Pete Townshend wrote the lyrics for "My Generation" during a train ride from London to Southampton on his 20th birthday.
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.
The Texas songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker wrote "Mr. Bojangles" after a weekend in jail where a fellow inmate told him his life story.
"Kiss On My List" by Hall & Oates is actually an anti-love song - the kiss is just one item on a list, and by no means the best.
"Mercedes Boy" by Pebbles is about a real guy she fell in love with - they both drove Mercedes when she wrote it.
KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" was inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
The Sevendust frontman talks about the group's songwriting process, and how trips to the Murder Bar helped forge their latest album.
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
Pete produced Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Meat Puppets, and a very memorable track for Roy Orbison.
Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.
Gramm co-wrote this gorgeous ballad and delivered an inspired vocal, but the song was the beginning of the end of his time with Foreigner.