"I Wish" by Skee-Lo was the first hit song to use the word "baller" in the chorus ("I wish I was a baller..."). That term pervaded pop music over the next several year.
Paul McCartney based the "Eleanor Rigby" story on old ladies he met at his housing estate. He saw how sometimes when they died, nobody really noticed.
"Love Is A Battlefield" was written as a ballad, but Pat Benatar's guitarist/husband turned it into an uptempo song.
"Don't Dream It's Over" is the biggest hit for Crowded House, whose lead singer, Neil Finn, sang it on tour when he joined Fleetwood Mac. He wrote the song when he was feeling a bit lost as a way of urging himself on.
Chrissie Hynde got the phrase "Brass In Pocket" from a Northern England slang term meaning you had some money, "brass" meaning coins.
The inspiration for Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" came when he was worrying about his girlfriend, who was out at bars all day while he was home writing songs.
With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."
Holly Knight talks about some of the hit songs she wrote, including "The Warrior," "Never" and "The Best," and explains some songwriting philosophy, including how to think of a bridge.
Is Owl City on a quest for another hit like "Fireflies?" Adam answers that question and explains the influences behind many others.
Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."
Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.
