Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, was the archetype for faraway mysticism when Bob Seger wrote a song about it in 1975.
"Babylon," in David Gray's song, refers to London, which was once known as the "modern-day Babylon."
Thanks to Eminem's song, the word "stan" was added to the Oxford American Dictionary in 2017. It means an obsessive fan.
"Me And Bobby McGee" was written by Kris Kristofferson and first recorded by Roger Miller. Janis Joplin's famous version turned Bobby into a boy.
When the Elvis stamps came out in 1993, lots of folks used them to mail letters with bad addresses so they would be Returned To Sender.
Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
Their frontman (Chris Cornell) started out as their drummer, so Soundgarden takes a linear approach when it comes to songwriting. Kim explains how they do it.
When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.
Pool balls, magpies and thorns without roses - how well do you know your Tom Waits lyrics?
For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.
