In 1939, a polka craze swept America thanks to "Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out The Barrel)."
The Split Enz song "Six Months In A Leaky Boat" is about the journey explorers made from Europe to colonize Australia and New Zealand, where the band is from.
The Pussycat Dolls his "Don't Cha" was written by Cee-Lo Green and Sir Mix-a-Lot.
MTV reversed the word "joint" in Tom Petty's "You Don't Known How It Feels" so it was unintelligible, but gave the video a VMA anyway.
Holland-Dozier-Holland originally wrote "Where Did Our Love Go" with The Marvelettes in mind, but they turned it down. Marvelettes lead singer Gladys Horton sang in a lower key than Diana Ross, so when The Supremes came to record the tune, Ross was forced to sing in a lower, breathier style than she was used to.
The title of Al Stewart's "Year Of The Cat" comes from Vietnamese astrology. The Year of the Cat comes every 12 Years: 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023...
A top country songwriter, Barry talks about writing hits for Little Big Town, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean.
The trail runs from flying saucer songs in the '50s, through Bowie, blink-182 and Katy Perry.
For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.
Dwarfs on stage with an oversize Stonehenge set? Dabbling in Satanism? Find out which Spinal Tap-moments were true for Black Sabbath.
"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."
Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.
