"Chasing Pavements" isn't British slang - it's a saying Adele came up with when she found herself running out of a bar after a fight with her boyfriend. "He didn't chase after me! So I was running, just looking at these big wide pavements stretching in front me," she said.
The bedrock of David Guetta's Nicki Minaj-featuring single "Hey Mama" is a sample of "Rosie," a 1940s prison recording from folk archivist Alan Lomax that songwriter Esther Dean first showed the French DJ on YouTube.
Madonna's hit "Don't Tell Me" was written by her brother-in-law, Joe Henry, who has produced albums by Hugh Laurie and Bonnie Raitt.
Bono wrote U2's song "Sweetest Thing" for his wife to make up for working on her birthday. For the video, he staged an "apology parade," complete with Irish step dancers and an elephant.
Many people believe "Hotel California" is about a mental institution called the Camarillo, but the Eagles say it's about materialism and excess.
In The Beatles' "When I'm 64," Paul McCartney asks a woman if she'll still be there for him when he's 64. In 2006, he got his answer when shortly before his 64th birthday, he and Heather Mills separated.
Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.
Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!
Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.
You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.
Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.
Hitmaker Carl Sturken on writing and producing for Rihanna, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Donny Osmond, Shakira and Karyn White.