The idea for "The Man Comes Around" came to Johnny Cash from a dream he had where he was in Buckingham Palace and the Queen said to him, "Johnny Cash, you're just like a thorn tree in a whirlwind."
Bruce Springsteen's "Streets Of Philadelphia" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1994, beating out Neil Young's "Philadelphia," which was also written for the movie Philadelphia.
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."
Eminem sampled Dido's "Thank You" for his song "Stan," and Dido appeared in his video as Stan's unfortunate wife.
Eric Clapton's only Hot 100 #1, either solo or with one of his many bands, was his cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff."
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" is about a guy Jim Croce met in the National Guard, which Jim joined to keep him out of Vietnam. Leroy went AWOL, but got caught when he tried to pick up his paycheck.
Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.
When Dave recorded the first version of the song with his group the Blasters, producer Nick Lowe gave him some life-changing advice.
The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."
When a waitress wouldn't take him home, Jack wrote what would become one of the Eagles most enduring hits.
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.