Pete Townshend wrote the lyrics for "My Generation" during a train ride from London to Southampton on his 20th birthday.
"Criminal" is Fiona Apple's only chart hit. Royalties from it allow her to make music on her terms, releasing albums several years apart.
It took John Fogerty just 20 minutes to write "Fortunate Son" for Creedence Clearwater Revival's Willy And The Poorboys album..
It really was so easy for Linda Ronstadt to score a hit with her Buddy Holly cover of "It's So Easy." She would sometimes change the lyric to: "It's so easy to have a hit, all you have to do is recycle it."
45% of the royalties for "Somebody That I Used To Know" go to the estate of the Brazilian classical guitarist Luiz Bonfá, whose song "Seville" Gotye sampled.
The Texas songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker wrote "Mr. Bojangles" after a weekend in jail where a fellow inmate told him his life story.
Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.
A top country songwriter, Barry talks about writing hits for Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.
An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
The top chant artist in the Western world, Krishna Das talks about how these Hindu mantras compare to Christian worship songs.