Iggy Pop wrote "Lust For Life" with David Bowie, who came up with the music on a ukulele.
"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."
David Bowie's "Station to Station" is over 10 minutes long. Bowie was doing a lot of drugs at the time and later said, "I have only flashes of making it."
When The Kinks released "Lola," most people didn't realize it was about a transvestite.
The lyrics to "Heartbreak Hotel" were written by a steel guitar player who was once a dishwasher repairman. He was inspired by a newspaper story about a man who killed himself and left behind a note saying only, "I walk a lonely street."
George Harrison's 1971 song "Bangla Desh" was the first major charity single. It was part of a concert held to bring relief to the people of Bangladesh, who were fighting for independence and suffering from a famine.
David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.
Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.
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.
Known in America for the hit "If You Leave," OMD is a huge influence on modern electronic music.
The former Dead Kennedys frontman on the past, present and future of the band, what music makes us "pliant and stupid," and what he learned from Alice Cooper.
"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."
