Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" to comfort John Lennon's 5-year-old son Julian, whose parents were getting a divorce.
"Soul Man" was a new term when the song was written in 1967. As defined by the song's co-writer, David Porter, the Soul Man doesn't have a fancy big-city slant, but has "the emotional thing happening inside of him that made people really love him."
Madonna's hit "Like A Prayer" debuted in a Pepsi commercial, but Pepsi pulled the ad the next day when the controversial video appeared. Madonna got to keep her $5 million endorsement money.
The Goo Goo Dolls got the title for their song "Iris" from a country singer named Iris DeMent. The word doesn't show up in the lyric; lead singer Johnny Rzeznik said he was "trying to be pretentious and arty by calling it that."
Ariana Grande's hit "Problem" started off as a track written by One Direction songwriter Savan Kotecha. He gave it the working title of "The Whisper Song," after a 2005 Ying Yang Twins hit.
Nelly's "Country Grammar" is a celebration of his hometown of St. Louis, which some folks from the coasts consider "country" because it's in the Midwest.
Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.
The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.
In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.
The 10 biggest "retirement tours" that didn't take.
One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.
John tells the "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" story and explains why he disappeared for so long.