The band Simple Minds took their name from the line "He's so simple minded he can't drive his module" in David Bowie's "The Jean Genie."
Adele's "Someone Like You" is the first song with just piano and voice to hit #1 in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, which started in 1958.
The Exorcist theme music is a portion of "Tubular Bells," a 25-minute song released by 19-year-old Mike Oldfield.
Jay-Z was going to ask Mary J. Blige to duet on "Empire State of Mind," but he decided on Alicia Keys when he heard the piano stabs on the track.
The "pompatus of love" from the Steve Miller song "The Joker" comes from a line in a '50s doo-wop song Miller misheard: "puppetutes of love."
The philosophical Kansas song "Dust In The Wind" is inspired by a line of Native American poetry: "For all we are is dust in the wind."
In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.
Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.
Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."
"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."
Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.
Rob Thomas on his Social Distance Sessions, co-starring with a camel, and his friendship with Carlos Santana.