Behind The Lyrics Archives - American Songwriter

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The Billy Joel Lyric That Paid Homage to the Universal Experience of Sleeping With the TV On

The Elliott Smith Song About How Proximity To Love Can Be Worse Than Never Getting Near It

The Epic Bummer That Closed Out Neil Young’s Most Desolate Album

How Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris Eloquently Communicated the Ups and Downs of the Touring Life

The John Cale Lyric That Expertly Sets the Time and Place in Early 20th Century France

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Mickey Newbury’s Songwriting Brilliance Shone Brightest on This Sorrowful Set of Lyrics

February 4, 2026, 5:00 am
The 2012 Folk Rock Jam That Catches Bob Dylan at His Most Ornery

February 2, 2026, 6:00 am
The Who Lyric That Sang the Praises of a Recreational Vehicle
How Tom Petty Repaid Roger McGuinn With an Incisive Lyric About Life in Los Angeles

January 29, 2026, 5:00 am
How The Rolling Stones Masked Lyrical Criticism of Their Home Country in a Peppy 80s Track

January 28, 2026, 6:00 am
The Beatles’ George Harrison Once Urged Bob Dylan To Return to the Spotlight Through Song

January 25, 2026, 4:00 pm
The U2 Lyric That Depicts the Plight of an Ineffectual Angel

January 22, 2026, 8:00 am
The Ben Folds Lyric That Looks Back With a Smirk on a Series of Unfortunate Events

January 22, 2026, 6:30 am
How Robbie Robertson Paid Tribute to Richard Manuel in Song
The Song of Sad Surrender That Closed Out a Classic Album by The National

January 18, 2026, 10:30 am
The Historically Epic Lyric That Closed The Eagles’ Finest Album

January 18, 2026, 7:30 am
The Decemberists’ Lyric That Depicts the Sweet Agony of Teenage Romance

January 16, 2026, 8:00 am

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