
"Diamonds From Sierra Leone" by Kanye West is about the "blood diamonds" mined using child labor in Africa. It also serves as a shout-out to Roc-A-Fella records, known for a diamond-shaped hand signal.

"Panama" by Van Halen is not about the country or the canal, but about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona.

"Sunday Girl" was written by Blondie guitarist Chris Stein to cheer up Debbie Harry after her cat had run away whilst they were away on tour. The gray cat was called Sunday Man.

Hozier's "Take Me to Church" drew inspiration from the atheist writer Christopher Hitchens. He called it "a bit of a losing your religion song."

Jeff Lynne sang the word "groose" in the chorus of "Don't Bring Me Down" as a nonsense placeholder, but left it in when he found out it means "greetings" in German ("gruss").
One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.
Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.
Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.
The Stooges guitarist (and producer of the Kill City album) talks about those early recordings and what really happened with David Bowie.
"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."
Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.