Alicia Keys wrote "If I Ain't Got You" just after she'd heard the news that Aaliyah had passed away. in a plane crash.
Neil Diamond originally wrote "I'm A Believer" for the Country artist Eddy Arnold. He was surprised when record executive Don Kirshner passed it instead to The Monkees.
"Everybody Wants To Rule The World" was a line from a 1980 Clash song called "Charlie Don't Surf." Tears For Fears used it as the title of their 1985 hit.
"One Week" by Barenaked Ladies was a #1 hit in America - for exactly one week in 1998.
"Cruise" climbed from 6-5 on the Hot 100 in its 34th week. In doing so it set a record for the slowest ascent to the Top 5 in the chart's history, which was beaten by Imagine Dragon's "Radioactive" 42-week clamber to #4 three weeks later.
The Bryan Adams song "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" was almost rejected for the movie Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves because it didn't sound medieval enough.
She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.
One of the most successful songwriters in the business, Desmond co-wrote "Livin' La Vida Loca," "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" and "Livin' On A Prayer."
Dean's saga began with "Ariel," a song about falling in love with a Jewish girl from New Jersey.
The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.
Evelyn McDonnell, editor of the book Women Who Rock, on why the Supremes are just as important as Bob Dylan.
