Neil Diamond wrote "I'm A Believer" early in his career. It was a hit for The Monkees and revived by Smash Mouth in 2001 for the movie Shrek, helping make Diamond cool again.
Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, was the archetype for faraway mysticism when Bob Seger wrote a song about it in 1975.
The Exorcist theme music is a portion of "Tubular Bells," a 25-minute song released by 19-year-old Mike Oldfield.
"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.
The Mission: Impossible theme is in 5/4 time. Composer Lalo Schifrin joked that he did it so 5-legged aliens could dance to it.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
As Procol Harum's lyricist, Keith wrote the words to "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." We delve into that song and find out how you can form a band when you don't sing or play an instrument.
Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.
After studying in Paris with a famous composition teacher, Charles became the most successful writer of TV theme songs.
Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?
Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."
