The songwriting team Leiber and Stoller wrote "Hound Dog" for a blues singer named Big Mama Thronton, who first recorded the song in 1953. Elvis covered it in 1956, and it became his biggest hit.
"Heaven" by The Psychedelic Furs sounds upbeat, but is about an impending nuclear bombardment.
"Rosanna" by Toto got its name from the actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro.
Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin got the name "Levon" from Levon Helm, who was the drummer in The Band.
In 2010, the biggest-selling song in the UK was "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem.
Yoko Ono has always denied requests to cover "Imagine" with the line "no religion, too" omitted or changed.
Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.
A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.
Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.