The Starland Vocal Band got the title "Afternoon Delight" from the late-afternoon appetizer menu at the restaurant Clyde's Of Georgetown in Washington, DC.
John Mellencamp considers "Pink Houses" an "anti-American song," laying bare the struggles of the poor and working class.
The hit duet "Somewhere Out There" was written for an animated film about a family of immigrant mice who lose one of their young.
John Lennon wrote "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" about Richard Cooke, a hunter he met at the Maharishi's camp in India. Cooke hasn't shot anything since the camp, except with his camera - he became a freelance photographer for National Geographic.
The melody to "Yesterday" came to Paul McCartney in a dream, but the lyrics he had to write consciously. His first attempt at the title was "Scrabble Eggs."
Thanks to Eminem's song, the word "stan" was added to the Oxford American Dictionary in 2017. It means an obsessive fan.
Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.
Lots of life lessons in these Eagles lyrics - can you match them to the correct song?
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.
Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?
Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.