Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff" deals with police brutality in the Trenchtown section of Jamaica, where he grew up. He felt that police assumed young men in the area were all criminals.
The song "Grease," sung by Frankie Valli in the 1978 movie, was written by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees.
"I Want It That Way" is the most popular Backstreet Boys song, but the lyric doesn't make much sense. That's because it was written by the hitmaking swedish producers Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson, who were more worried about how it sings than what it means.
Journey lead singer Steve Perry wrote the rather dramatic "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" with the opening lyrics, "You make me weep, I wanna die," after seeing his girlfriend kissing another man.
Bryan Adams' 1987 song "Heat Of The Night" has the distinction of being the first commercially released cassette single in the US.
Jethro Tull lead singer Ian Anderson wrote "Aqualung" after looking at pictures of homeless men that his wife took. She got a co-writing credit on the song.
The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.
If the name Citizen Dick means anything to you, there's a chance you'll get some of these right.
Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.
Country songs with titles so bizarre they can't possibly be real... or can they?
Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.
Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.