@allenjones3130]

Rest in peace, Eddie.

[@JonahNelson7]

@@jasonjerusalem that's not what "backfired" means. I'm sure Van Halen knew some of the stuff he worked on would have blown up

[@akfreed6949]

To be clear , he demanded there be some Coors at the studio . During recording , his setup and playing caused a fire of the recording equipment . When his contribution was done , Micheal and Quincy quietly talked business and how they were going to "pay" Edward . Then Michael asked Eddie how much he wanted for his solo . Ed said he didn't want anything . He did it as a favor , thinking he might want or need Quincy's help later in life .

[@jasonremy1627]

Not sure it's about a single song, but rather my favorite weird musical fact is that Rick James (Superfreak) and Neil Young played in a band together in Toronto, The Mynah Birds, in the early 1960s.

[@qqw743]

That is indeed extremely weird.

[@artvallejos1460]

True. Neil actually signed with Motown . Also ,there are multiple songs on KZbin from Mynah Birds.

[@jaketaf98]

I pride myself on Beatles knowledge but I really didn't know that last fact about the evening loop on A Day In The Life

[@PaulFormentos]

did ya know reversed there's a message

[@benjaminsmith2950]

I'm very interested in learning these 23 facts about classic tracks I never knew before

[@jacobevanoski1221]

Same

[@chancevicary1805]

Yes

[@lauriesuzanne8848]

Excellent vid. Great content, and mag reminder of many ol faves! Thanks!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks for watching 😊

[@Symphonicrockfran]

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton and Graham Nash contributed background vocals in "All you Need is Love" Then Paul McCartney recorded background vocals for The Rolling Stones's "We Love You"

[@jcarty123]

Paul also played drums on Steve Miller's _My Dark Hour_, after a row with the other Beatles.

[@nabooster]

@@jcarty123 Mick Jagger sings background vocals on Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" too.

[@simp4makima81]

My Way by Sinatra in the Philippines is really popular because its easy to be sang. I rarely see occasional gatherings with karaokes that does not sing this song, this song is on repeat throughout the night. And yes, I've witnessed people fighting over who's gonna sing this song.

[@ltjgambrose]

At 8:44 I was certain you were going to circle back to David Bowie with this: In 1968, Bowie was commissioned to write English lyrics for the Claude François French song "Comme d'habitude". After his lyrics were rejected, songwriter Paul Anka rewrote it into "My Way", made famous by singer Frank Sinatra in 1969. Annoyed at the success of "My Way", Bowie used the song as a template and wrote "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording.

[@colinbaker3916]

Great video. Here’s a couple more. Dreams of Children by The Jam opens with the ending of Thick As Thieves played backwards. The backwards singing of the word “thieves” occurs throughout the track, and many think they’re singing “Dreams”. Agnetha Fältskog recorded the vocal for Thank You For The Music lying on her back, because she was pregnant with her son Peter. Shine On You Crazy Diamond is about Syd Barrett, who turned up unexpectedly at Abbey Road studios when Pink Floyd were recording the track.

[@peterjuff]

During the runout on Sgt Pepper one of them is clearly saying “never could be any other way.” It’s only clear once you know😉

[@ismsshorts489]

Another fun fact about David Bowie's. Let's Dance. Legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn played guitar on the solo for that song. David saw Stevie at a show one day, and wanted him to play on the track.

[@andrewhawkins6754]

In Sweet Home Alabama, after the line "I hope Niel Young will remember" you can hear one of the other guys singing "Southern Man" in the background.

[@racegts]

I would love confirmation that the horn blast in the sound sample of YES’ Owner of a Lonely Leart was taken from the Flintstones soundtrack. 🎶🎶🎶

[@zachsine6465]

Another fact about A Day in the Life according to Geoff Emerick who was in the studio recording the song. When the last piano note rings out into silence, there is a moment you hear a very quiet creak of the floorboard. That was Ringo readjusting his stance as he was standing. Supposedly Paul shot a glance at Ringo who just put his head down in shame.

[@qqw743]

There's also a "shh!"

[@relicofgold]

When I meet Ringo I will scold him about this faux pas.

[@ackerjawaka1966]

​@@qqw743that only happened when Ringo started singing and pretending he still loves Liverpool 😜

[@ckallaher]

Another Beatles fun fact is that they are singing “Frere Jacques” underneath the second verse of Paperback Writer. Supposedly it’s in another Beatles song too but I don’t know which one.

[@Tacko14]

I recently learned that at the end of Outside the Wall, where Waters starts saying a sentence that gets cut off, the second half of the sentence is actually right at the beginning of the record, before In the Flesh starts. Something like ‘isn’t this where we started?’ Which suggests a loop in time, history repeating itself. I never noticed in forty years, until someone pointed it out

[@allthatyoutouch3164]

It's "we came in" and at the end is "isn't this where" . I had it on 8 track it worked out well as "Isn't this where we came in".

[@TracyParks]

My Way was also the subject of Bowie's Life on Mars. Life on Mars started as a parody of My Way since Bowie was offered to write it, but was ultimately sacked and the song was written by someone else.

[@Yupppi]

I guess it's funny that when Eddie recorded the solo, somehow the tape returned cut out of sync and Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro had to recreate the whole song based on the quiet bleed of headphones, because the tape had the original take of Michael's voice and Eddie's solo and they wanted to keep both. So Steve Lukather go to play on Jackson's record and ended up playing much more than rhythm guitar.

[@FreddieHg37]

4:42, that's pretty cool actually!

[@cyjones8488]

Lovely piece David: a follow up please. Perhaps you could include the Carpenter's Goodbye to Love, which has not one but two interesting facts: How it was written, and how THAT lead solo came about.

[@davidl570]

Here's a trivia fact about that song: the guitar outro (by the late Tony Peluso) was totally improvised.

[@mastod0n1]

Loved all this and I'm hoping you make another video like this

[@misophoniq]

How about the fact that the very last vocoder line in ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" doesn't say "Mister Blue Sky-aye" like many people think it does, but it says "Please turn me over", because it was the last track of side A on the original vinyl release. ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHubhK1ueK-Ma8k )

[@klaxoncow]

Ah, if we're doing this, then on Queen's "One Vision", though people think the final vocal is "gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme... One Vision!!", Freddie actually sings "gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme... Fried Chicken!!". Although the echos afterwards are actually saying "One Vision" to help hide this little substitution. Just a silly joke between the band, but they decided to record it and kept it for the final release. Also, at the beginning of the song, there's a distorted voice and it's actually saying "God works in mysterious ways", if you listen carefully.

[@bouwebear597]

It was the last track on SIDE 3 of the double-album (which has 4 sides). They didn't know when they recorded it that it would be released as a single, so it is referring to turning over the fourth side. Of course, the single has a B-side so it also works for that as well.

[@UnwrittenSpade]

First off I just discovered your channel and I’m simply blown away! Amazing! Secondly, the comment section for this video is not only all positive but also chuck full of some of the most interesting little factoids ever! Instantly earned my subscription and like!

[@MyMy-tv7fd]

I did not know any of them, but the one I like best is the Kurt Cobain Teen Spirit explanation

[@lncarnold]

That was amazing! Thanks!

[@TheDirge69]

Great stuff David, always managing to keep your content fresh and interesting.

[@richcrawford6123]

13:14 this is referenced on the end of the Brand New track "Play Crack The Sky". Heard him sing "never to see any other way" thousands of times and never knew what it was calling back to!

[@travelservices1200]

Regarding "Fly Me to the Moon", probably a lot of people here know that the original endings to the episodes of the legendary anime Neon Genesis Evangelion all ended with a different Japanese woman singing or (in at least one case, if memory serves) just an instrumental version of that song.

[@travelservices1200]

@Just Me Here I did not know all that. Thank you!

[@jimw6659]

Great idea for a video, David. I enjoyed that!

[@Martin-no7dc]

Very interesting and creative video! Would love to See more like this ❤

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you! Will do!

Did you know that in the INXS song Elegantly Wasted the chorus is sometimes changed to "I'm better than Oasis" in response to a word fight between Hutchence and Gallagher.

[@ackerjawaka1966]

Noel said to michael who was presenting him with an award...has beens should not be giving awards to going to bes 😜

[@acbenepe]

More importantly Nile Rodger's production of "let's dance" used a technique called gating where real instruments were recorded and then later released by playing the samples back on a keyboard. You can hear it clearly on the horn parts. I've always thought Nile invented it or was at least a pioneer of the effect.

[@SameAsAnyOtherStranger]

Are you sure about the term "gating?" I'm pretty familiar with instrument sampling which is what you seem to be referring to and gating would seem to refer to noise gating which is usually when an signal is cut completely once it drops below a certain dynamic threshold. It's also possible to "gate" one or more signals according to the threshold of another signal. This can add syncopation between tracks. A similar method can be used for "ducking" to lower a signal in the presence of another, commonly used to lower music track levels when narration is introduced over top.

[@acbenepe]

@@SameAsAnyOtherStranger Right. I had my terminology wrong. There's a pretty good breakdown of the recording session on wikipedia. There is actual gating all over the place plus layering of instruments.

[@bobinscotland]

@@acbenepe The gating was certainly used to create space at the end of every chord, which made the whole song pulse even better.

[@charlesrugg3268]

Stevie Ray Vaughan played guitar on this track.

[@jconnon]

The clocks ticking at the start of Time by PF is Roger on his bass. Guy Pratt shared it on his recent YT video.

[@davidl570]

HUH?? Those aren't actual recordings of clocks? How'd he make those sounds?? Tapping the strings with a hard object or something?

[@royalex21]

When My Way came up, I thought you were going to talk about how David Bowie wrote Life On Mars? as revenge

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Good point! I’ll put it in the sequel video!

[@duncanthompson957]

The point being that Bowie was asked to write an English language rewrite of the French song Comme d’Habitude, but Paul Anka got the gig and rewrote Comme d’Habitude as My Way. So Bowie nicked the chord structure.

[@ala0284]

These are actually really good, I’m fairly knowledgable about pop songs like this but I only knew a few of these

[@StarQueenEstrella]

RE: “Superstition”, the story goes that Stevie had promised the song to Jeff Beck, and Jeff even ended up recording it on Beck, Bogert & Appice. But when Berry Gordy, head of Tamla/Motown Records heard the song, he told Stevie that he had to make a record of it.

[@HenritheHorse]

They had both versions agreed, but Barry put it out earlier than Beck, because his version got delayd.

[@LeonFelixRusso]

Berry. Not Barry.

[@udomeyer4820]

Thanks for this! I want more! That's great!

[@4Mr.Crowley2]

“Matter of fact it’s all dark” is one of the best closing lines of an album ever. Pure perfect beauty.

[@marusiaphillips4791]

On Kate Bush's 1985 Hounds of Love - the Ninth Wave, she borrowed the helicopter sample from David Gilmore. Its the same helcopter that you hear on Pink Floyd's the Wall

[@maxharrison257]

Hello 👋👋

[@imdabanana1]

A fact I’ve never heard anyone talk about with the “day the music died” is that Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on the plane instead of the big bopper but the big bopper was sick so Waylon gave him his ticket and took the bus. Haunted Waylon the rest of his life. You can hear him mention it on his song “a long time ago”

[@daviddredge1178]

I've never heard the fact that I was born on 3rd Feb 1959!

[@amcken9316]

I thought it was well known.

[@davidl570]

That's actually a well-known fact.

[@treetopjones737]

You've never heard when you were born yet you're mentioning it. SMH

[@theturkeychild]

On REM's "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" you can hear Micheal Stipe giggle and almost break down on the chorus but still manages to muscle his way through 'call me when you try to wake her up'

[@davidl570]

....................and he's stifling a laugh because he had a lot of trouble pronouncing "Seuss"---it took him several takes and he eventually just gave up and that's the version you hear (notice he still doesn't get it right on the final version).

[@NBrixH]

This is a relatively well-known fact, but here it goes anyway: The musique concrète bit at the beginning of Pink Floyd's ''Money'' was actually recorded by Roger Waters' in a pottery shed, that he had converted into a makeshift studio. The sounds heard are obviously from cash registers and such, but some were also made from dropping old clay bits and coins into pots.

[@laurentco]

Very cool! I thought I knew quite a bit of pop music trivia, but most of these were news to me.

[@keep_walking_on_grass]

Did you know that the xylophone reminiscent sounds in the background of shine on you crazy diamond parts 1 and 2 are from the recording sessions of "household objects", which is an experimental album by Pink Floyd which was made without any instruments, just with household objects...... like rubber bands and spoons and such. and the xylophone-like sounds are sounds made with glasses. edit: Pink Floyd is perhaps the most experimental band. they always experimented and tried unusual things. you hear these all the time in their music, from back in the days without computers and digital fun effects. most of these (if not all - but I don't know that) is made analogue, there hasn't been any digital stuff yet. such as the seagull screams in echoes which was a lucky accident, by falsely connected cables from guitar + wah-wah pedal + analogue delay. turning the potis on the guitar generated these scary sounds. and even on the Wall. you just have to listen carefully. another brick in the wall part 2 has a throat sound in the background right before the chorus. etc. etc.