Neil Young wrote the CSN&Y song "Ohio" about the Kent State Shootings, when the National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four.
War got the idea for "Why Can't We Be Friends?" when they were traveling in Japan and found they had a kinship with the citizens even though they didn't speak the same language.
Steely Dan's engineer, Roger Nichols, built one of the first drum machines, which they used on "Hey Nineteen."
Ed Sheeran's "Bloodstream" was written after an experience taking MDMA during a wedding celebration in Ibiza, and it's basically about all the feelings that he got from that time.
Elton John's "Rocket Man" is based on a Ray Bradbury story called The Rocket Man published in 1951.
Billy Joel wrote "We Didn't Start The Fire" after a 21-year-old told him, "everyone knows that nothing happened in the '50s."
Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.
Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.
The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."
Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.
Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.
She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.
