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Each month FT music critics and contributors discuss the story of a song, from its origins and early recordings through cover versions good and bad. Formerly called FT Arts.
From the unstoppable rise of hip-hop to the 'millennial whoop', what does today's new music sound like? And how has social media changed the...
When "Wuthering Heights" was released 40 years ago this year, it became the first song written and performed by a woman to reach number one...
Set against a backdrop of protest and upheaval, the songs released in 1968 represent a turning point in music. FT pop writers David Cheal an...
What makes a good Christmas song? Should it be cheesy or serious? And why do millennials love them? FT pop writers discuss festive classics...
Billie Holiday’s 1939 'Strange Fruit' was called 'the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism'. O...
From Bob Dylan to Adele, the song that was first called 'a spare ballad undermined by greetingcard lyrics' is now a karaoke tearjerker. FT p...
In a special episode to mark the publication of The Life of a Song book, FT pop critics Helen Brown, David Cheal and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney d...
It achieved distinction in an era of elemental riffs, and journeyed effortlessly to and fro across the Atlantic. It also marked a turning po...
The singer’s old label boss called the song ‘a morbid mess’, but it shot to number one in the US. Ahead of the 40th anniversary of Elvis’s d...
Twenty years after they headlined Glastonbury, Radiohead return to the British music festival. FT pop writers Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and Davi...
David Honigmann looks at how a sleeping Keith Richards dreamt up a riff that would later develop into a number one hit for Rolling Stones an...
David Cheal looks at how Bob Dylan took inspiration from an old Scottish border ballad while writing this era-defining apocalyptic vision of...
Helen Brown looks at how Serge Gainsbourg's infamously salacious love song originally written for Brigitte Bardot would become a hit for the...
Ian McCann takes a look at one of the greatest and most culturally influential rap songs by genre pioneers Grandmaster Flash & The Furious F...
Ian McCann looks at how a turn-of-the-century Neopolitan ballad was adapted into a hit for Elvis, before becoming an anthem for ice cream lo...
Sue Norris explores how a B-side by a little known American singer, Gloria Jones became a cult hit on the 1970s English northern soul scene,...
Helen Brown looks at how the most successful Disney song of all time became an unlikely favourite among prisoners and a "coming out anthem"...
Peter Aspen looks at how The Eagles turned a few improvised chords into one of the most iconic, and enigmatic, rock songs of the 1970s. Cred...
Sue Norris on how Cissy Houston and Gladys Knight respectively transformed the sound, and meaning, of Jim Weatherly's country number. Credit...
Harriet Fitch Little on how Dolly Parton's anti-work anthem went from the movies to the White House to a muddy field in Glastonbury. Credits...
Amy Walker on how a saccharine love song was transformed by Otis Redding into a provocative and impassioned soul classic. Credits: Baierle R...
David Cheal traces the song's journey from a forgotten 1950s melodrama to an enduring love ballad covered by Nina Simone, David Bowie and Ge...
The Japanese hit has been renamed and redefined by western artists from the Gipsy Kings to Snoop Dogg. Credits: JB Production, K-Tel, New Je...
Paul Anka originally wrote the song for, and in the persona of, Frank Sinatra, claiming he'd "never written something so chauvinistic, narci...
For more than 50 years, this ballad's haunting charms have proved irresistible to many of the world's leading musicians. Credits: Firefly En...
Songs can be mixed blessings. Screamin' Jay Hawkins' most famous one brought bliss to all who touched it - except its composer. Credits: AP...
The song crystallises a moment in time between the optimism of the Summer of Love and the darkness on the desert horizon. Cathi Unsworth exp...
Joy Division's stripped-down sound signaled a new direction for music in 1978, but the lyrics to this song would prove horribly portentous....
Ian McCann charts the transformation of UB40’s number one hit, from Neil Diamond’s country ballad to iconic reggae ditty. Credits: Virgin Re...
The song that defined Fleetwood Mac's high water mark went on to be covered by country-folk and hip-hop artistsCredits: Rhino/Warner Bros, C...
David Honigmann follows Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway' from its origins in a Welsh cottage to 'Wayne's World', the White House and bedrooms every...
Prince wrote his song about partying in the face of nuclear threat during the cold war but it gets heavy rotation to this day Hosted on Acas...
This 1853 Christmas Carol, set to the melody of a 13th-century Nordic Hymn, has since fallen into the hands of Joan Baez, Tom Jones and Ritc...
Greg Lake died this week, and this track remains an enduring Christmas classic.Credit: Syco Music, Universal, Decca, Symphonia Hosted on Aca...
Buddy Holly's 1958 London performance of the song inspired the young Mick Jagger to form his own band. Credits: Universal, Not Now Music Hos...
It's been the theme tune for the BBC's review series 'Film' since 1971, but Nina Simone's cover turned it into a civil rights anthem.Credits...
Gene Wilder died Listening to Ella Fitzgerald’s cover, but it was Judy Garland who brought “Over the Rainbow” to fame.Credits: Spectra Recor...
Leonard Cohen's most famous song nearly wasn't released after being rejected by his record label. It is now among the most covered songs, wi...
“Yesterday” came to Paul McCartney in a dream one night in 1963. It’s now among the most covered songs in history, with efforts from the lik...
Snippets of Isaac Hayes' classic were used by trip-hop pioneers Portishead and Tricky. Richard Clayton tells the life of a sample. Credits:...
The origin of Deep Purple's 1971 hit is almost as famous as its instantly recognisable guitar riff.Credits: Parlophone UK, Thompson Music P/...
Peter Aspden deconstructs the creation of Bob Dylan's legendary song over the course of a single day in the studio. This podcast was origina...
Originally sung by slaves, the spiritual became a jazz and blues hit in the 1960s, with a cover by the British blues-rock musician Graham Bo...
Fiona Sturges follows Patti Smith's lustful 1970s song of youthful abandon.Credits: Arista, Columbia, Coqueiro Verde Records, Stun Volume Ho...
Richard Clayton on how Tracy Chapman's searing ballad of low income life carried her to global acclaim.Credits: Elektra, King Tubby's Music,...
Boney M's unlikely disco ballad was a hit on both sides of the iron curtain but was banned by Soviet authorities. Harriet Fitch-Little explo...
Bruce Springsteen's bleak ballad of American life has been promoted by politicians from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. David Honigmann exami...
Janis Joplin achieved a posthumous No.1 hit with a rueful tale of love and loss, written by her old flame, Kris Kristofferson, which in turn...
Billy Holiday's secular hymn was born out of a blazing family row and its swaying melody went on to become a jazz standard, with versions by...
Kate Bush retreated to a farmhouse to craft her richly layered song of love and insecurity. It reaffirmed her place as a pre-eminent songwri...