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Fridays are when we enjoy a new weekly series that's part history, part trivia, and ALL music. The series features selections from former News-Press editor Sheldon Zoldan's 'Song of the Day." The initiative began as a daily lockdown project on Facebook at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, through which Zoldan highlights how every aspect of life has a connection through music. This week's song of the day, for May 6, is “Hindenburg Lover” by Anson Seabra.

Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the ballad after witnessing the Battle for Baltimore in 1814. According to author Steve Vogel, after it was published, Key's composition took the country by storm. But it didn't become the national anthem until more than 100 years later.

It was Ronald Reagan who started the trend of using pop songs. Chris Willman, the chief music critic at Variety, gives a short history of 200 years of campaign music.

Orton almost quit music altogether after motherhood and label drama brought her career to a halt. She tells NPR's Jacki Lyden how she found the discipline to start over.

In 1963, civil rights activists wanted to recruit more of the city's young people to the cause. The way to their hearts was often through DJs and music.

The song Patria y Vida, or homeland and life, is a spin on the communist regime's decades-old slogan in Cuba of "patria o muerte" — homeland or death.

Sunni and Shiite Muslims have been in conflict for centuries. But a mosque in the Bay Area is trying to break down those walls. With music, open mic nights and open arms, they've found common ground.

Wildlife photographer Gerrit Vyn and essayist Scott Weidensaul share bird calls and discuss some of the remarkable abilities of birds. Both men contributed to a new book about North American birds.

Wildlife photographer Gerrit Vyn and essayist Scott Weidensaul share bird calls and discuss some of the remarkable abilities of birds. Originally broadcast Oct. 20, 2015.

Music critic Christian Hoard reviews Show Your Bones, the new album by the rock group the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the follow-up to their wildly successful debut, 2003's Fever to Tell.