The day is such a nice one that it almost seems a shame to sit indoors typing away on my keyboard. However, music does rock my world and I find that I simply cannot forgo my blog for the great outdoors. So, what are we going to talk about today? Soft Rock? Hard Rock? Rap, Hip Hop, Classical, Jazz?

Well, to be honest with you I thought I would give you a break from all of that and take you into another dimension of music – the realm of “What makes a song unique”. If you ever wondered what inspired a song, or how one singer’s version of it is better than another singer’s, well, this is as good a place to start as any.

To begin with though, perhaps we should tackle the fact that the first version you hear of a song – any song – is likely to be the one you prefer over others. That said, it is also generally true that the song sung by the original recording artist will (almost) always be the best version.  And now that we have that out of the way, maybe we can pave the way to perking your interest by throwing a few fun facts and figures about popular songs at you. And watch out – here comes a fast one!

Fun fact 1: In the beginning of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” you will hear the words ‘turn it up’. This was not part of the original lyrics nor was it planned. It was a happy accident in which Ronnie van Zant is telling the sound engineer to turn up the volume on his headphones. It was only during playback when they heard it that the group decided to keep it in as it blended well with the song.

Fun fact 2: Although one of Duffy’s greatest hits is “Warwick Avenue” on the album Rockferry, Duffy herself has not been to Warwick Avenue more than twice. And, she has admitted, once was by accident!

And to leave with a thought provoking fact,

Fun fact 3: Monaco has a larger national orchestra than it does an army!