The CCR song "Run Through the Jungle" is about gun control.
"Dark Fantasy" by Kanye West opens with a reinterpretation of Cinderella as read by Nicki Minaj.
The setting for the Queensrÿche song "Jet City Woman" is Seattle, the "jet city."
The first single from the Thriller album was "The Girl Is Mine," chosen over "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" because it was a duet with Paul McCartney and thus guaranteed airplay.
"Mr. Roboto" by Styx was written by their keyboard player, Dennis DeYoung, who used Japanese words and imagery to create an allegory about censorship.
The instrumental "YYZ" by Rush got its title from the transmitter code for Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, near where the band is from.
The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.
He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."
Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.
When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.