Located at 211 North First Street in Nashville, Tennessee, Roger Miller put a lot of work into the "King of the Road" motor inns. What's odd is that his song about a hobo lifestyle was turned into an enterprise for deluxe accommodations. The motel is now a Day's Inn.
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" was supposed to be titled "In The Garden Of Eden," but someone in the studio wrote down the title phonetically, and it stuck.
It really was so easy for Linda Ronstadt to score a hit with her Buddy Holly cover of "It's So Easy." She would sometimes change the lyric to: "It's so easy to have a hit, all you have to do is recycle it."
Beck's "Where It's At" is a nod to the early years of hip-hop when DJs would use two turntables to loop drum breaks, and a microphone to hype the crowd ("two turntables and a microphone...").
The 1979 song "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads deals with how technology could be exploited to take down the framework of society and enable government surveillance.
Kung Fu was big in 1974, with movies by Bruce Lee and a TV series called Kung Fu. Carl Douglas brought it to the dance floor that year with "Kung Fu Fighting," a #1 hit.
Radiohead's "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" is about the last surviving World War I veteran to fight in the trenches.
When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.
Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."
Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.
A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.
Lots of life lessons in these Eagles lyrics - can you match them to the correct song?
Richie talks about the impact of "Amazed," and how his 4-year-old son inspired another Lonestar hit.