Johnny Cash's wife, June Carter, wrote "Ring Of Fire" about their relationship.
"In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins was revived when it was used in the first episode of Miami Vice, three years after it was released.
"Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by The Clash features some Spanish lines by the Texas singer Joe Ely.
Aretha Franklin didn't drive, but one of her biggest hits was a car song: "Freeway Of Love."
Dido helped shut down a Neo-Nazi Web site after learning it was using "White Flag" to promote its hateful messages. Owners of the site had misinterpreted the track as racist and thought they represented their white supremacy views.
The hitmaking songwriter/producer Sam Hollander with stories about songs for Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Pentatonix, and Fitz And The Tantrums.
The trail runs from flying saucer songs in the '50s, through Bowie, blink-182 and Katy Perry.
He wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" so he could direct a video about a home for deranged scientists.
The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
