The first #1 hit with a rap was "Rapture" by Blondie in 1980. Debbie Harry's rhymes left lots of room for improvement.
Even though Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" was the first US #1 with the word "disco" in its title, it wasn't a disco tune. He was just singing about disco.
Otis Redding often ad-libbed vocals at the end of songs, but for "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" he just whistled instead - it became the most famous whistling in song history.
Bruce Springsteen's "Streets Of Philadelphia" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1994, beating out Neil Young's "Philadelphia," which was also written for the movie Philadelphia.
Will.I.am, literally dreamt up "I Gotta Feelin'." Said the Black Eyed Pea: "Have you ever had a dream where there's a melody in your dream? I'll wake up out of my sleep and record that! 'I Gotta Feelin' was one of those songs."
The lyrics for Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" were based on actual events relating to his daughter Judy's sweet 16 party. The teenager threw a tantrum and burst into tears when her mum and dad insisted that her grandparents had to be invited.
Petula talks about her hits "Downtown" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway," and explains her Michael Jackson connection.
The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).
Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.