"End Of The Road" by Boyz II Men comes off a bit thirsty, especially when we find out the girl cheated on him. The sketch show In Living Color parodied the song, with the group as "Boyz II Wimps."
The first big hit by an X Factor winner was "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, who won the British version of the show in 2008. The song was intended for Jesse McCartney, who wrote it with Ryan Tedder.
"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 Hollies' 1967 hit "Carrie Anne" is about the British singer-actress Marianne Faithfull, but with "Marianne" changed to "Carrie-Anne" to disguise it. Faithfull dated Allan Clarke of The Hollies.
When Rihanna's "Umbrella" was a hit in the summer of 2007, it rained constantly in London, prompting their newspaper The Sun to suggest a "Rihanna Curse."
Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" was released as a single in America because it has a catchy beat, but the lyrics describe a reign of terror instigated by the despot Pink, the main character in the concept album The Wall.
He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.
Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.
Jon Anderson breaks down the Yes classic "Seen All Good People" and talks about his 1000 Hands album, which features Chick Corea, Rick Derringer, Ian Anderson, and many other luminaries.
A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.