Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" is about the commercialization of Hawaii. On her first trip to the islands, she looked out of her hotel window and saw a parking lot as far as the eye could see.
Snow Patrol had a huge hit in 2006 with the love song "Chasing Cars." The title alludes to how dogs chase cars just for the thrill of it, the same way two people deeply in love will embark on open-ended adventures, content to be in each others' company with no clear destination.
Lily Allen wrote "Something's Not Right" for the soundtrack of the Peter Pan prequel, Pan. The song was inspired by the heartache that Allen experienced after suffering a miscarriage when she was six months pregnant with her first child by husband Sam Cooper in 2010.
"Piano Man" was inspired by Billy Joel's time playing at a piano bar in Los Angeles. The "real estate novelist" was a guy who always talked about writing a book, but spent all his spare time in the bar.
When the Christian band DC Talk covered Nirvana's "All Apologies" at concerts, they would change the line "Everyone is gay" to "Jesus is the Way."
KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" was inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses.
After studying in Paris with a famous composition teacher, Charles became the most successful writer of TV theme songs.
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Evelyn McDonnell, editor of the book Women Who Rock, on why the Supremes are just as important as Bob Dylan.
His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?