Neil Young was married when he wrote "Cinnamon Girl," which clearly was not about his wife. He had a hard time explaining it to her.
"Soul Man" was a new term when the song was written in 1967. As defined by Sam & Dave, the "soul man" was a farmer "comin' to ya on a dusty road."
Before recording "Boom Clap" herself, Charli XCX offered the song to Hilary Duff, but her people turned down the tune because it "wasn't cool enough for Hilary."
"Unchained Melody" first appeared in a 1955 movie called Unchained. The Righteous Brothers recorded it in 1965, and their version was resurrected in the 1990 movie Ghost.
"She Loves You" by The Beatles was the song that convinced Ozzy Osbourne to make music his life. The Beatles were a big influence on him because they were also poor kids from a small town in England.
Boston leader Tom Scholz went back to his job at Polaroid after releasing the group's debut album. When his co-workers kept coming by to tell him "More Than A Feeling" was playing on the radio, he knew it was time to quit his day job.
Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.
Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.
"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.
After studying in Paris with a famous composition teacher, Charles became the most successful writer of TV theme songs.
One of Canada's most popular and eclectic performers, Hawksley tells stories about his oldest songs, his plentiful side projects, and the ways that he keeps his songwriting fresh.
