Christa McAuliffe holding a model of the Challenger, on which she perished in January 1986; Denver's song is a moving tribute to her and her crew mates.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' biggest hit is "Under The Bridge," a ballad not typical of their sound. Frontman Anthony Kiedis wrote the lyric after an acute bout of loneliness.
Meghan Trainor wrote "Lips Are Movin" in just eight minutes with her writing partner Kevin Kadish. Inspiration for the song was frustration with Trainor's record label.
Al Green's commitment classic "Let's Stay Together" launched Tina Turner's comeback when she covered the song in 1983.
A key line in "Africa" is "I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become," which is about drifting away from what you really want in life. Toto keyboard player David Paich, who wrote the song, felt his work was consuming him.
"Diamonds From Sierra Leone" by Kanye West is about the "blood diamonds" mined using child labor in Africa. It also serves as a shout-out to Roc-A-Fella records, known for a diamond-shaped hand signal.
"Whole Lotta Love" was Led Zeppelin's only US Top 10 hit, charting at #4. Many of their songs, including "Stairway To Heaven," were not released as singles, as it was considered bad form in the UK to make fans pay for singles that were also on albums.
A founding member of the band War, Harold gives a first-person account of one of the most important periods in music history.
The singer-songwriter Melanie talks about her spiritual awakening at Woodstock, "Brand New Key," and why songwriting is an art, not a craft.
The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.
