Christine McVie wrote "Songbird" for Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album in just half a hour after she woke up in the middle of the night with the song in her head.
Radiohead's "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" is about the last surviving World War I veteran to fight in the trenches.
The Ricky Martin song "She Bangs" found new life when William Hung performed it so horribly on a 2004 episode of American Idol that it went viral.
John Lennon wrote "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" about Richard Cooke, a hunter he met at the Maharishi's camp in India. Cooke hasn't shot anything since the camp, except with his camera - he became a freelance photographer for National Geographic.
"Rockin' In The Free World" is a very pro-America title, but the song takes on politicians who are indifferent to the poor and disenfranchised.
"We're An American Band" by Grand Funk describes real events on their 1972 tour, including an encounter with a legendary groupie called "Sweet Connie."
The Brazilian rocker sees pictures in his riffs. When he came up with one of his gnarliest songs, there was a riot going on.
The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.
The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
Chad tells tales from his time as drummer for Nirvana, and talks about his group Before Cars.
The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.