Peter Aspden on the 'floating song' recorded by Alan Lomax in 1930s Kentucky that went on to be covered by Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan and, of course, The Animals. Credits: Concord Music Group, Marathon Media International, BMI  

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Recorded by musical perfectionists Steely Dan, sampled by hip-hop trio De La Soul and recycled in other pop songs, the story of 'Peg' is one of originality and appropriation, Peter Aspden says. Credits: MCA Records Inc, Rhino, The Echo Label Limited  

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David Honigmann on the Louis Armstrong blues song that inspired a poem by WH Auden and recordings by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and others.  

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Elvis Costello wrote the song during the Falklands War yet, David Honigmann says, its specific political subtext didn't deter Suede, The Unthanks and others from covering it. Credits: Domino Recording, Universal Music Catalogue)/Elvis Costello, Topic Records Ltd, RabbleRouser Music  

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David Honigmann explores one of the handful of songs recorded by the blues singer Robert Johnson, in which he is pursued by the Devil, society or his own demons. Credits: UMG Recordings, Inc., Blue Note Records, Universal Island Records Ltd., Not Now Music Ltd  

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The Specials' 'Ghost Town' became the soundtrack to the 1981 Brixton riots. Thirty years on, its message of disaffection remains relevant, says David Honigmann. Credits: Chrysalis Records Ltd, Hyperdub, Tru Thoughts.  

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David Honigmann on why Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Dolly Parton and Saint Etienne have all been drawn to Silver Dagger's cautionary tale of heartache and "wicked loving lies". Credits: Sugar Hill, Saint Etienne, Columbia/Legacy  

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The rousing spiritual from folk opera 'Porgy and Bess' has become one of the most recorded tunes of all time, says David Honigmann, with Miles Davis, Janis Joplin and Peter Gabriel among the artists who covered it. Credits: Columbia/Legacy, Mercury Records, Hallmark  

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Herbie Hancock's soul jazz classic 'Watermelon Man' originally drew on his 1940s Chicago childhood but went on to be given funk, disco, ska, pop and hip-hop makeovers, says Mike Hobart. Credits: Roslin Records, Columbia/Legacy, Salt & Pepper, History Of RnB Records  

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Mike Hobart traces the Rodgers and Hart tune's journey from Broadway musical number to ubiquitous torch song to mood-changing jazz masterpiece  

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It may have been written by a man who never even set foot in the state, but that hasn't stopped 'Georgia on My Mind' becoming a Southern anthem. Mike Hobart looks back on the song's origins. Credits: Rendez-Vous Digital, The Island Def Jam Music Group, Not Now Music and EG Jazz  

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Nat King Cole's 1948 hit made an unlikely celebrity of its back-to-nature songwriter, and established Cole's solo career - but, says Mike Hobart, it also lived through racial bigotry and legal action before covers by Sinatra, Bowie and Lady Gaga. Credits: The Restoration Project, Columbia Records, Interscope Records  

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Written for a 1935 romcom, this song complies with the strict moral codes of the time, but turns Hollywood convention on its head, says Mike Hobart. Credits: 4:Squared Entertainment, Nostalgia Music Catalog, Universal Island Records  

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Mike Hobart tells the story of Jimmy Forrest’s 1952 hit, an R&B smash that and crossed over to the pop charts with James Brown’s reinvention.Credits: Maarten Eilander, Soul City Blues, The Island Def Jam Music Group  

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“I had to phone someone so I picked on you-hoo-hoo”: David Cheal on the song that gave David Bowie his breathrough moment. Credits: Parlophone UK, RCA Records, EMI Records  

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David Cheal digs into the story of the Britney Spears hit Toxic finding Bollywood samples, acoustic deconstruction and a role as currency in an imagined apocalyptic future. Credits: Jive, Saregama, Beeswing Records  

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A Motown classic and Beatles favourite that went on to become perhaps the first postmodern pop song: David Cheal on the many lives of 'Money (That's What I Want)'. Credits: Motown Records Inc., EMI, Simitar.  

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David Cheal follows Modest Mussorgsky's dramatic 19th-century composition from orchestral standard to Disney classic and floor-filling disco anthem. Credits: Disney Records, Masterworks Jazz, Bee Gees/Reprise.  

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First recorded in 1934 by Lead Belly the 'Homicidal Harmoniser', David Cheal follows the waltzing lament of 'Goodnight, Irene' through interpretations by the Weavers, Ry Cooder and Bryan Ferry. Credits: Hallmark, H&H Music, Rhino/Warner Bros, Virgin Germany.  

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Going back to the roots of Lamont Dozier's 1977 hit, David Cheal uncovers TV inspiration, Woodstockian vibes and a question mark over the authorship of that famous guitar lick. Credits: Warner Music TV, Rhino/Elektra, Marathon Media International, Orlando Julius Afro House of High Life.  

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From the origin of the "grapevine" itself, through Motown and Marvin Gaye to The Slits' punk reinvention, Hilary Kirby charts the evolution of a classic. Credits: Motown Record Company, Motown Records, Island Def Jam Records.  

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Michael Jackson's first foray into rock helped dismantle barriers of genre — and race — in the early 1980s music business. Maria Crawford tells the story. Credits: Epic, Mercury Records.  

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Jan Dalley tells the story of the aria that united opera and football fans alike in a strange example of the power of posh music. Credits: ZYX Music, Naxos, Monument, Arista.  

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David Cheal investigates the roots of an explosive song often cited as the first ever rock 'n' roll record. Credits: Charly Records, Gralin Music, Famous Flames Recording Company, Proper Box.  

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David Cheal explores how Lou Reed got prostitution, transvestism, oral sex and drugs past the BBC commisariat with a group of white English 'coloured girls'. Credits: RCA/Legacy, Spectralite, Sony BMG Music Entertainment  

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John Leyton's 1961 "death disc" was born out of a séance and banned by the BBC but still reached Number 1. Cathi Unsworth tells the song's eerie tale and follows the trail of tears it left behind. Credit: Puzzle Productions/DMI; Goldenlane Records; Caribe Sound; EMI  

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It was written for Otis Redding but he never sang it, became a hit for the Bee Gees and covered by numerous bands in various genres but who was the unlikely inspiration for 'To Love Somebody'? Ian McCann tells the story. Credits: Bee Gees/Reprise; Ace Records; Sanctuary; London Records  

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This much-loved Christmas Carol uses words published by Cecil Sharp in 1911. But to what extent did he graft Christian elements onto a very different original? FT arts editor Jan Dalley traces the gender shifts which define the song’s evolution. Credit: Universal-Island Records Ltd; Warner Classics  

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A ballad as much about reunions as separations, Auld Lang Syne can signify everything from the year's end, to closing time in Japanese department stores. David Cheal explores the many incarnations of this sentimental Scottish song. Credit: Culburne Records; Lismor Recordings; Anti/Epitaph  

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An unforgettable track whose lyrics emerged from an all-night writing session, “Sunshine of Your Love” has been covered by Jimi Hendrix and Ella Fitzgerald. David Cheal seeks the source of the song’s primal brilliance. Credits: Legacy Recordings; Polydor Ltd; LRC Ltd; Groove Merchant Records  

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How did a dirge-like song about a serial killer written by a Marxist playwright and a left-wing composer become a swinging jazz classic and global commercial success? David Cheal follows a trail not yet gone cold. Credits: Naxos; Decca Music Group Ltd; Not Now Music; Delta  

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A pocket symphony, “Surf’s Up” was written by Brian Wilson at the peak of his creative brilliance. David Cheal discusses the Beach Boy who didn’t surf, and how he caught the wave of emerging 1960s counterculture. Credits: Capital Catalog, Smog Veil Records  

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Mike Hobart explores the history of Chic’s "Good Times", a last-gasp salute to disco inspired by the Great Depression and Harlem Renaissance. Credit: Atlantic Records, Sanctuary, Castle  

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The quintessential grunge anthem, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ hinted at the racial politics, school shootings and ennui which entangled America’s Generation X. David Honigmann traces the song’s evolution. Credit: Universal Music TV Campaign Division, Columbia, UMC (Universal Music Catalogue), Rhino Atlantic  

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Which song links a Haile Selassie UN speech with a Bob Marley vamp and the moment Sinead O’Connor was booed by 20,000 Bob Dylan fans? David Honigmann discusses “War”. Credit: Sony Legacy, 1992 Island Records, Rastafari Records, Keltia Musique  

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Mike Hobart charts the history of the tune that catalysed modern jazz and - through Charlie Parker - saw the beginning of bebop. Credits: Prestige Elite, Wild Plantage, Chronological Classics, Spotlite Records, Essential Jazz Classics  

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Blind Willie Johnson's gospelly, moaning adaptation of an 18th-century hymn might have seemed an odd choice for the disc of music attached to Voyager 1 in 1977. But artists from Ry Cooder to Jack White have been drawn to its ethereal power. Credit: Legacy/Columbia, Warner Bros., Alligator Records  

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"Lady Marmalade" began life as a sleazy soul anthem by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan before being funked up by Labelle, given an R&B twist by Sheila E and overlaid with cheesy rap for the film "Moulin Rouge". Ian McCann charts its evolution. Credit: Epic, 20th Century Records, Fania, Warner Bros., Polydor Associated Labels  

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Jacques Brel's impassioned tribute to the sailors and drunks of the port of Amsterdam inspired covers by Mort Shuman and Scott Walker. David Cheal traces its journey from David Bowie's stripped down version to Thierry Amiel's performance, which triumphantly returned the song to its original French.  

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This song has its roots in an ancient refugee crisis and the more recent struggle for racial equality. Over the years, it's been adopted by Fats Waller, The Four Lads and the rapper M.I.A. Written by Helen Brown and read by Anna Metcalfe. Credit: Hit Wonder, Document Records, Diamond Coast, Sinetone AMR and XL Recordings.  

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How did Bill Withers' little blues inspire a 1990s R&B hit and a Simon Cowell-produced football anthem? Ian McCann charts its history. Credit: Columbia, Legacy, Sony, Ministry of Sound, Syco  

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David Cheal discovers how this hymn to friendship eventually came to divide its creators Simon and Garfunkel, but went on to inspire more than 200 cover versions. Credit: Columbia, RCA, Legacy, Atlantic Records.  

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Jethro Tull's prog rock hit rejected the hippy idealism of Swinging London. Ian McCann explores its influence on musicians from Maynard Ferguson to Francis Dunnery. Credit: Parlophone UK, Wounded Bird Records, Rak, Warner Music.  

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Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" has been used in the campaigns of George HW Bush, Obama and, most recently, Bernie Sanders. Richard Clayton investigates the colonial overtones and contested legacy of America's alternative national anthem. Credit: Smithsonian Folkways Recording, Daptone Records, Delta, North Face and Jib Jab.  

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Tim Buckley's ode to doomed love has exerted a siren-like attraction for artists including This Mortal Coil, Robert Plant and John Frusciante. David Cheal examines its enduring power. Credit: Rhino, Warner Brothers, Chrome Dreams, 4AD, Virgin EMI, Parlaphone UK, Virgin UK  

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The coolification of Phil Collins is among pop's most curious turnarounds. Richard Clayton explains what the song owes to gangsta rap, "gated reverb" - and a drumming gorilla. Credit: Rhino, Atlantic, Def Jam  

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Before "Everything I Own" became a reggae classic, it was an ode to paternal love by Bread's David Gates. Ian McCann traces the history of one of the 1970's greatest romantic ballads. Credit: Rhino, Parlaphone UK, Sanctuary, Atlantic Records  

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"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison's Bret Michaels was the last popular flourish of transvestism in rock. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney discovers what inspired the classic power ballad. Credit: Capitol Catalog, Hollywood Records, Kidz Bop, BMB/Poor Boy Records  

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Miles Davis' "So What" is one of the most famous compositions in jazz. Ian McCann explores its many incarnations, from Ronny Jordan's funk hit to Smiley Culture's musings on racial unrest. Credit: Not Now Music, Columbia/Legacy, Universal-Island Records, Universal.  

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Written in a log cabin when Bon Iver had all but given up, "Skinny Love" was an unlikely pop hit. Richard Clayton investigates its rise, from covers by Birdy and Ed Sheeran to X Factor hopefuls the world over. Credit: 4AD, Atlantic, Elle, Sunbiz Sessions, X Factor  

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