Send us a text

Some songs make you move without thinking. Others make you pay attention. This week, we explore the hooks that turned lyrics into spelling lessons, from Nat King Cole’s velvet charm to Aretha Franklin’s call for dignity to the sweaty-garage swagger of Gloria.

Christopher traces how letters became legends, how chants like Y.M.C.A. and S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night shook stadium walls, and why these spell-it-out classics; from Bo Diddley to The Kinks to John Cougar Mellencamp, are still burned into our brains.

It’s a crash course in musical wordplay featuring soul, rock, country, and disco icons who proved that spelling could groove just as hard as singing.

A music-history podcast where songs, stories, and cocktails mix.

Cocktail – The Spelling Bee
2 oz bourbon
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¾ oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and hot water)
¼ oz Cointreau

Shake hard with ice, strain into a coupe, and garnish with a lemon wheel and a drizzle of honey. Smooth, bright, and just sweet enough to make studying taste good.

Support the show

Who Ordered the Pie? a music history podcast with custom cocktail pairings.
Show notes, recipes, and extras: WhoOrderedThePie.com
Follow: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube • Instagram