The NPR 100

Composer Samuel Barber's best-known work was first performed as an orchestral piece in 1938. Now it's standard repertoire for string orchestra, in part due to its presence in two well-known films: Platoon and The Elephant Man.

As part of NPR's look at the 100 greatest songs of the 20th century, we hear the story behind the classic R&B ballad "Let's Stay Together." With its plea for two people to hang in there, whether times are good or bad, it quickly became an anthem to lovers. NPR's Elizabeth Blair talks to singer Al Green and producer Willie Mitchell.

Billie Holiday's "Fine and Mellow," as she performed it on the 1957 television broadcast The Sound of Jazz, is considered by some (including commentator Nat Hentoff) to be among the best of her career.

He improvised it on stage one night in 1959. But when he heard the audience respond, he knew that his simple call-and-response tune would make for a hit. Long afterward, Ray Charles continued to play "What'd I Say" as an encore to his concerts.

The mythology surrounding the late Jim Morrison and The Doors obscures their contribution to a major shift in American rock 'n' roll. Their music borrowed elements from American jazz and blues, British psychedelic rock and the surf guitar of Southern California. And in 1967, they broke the mold of the conventional hit pop song when "Light My Fire" went to the top of the charts.

Tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins' 1939 performance of "Body and Soul" was a great evolutionary leap for jazz. It became a hit right away, but Hawkins never played it the same way again, preferring to create new styles rather than replay those already in the jazz vernacular. Tom Moon discusses the importance of Hawkins' "Body and Soul."

The popularity of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," by the Seattle rock band Nirvana, announced the dominance of grunge music over the synthesized sounds of late-'80s pop and rock. Nirvana remains widely celebrated as a rock band that, unlike many of its peers, became enormously popular on its own terms.

Loretta Lynn's classic song "Coal Miner's Daughter" tells an autobiographical story about growing up in poverty in Butcher Hollow, Ky. When she was 13, the singer got married, moved to Bellingham, Wash., and started a family. Her first recording, 1960's "Honky Tonk Girl," catapulted Lynn to fame. In an interview with Liane Hansen, she talks about her life and writing "Coal Miner's Daughter."

The music for the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, features the beloved classics "Over the Rainbow," "We're Off to See the Wizard" and "If I Only Had a Brain." Author John Fricke discusses the stories behind the songs.

Buddy Holly's song "Peggy Sue" didn't start out as a classic at all. It wasn't until they added a few paradiddles and changed the chorus from Cindy Lou that the song finally made it out of the studio and onto the charts.

The Ramones' first album contained 14 songs, and lasted less than 30 minutes. It's these short, fast and loud songs that reflect the band's trademark sound — in 1976 a very different approach to rock music. NPR's Bob Boilen offers this appreciation for the song "I Wanna Be Sedated," from The Ramones' 1978 album Road to Ruin.

The early 1970s saw a new culture developing in the Bronx. In nightclubs and at house parties, DJs and MCs spent countless hours developing hip-hop as an art form. But it took The Sugarhill Gang, and a song called "Rapper's Delight," to get it on the radio.

Irving Berlin wrote nearly a thousand songs, which include the standards "God Bless America" and "There's No Business Like Show Business." But "White Christmas," recorded by Bing Crosby and others, has proved to be his most popular song.

Commentator Evelyn C. White describes the life-affirming effect that Aretha Franklin's powerful anthem, "Respect," had on her and other young black women growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Though the song was written by Otis Redding, it came to help define Franklin's career.

Nearly 60 years ago, Dizzy Gillespie wrote a song that still ranks among the most popular jazz standards around: "A Night in Tunisia." While it's one of Gillespie's earliest compositions, you can already hear two trademarks of his music: Afro-Cuban rhythms and an innovative approach to harmony and melody, which would fuel a jazz revolution called bebop.

NPR's John Burnett travels to New Orleans in search of the jazz masterpiece "West End Blues," written by Joe "King" Oliver. It was Louis Armstrong's 1928 recording that put the song in the jazz pantheon and cemented Armstrong's place in jazz history.

Steve Reich's 1971 piece "Drumming" is widely considered a masterpiece of minimalism, as well as one of the touchstones of late-20th-century music. It was also a turning point in Reich's career. As a student at Mills College in California, he was a member of an improv group, but the key to Reich's future wasn't in the classroom; it was on quarter-inch tape.

Paul Simon's landmark 1986 album Graceland represents a fusion of Simon's American songcraft and South African music. When the album first came out, it was praised as groundbreaking and criticized as colonialist. Today, the former opinion prevails. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports.

Woody Guthrie scribbled the words to "This Land Is Your Land" down on a loose-leaf sheet of paper in 1940. He recorded it for Moses Asch, founder of Folkways Records, in 1944, but the song wasn't released until 1951. By that time, "This Land Is Your Land" had become something of a leftist national anthem.

Brian Wilson composed The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" by stitching together many recording sessions. The result is a song that today stands as an American classic. Bob Boilen speaks with Wilson and other musicians from the "Good Vibrations" sessions about the revolutionary song.

"Take the 'A' Train" was written in 1938 by Billy Strayhorn to impress his prospective employer, Duke Ellington. It became one of the most recognizable jazz tunes of all time, and Ellington and Strayhorn became inseparable collaborators. NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports.

When it came out as a single in 1954, the Muddy Waters song hovered near the top of the rhythm-and-blues charts for 13 weeks. Over the course of his long career, Waters re-interpreted the song numerous times, each one capturing the changes in the blues. "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" is one of the NPR 100. NPR's David Welna reports.

"Once in a Lifetime," from Talking Heads' 1980 album Remain in Light, marked a change in the way the band worked: creating songs around improvised riffs and grooves recorded during jams in the studio. By recognizing the growing influence of hip-hop techniques on pop music, Talking Heads and producer Brian Eno embraced the future of music.

Written for the 1937 musical Babes in Arms, the Rodgers and Hart tune remains a perennial February favorite — even though its lyrics don't exactly make for a sappy love song. Those words were written by a talented but troubled man.