Sarah McLachlan wrote "Angel" about the Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin, who overdosed on heroin and died in 1996.
"Walking In Memphis" isn't so much about Memphis as it is The Hollywood Cafe in Mississippi, where Marc Cohn encountered an older woman named Murial playing piano.
Radiohead's "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" is about the last surviving World War I veteran to fight in the trenches.
"Zoot Suit Riot" isn't just a Cherry Poppin' Daddies song - they were real riots in Los Angeles in 1943 that inspired the lyrics.
"You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals was the first hit song to use the word "frenemies" in the lyrics.
Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" started life in a writing session between Dr. Luke and Sacha Skarbek intended for Beyonce. However, as the song progressed, they realized that it wouldn't work for her.
U2, Carly Simon, Joanna Newsom, Brian Wilson and Fiona Apple have all gone to Van Dyke Parks to make their songs exceptional.
Andrew Farriss on writing with Michael Hutchence, the stories behind "Mystify" and other INXS hits, and his country-flavored debut solo album.
Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.
Dwarfs on stage with an oversize Stonehenge set? Dabbling in Satanism? Find out which Spinal Tap-moments were true for Black Sabbath.
Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.
The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.