"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is based on billboards John Lennon and Yoko Ono posted two years earlier declaring "War Is Over! If You Want It."
Listen carefully and you'll hear the sound of birds in "Birds Of A Feather" by Billie Eilish. Her brother/producer Finneas couldn't resist putting them in, but he kept them real quiet in the mix.
The party tune "Mambo No 5 (A Little Bit Of)" was the theme song for the 2000 Democratic Convention (the party of Bill Clinton), until someone noticed the line, "A little bit of Monica in my life."
"Aberdeen" by Cage The Elephant is named after the birthplace of Kurt Cobain. It's in Grays Harbor County, Washington.
Before launching his career as a singer, Bruno Mars was a writer/producer. He and his co-writers pitched "Just The Way You Are" to Cee-Lo Green; when he turned it down, Bruno recorded it himself and released it in 2010 as his first single as a lead artist.
Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" is about Stevie Nicks' best friend, who died of leukemia.
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.
Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.
The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.
The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.
When a waitress wouldn't take him home, Jack wrote what would become one of the Eagles most enduring hits.