
Paul McCartney's favorite song that he wrote for someone else is Cilla Black's 1968 UK Top 10 hit "Step Inside Love."

After Cher revived "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" in 1990, Salt-N-Pepa released "Shoop" and Whitney Houston had a #1 hit with "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)."

The "pompatus of love" from the Steve Miller song "The Joker" comes from a line in a '50s doo-wop song Miller misheard: "puppetutes of love."
The New Year's Eve favorite "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish song that roughly translates to "Days Of Long Ago."

Ellie Goulding's hit single "Burn" was originally demoed by Leona Lewis for her 2011 Glassheart album. She scrapped the tune when the project was retooled to include more ballads.

"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.
The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.
The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.
"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.
Did Al play on a Beach Boys record? Did he have beef with George Lucas and Coolio? See if you can spot weird but true stories.
After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."
Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.