
Lucinda Williams' track "Compassion" is based on a poem by her father, lauded Arkansas poet Miller Williams.

"If It Makes You Happy" by Sheryl Crow is about the sour grapes some of her collaborators from her first album expressed to the media when they felt slighted.

Michael Jackson wrote the Diana Ross hit "Muscles," which he named after his pet boa constrictor.

Ariana Grande's hit "Problem" started off as a track written by One Direction songwriter Savan Kotecha. He gave it the working title of "The Whisper Song," after a 2005 Ying Yang Twins hit.

"Every Breath You Take" by The Police feels like a love song, but a careful listen reveals it's about a stalker. Sting called it "a nasty little song, really rather evil. It's about jealousy and surveillance and ownership."
A scholarly analysis of yacht rock favorites ("Steal Away," "Baker Street"...) with a member of the leading YR cover band.
Dan cracked the Top 40 with "Ritual," then went to India and spent 2 hours with the Dalai Lama.
You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?
"Missing You" was a spontaneous outpouring of emotion triggered by a phone call. John tells that story and explains what MTV meant to his career.
Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.