When he met Delilah DiCrescenzo, Plain White T's lead singer Tom Higgenson told her he'd write a song about her, and came up with the first verse of "Hey There Delilah" on the spot.
Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" spent 24 weeks on top of the country chart- the most ever until Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road" was #1 for 34 weeks. The record was previously held by Eddy Arnold's "I'll Hold You in My Heart (1947-48), Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On" (1950-51) and Webb Pierce's "In the Jailhouse Now" (1955), which each led for 21 weeks.
John Lennon got the title of the Beatles song "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" from an article in a magazine published by the National Rifle Association.
"Mercedes Boy" by Pebbles is about a real guy she fell in love with - they both drove Mercedes when she wrote it.
Pete Townshend wrote The Who's "Pinball Wizard" to coax a good review for the Tommy album out of a rock critic who loved pinball. It worked.
"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia was first recorded by the group Ednaswap in 1993. It was written by Ednaswap's Anne Previn and Scott Cutler, who went on to write some hits for Miley Cyrus.
It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.
On the "schizoid element" of his lyrics, and a famous line from "Everything Zen."
Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.
Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.