The Texas songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker wrote "Mr. Bojangles" after a weekend in jail where a fellow inmate told him his life story.
When singing "Cradle Of Love," Billy Idol typically changes a line to, "This song is so cheesy."
Willa Ford came up with her hit "I Wanna Be Bad" when her record company told her to tone down her music in a effort to differentiate her from Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, who were in their "bad girl" eras.
Before she was famous, Lady Gaga was a staff songwriter, and wrote the song "Quicksand," which Britney Spears recorded in 2008.
Beck's "Where It's At" is a nod to the early years of hip-hop when DJs would use two turntables to loop drum breaks, and a microphone to hype the crowd ("two turntables and a microphone...").
The phrase "Mamma Mia" was big in 1976. It was the name of a popular Abba song, and also showed up in the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.
Lots of life lessons in these Eagles lyrics - can you match them to the correct song?
Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.
Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.
The lead singer on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," La La explains how and why Phil Spector replaced The Crystals with Darlene Love on "He's A Rebel."
dUg dIgs into his King's X metal classics and his many side projects, including the one with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam.