Time (Hootie & the Blowfish)
Sonefeld's idea, written by committee on acoustic guitars, and Rucker addressing time itself like it owed him something.
Sonefeld's idea, written by committee on acoustic guitars, and Rucker addressing time itself like it owed him something.

Rucker quotes Blood on the Tracks in the verses; the 1995 out-of-court settlement with Dylan cost the band $350,000.

Rucker flipped the genders when he wrote it; by his account the addiction in the song was his own.

Written in the laundry room of Mellencamp's old house, it makes Indiana sound like enough for one life.

A letter to an ex, sung over acoustic guitar, fiddle and McLagan's Hammond, and another UK number one.

Manuel, Helm and Danko trade verses on Robertson's account of the 1755 Acadian expulsion, Byron Berline's fiddle overdubbed above.

Chapman played it live for seven years before recording it, then a loose blues shuffle became her biggest hit.

Washboard, kazoo and a gut bass in the lyrics, Fogerty's imaginary jug band playing for nickels.
Robertson wrote it expressly for Danko's voice, and at their own Shangri-La studio the Band gave loss room to breathe.

Hudson ran a clavinet through a wah-wah pedal, Helm sang lead, and the single reached number twenty-five.

Fogerty wrote it in a California apartment, never having set foot in Louisiana, and still summoned the swamp.

Hunter's lyric folds in a 1970 New Orleans bust, and the Library of Congress declared the record a national treasure.

Fogerty said the rain falling on a sunny day was Creedence breaking up around him; the record aches accordingly.

Fogerty wrote it after a hurricane scene in a 1941 film, then set the apocalypse to a cheerful rockabilly stomp.

Eight months on one lyric, Helm doing the library research, and a drummer from Arkansas singing the defeat.
Cut at Muscle Shoals in December 1969, with Jim Dickinson on tack piano after Ian Stewart refused the minor chords.

Fogerty came out of the National Guard and wrote it in two days, Beethoven's Fifth hiding in the intro.

Twenty minutes of writing, and Fogerty had the sound of every draft board sending someone else's son.

Robertson saw Nazareth stamped inside his 1951 Martin, and Helm sang the burden every verse hands over.