Ariana Grande's hit "Problem" started off as a track written by One Direction songwriter Savan Kotecha. He gave it the working title of "The Whisper Song," after a 2005 Ying Yang Twins hit.
Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves had both gone through divorces when they wrote and recorded the wrenching duet "I Remember Everything." It was the first #1 Hot 100 hit for each of them.
"Zombie" by The Cranberries is about an IRA bombing in England that killed two children.
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.
Gwen Stefani wrote the early No Doubt song "Just a Girl" as a message to her overprotective father.
Chuck Berry's only #1 hit was "My Ding-a-Ling," a novelty song about a boy and his... you know.
These Three famous songs actually describe how they were written - late into the evening.
The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.
Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.
At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.
Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.
Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.