The UK band The Lightning Seeds of "Pure" fame got their name from a misheard line in Prince's "Raspberry Beret," mistaking "thunder drowns out what the lightning sees" for "thunder drowns out the lightning seeds."
Elton John had a huge hit duetting with Kiki Dee on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," but he's also performed it with RuPaul and Miss Piggy.
The comedian Steve Martin had a hit in 1978 with "King Tut." The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who Martin would open for on tour, were his backing band on the song.
The Steve Miller song "Abracadabra" was inspired by Diana Ross and The Supremes. Miller first met the girl group when they performed together on NBC's Hullabaloo in 1966, and he wrote the lyrics after spotting Diana Ross skiing years later.
"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour incorporates speeches by John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" was written by Boy George about his relationship with Culture Club's drummer Jon Moss.
In this talk from the '80s, the Kansas frontman talks turning to God and writing "Dust In The Wind."
An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.
Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.
Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.