The French part in Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" explains that the killer is going after a girl, like Norman Bates in the movie Psycho.
Buddy Holly got the title for his hit song "That'll Be The Day" from a phrase John Wayne repeats in the 1956 movie The Searchers.
Adele's "Someone Like You" is the first song with just piano and voice to hit #1 in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, which started in 1958.
"Peg" by Steely Dan is told from the perspective of Peg's jilted ex-boyfriend as he watches her launch an acting career.
Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees on their 1967 tour, and it did not go well. The young, mostly female crowd shouted "Davy" when Hendrix sang the word "Lady" in "Foxy Lady" in honor of who they came to see: Monkees lead singer Davy Jones.
KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" was inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses.
You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?
Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.
Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.
The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.
Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.
One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.