There have been a handful of artists that I’ve interviewed over the years and sometimes you’ll ask them about a #1 song they have and the backstory to it. Some artists say “I wrote part of it, put it away and re-visited it two years later and finally finished it.”
Others have said, “It was something I heard a guy say at a bar and I wrote it down on a cocktail napkin and that became the hook of the song and we wrote it in 15 minutes.” (That was Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be,” by the way."
Some hit songs take no time at all and others are a labor of love. However, it’s another story when it comes to recording them in the studio, mastering the final product that your fans will hear and that will live forever. Some songs were one-take wonders and the others, let’s just say many frustrating hours were spent in the studio crafting the perfect song.
Here are 8 songs and how many takes it took to finally get them recorded, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, as well as previous interviews with the bands talking about the song’s history:
1. “Refugee” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: It took 100 takes
2. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Nirvana: 3
3. “Heroes”, David Bowie: 3
4. “Start Me Up”, The Rolling Stones: 38
5. “Every Breath You Take”, The Police: 1
6. “Riders on the Storm”, The Doors: 2 or 3
7. “All Along the Watchtower”, The Jimi Hendrix Experience: 27
8. “La Grange”, ZZ Top: 3
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