The Goo Goo Dolls got the title for their song "Iris" from a country singer named Iris DeMent. The word doesn't show up in the lyric; lead singer Johnny Rzeznik said he was "trying to be pretentious and arty by calling it that."
Train wrote the 2011 song "Brand New Book" for the TV show The Biggest Loser - part of the song was used in the opening credits.
"I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock Of Seagulls ends with an alien abduction.
Michael Jackson wrote the Diana Ross hit "Muscles," which he named after his pet boa constrictor.
The R.E.M. song "Don't Go Back To Rockville" is about Mike Mills' girlfriend at the University of Georgia, who had to go back to Rockville, Maryland, for the summer.
Featured in the 1978 musical Evita, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" became the biggest selling UK hit by a female vocalist (Julie Covington).
Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.
Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.
Dennis DeYoung explains why "Mr. Roboto" is the defining Styx song, and what the "gathering of angels" represents in "Come Sail Away."
When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception.
The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.
David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.