The Grateful Dead considered "whipping that chain" and "lugging propane," but settled on "high on cocaine" for "Casey Jones."
The Pretenders are named after the 1956 song "The Great Pretender" by The Platters.
"Kickstart My Heart" is about all the ways Motley Crue gets their blood flowing without drugs. It was inspired by their bass player Nikki Sixx, who claimed he had to be revived with a shot of adrenaline to the heart after an overdose.
"Head Over Heels" by The Go-Go's is a metaphor for how things were getting out of control for the band; they broke up a year later.
Sarah McLachlan's "Possession" contains passages from letters a stalker sent her. He sued her for $250,000 and committed suicide before the trial.
"Hangin' Tough" came at the peak of New Kids on the Block mania. Their writer/producer Maurice Starr wrote it about the struggles the band faced early on. It was #1 in England and America.
We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have some rather unusual song titles - see if you can spot the real ones.
The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."
The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.
A talented lyricist, Philip helped revive Neil Sedaka's career with the words to "Laughter In The Rain" and "Bad Blood."