In 1968, singer and songwriter Graham Nash joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash. All of them had already been in successful bands: Graham Nash had been in The Hollies; David Crosby was in The Byrds; and Stephen Stills was in Buffalo Springfield. The next year, Neil Young joined them, to make Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The four of them released Deja Vu in 1970, and that album was a huge success. It sold over 8 million copies. It includes the song “Our House,” and for this episode, I spoke to Graham Nash about the making of that song, and the relationship that led to the song.

You can buy or stream “Our House” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Dallas Taylor – drums
Greg Reeves – bass
Joni Mitchell
Chateau Laurier
The Everly Brothers
“You Don’t Have to Cry”
Wally Heider Studios

Twitter

Facebook

Email

Pharrell Williams is—well, let me just say, he’s a big reason why Song Exploder exists. He’s a singer, songwriter and producer, and in the 90s, when I first heard the work he was doing with The Neptunes, which was his production duo with Chad Hugo, it blew my mind. It made me want to know where those sounds came from and where those ideas came from. Pharrell has won 13 Grammys. He’s been nominated for two Oscars. He’s produced iconic songs for Kendrick Lamar and Britney Spears and Clipse and Gwen Stefani, and so many others. And on his own, he’s made songs like “Happy,” the giant hit for Despicable Me that was the best-selling song of 2014. And now, there’s a movie about his life called Piece by Piece. But it’s an animated Lego film. For this episode, I talked to Pharrell about the title song from Piece By Piece. So coming up, you’ll hear how Pharrell built the song, including a first draft that never saw the light of day. You’ll hear how he first built “Piece by Piece” by programming it on his own with MIDI instruments, and then adding and replacing those parts with other musicians, including the high school marching band that he used to play in.

You can buy or stream “Piece by Piece” here.

For the Song Exploder episode with Run The Jewels about the song “JU$T,” which features backing vocals from Pharrell, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Brent Paschke – guitar
Princess Ann High School Fabulous Marching Cavaliers
“Beautiful” – Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell Williams
The scorpion jacket that Ryan Gosling wears in the movie Drive
1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
Logic Pro
Clavichord

Troye Sivan is a singer and songwriter from Australia. He’s been nominated for a Golden Globe, two Grammys, and he’s won four of Australia’s ARIA awards. His song “My My My!” was a #1 hit on the Billboard Dance Chart, and his third album, Something to Give Each Other, was one of Billboard’s picks for the best albums of 2023. Troye’s also an actor; he was in the HBO series The Idol, which figures into the story that he tells about this song. Troye came to the studio and we talked about how he made one of his big hits, the song “One of Your Girls.” For that song, he worked with two of his longtime collaborators: his frequent songwriting partner, Leland, and producer Oscar Görres.

You can buy or stream “One Of Your Girls” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:

Max Martin – synth
Adele
Lady Gaga
Marabou
Daft Punk
“One Of The Girls”
The Weeknd
Backstreet Boys
“Baby One More Time”
1989
“Bloom”

Twitter

Facebook

Email