"The House Of The Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, either about a brothel or a prison.
"I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me) " borrows four bars from Notorious B.I.G's "The World Is Filled." Jay-Z and Biggie Smalls attended Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn, New York at the same time.
"The Cave" by Mumford & Sons is based on the philosophy of Plato and his work called "Allegory of the Cave."
"Dirty Work" is one of the few Steely Dan songs not sung by Donald Fagen. The lead vocal is by David Palmer, who sang on two tracks from their debut album.
"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."
"Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel was the unlikely choice for a torture scene in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs.
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.
Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.
Donny Osmond talks about his biggest hits, his Vegas show, and the fan who taught him to take "Puppy Love" seriously.
Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.
What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.
