David Bowie's "Space Oddity" tells the story of an astronaut who cuts off communication and floats into space. The BBC used it extensively in their coverage of the 1969 moon landing - an odd choice considering the lyrics.
Elvis Costello says "Everyday I Write The Book" is a knockoff of Nick Lowe's "When I Write the Book."
"Human" by The Killers was the most streamed song on Spotify in 2008, the year that the music streaming service was launched.
"I Won't Back Down" is a very personal song for Tom Petty. "I thought it wasn't that good because it was so naked," he said.
Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" was co-written by Sarah Hudson, who is a singer-songwriter and a member of the Pop group Ultraviolet Sound. Though Sarah isn't related to Katy (whose real name is Katy Hudson), she is the first cousin of another famous person with the same name, the actress Kate Hudson.
Eminem sampled a song by Labi Siffre on "My Name Is." Siffre, a gay activist, made Em take out some gay humor in the lyric before allowing it.
"How much does it cost? I'll buy it?" Another songwriter told Jonathan to change these lyrics. Good thing he ignored this advice.
When he was asked to write a song for the Singles soundtrack, Mark thought the Seattle grunge scene was already overblown, so that's what he wrote about.
The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Taylor talks about "The Machine" - the hits, the videos and Clive Davis.
The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.
