How the songs you love most were really made

What's your milestone song? The song that instantly transports you to a moment or an emotion? The song that soundtracks your life's big moments — happy or sad?

Marc Myers, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, has compiled 45 milestone songs in his new book "Anatomy of the Song." For each single, he's compiled an oral history with the behind-the-scenes story of how the song was written and produced.

Myers joined MPR News host Kerri Miller to talk about pulling back the curtain on music production. He likened it to learning how a magic trick is performed. But unlike with magic tricks, knowing how a song was made doesn't ruin the fun.

"You become even more animated when you understand how these things were done in the studio, how they were written, and the accidents that happened to make them possible," Myers said.

Take Aretha Franklin's "Respect," for example. The song was originally written by Otis Redding, "but like with every song Aretha took on, she completely transformed it," Myers said.

Redding's original performance is a "very grunty, sweaty version. It's almost as if he's farming." Aretha's cover turned it into a women's empowerment ballad. And that powerful chorus, spelling out "R - E - S - P - E - C - T" — Franklin added that.

In "Anatomy of a Song," Myers has Keith Richards talking about "Street Fighting Man," Rod Stewart describing how "Maggie May" came together and Stevie Wonder on "Love's in Need of Love Today" — to name just a few.

It is by no means a complete list of the best songs ever recorded, Myers writes, but together they are "a subject collection of music milestones that I believe provide us with a greater understanding of the songs, the artist and the music's history."

To listen to the full interview with Marc Myers, complete with many milestone songs and the stories behind them, use the audio player above.