Country star Slim Whitman's version of the 1920s song "Rose Marie" spent 11 consecutive weeks at #1 in the UK in 1955, a record until 1991 when Bryan Adams’ "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" spent 16 weeks at the top.
Elton John's "Rocket Man" is based on a Ray Bradbury story called The Rocket Man published in 1951.
The Naughty by Nature hit "O.P.P." doesn't have any curse words, but many oversensitive radio stations played a "clean" version with the word "kitten" edited out, surely the first time that word was censured.
Yoko Ono has always denied requests to cover "Imagine" with the line "no religion, too" omitted or changed.
Judas Priest's "Evening Star" is a Christmas carol that describes the journey of the Magi from a first person perspective.
The horn flourish at the beginning of "Jump Around" comes from Bob and Earl's "Harlem Shuffle"; the squeal throughout the song might be a Prince sample.
From the lake in "Roundabout" to Sister Bluebird in "Starship Trooper," Jon Anderson talks about how nature and spirituality play into his lyrics for Yes.
Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.
It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.
Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.
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