Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is about their founding member Syd Barrett, who became an acid casualty. Notice the S-Y-D in the title.
"Master Blaster (Jammin')" is Stevie Wonder's tribute to Bob Marley, released less than a year before Marley died.
Kenny Loggins co-wrote the Doobie Brothers hit "What a Fool Believes," which is about a guy who just can't accept that an affair from long ago was meaningless to her.
Al Green's "Take Me to the River" describes a baptism. Two years later, he became a reverend.
Katy Perry says her 2008 song "Ur So Gay" is about "guys who wear the guyliner, steal your jeans, and that whole almost hipster emo scene."
A Soul Train dancer takes us through a day on the show, and explains what you had to do to get camera time.
When televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart took on rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the rockers retaliated. Bono could even be seen mocking the preachers.
The Christian rapper talks about where his trip to Haiti and his history of addiction fit into his songs.
After studying in Paris with a famous composition teacher, Charles became the most successful writer of TV theme songs.
Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.
He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."