Before recording "Boom Clap" herself, Charli XCX offered the song to Hilary Duff. However, the singer's people turned down the tune declaring it wasn't "cool enough for Hilary."
U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from Batman Forever was nominated for both a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and a Razzie for Worst Original Song.
Quincy Jones wanted to change the title of "Billie Jean" to "Not My Lover" so it wouldn't be confused with the tennis star Billie Jean King. Michael Jackson refused.
Ariana Grande's collaboration with Zedd, "Break Free" came about after the Russian-German producer overheard Grande performing at a label showcase while he was backstage, and he mentioned to his team that he wanted to work with her.
"Walking In Memphis" isn't so much about Memphis, as it is The Hollywood Cafe in Mississippi, where Marc Cohn encountered an old woman named Murial playing piano.
"Girl Crush" by Little Big Town came from the hashtag #girlcrush, which its co-writer, Lori McKenna, spotted on Instagram.
Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.
Here is the church, here is the steeple - see if you can identify these lyrics that reference church.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.
The first of Billy's five #1 hits was the song that propelled Madonna to stardom. You'd think that would get you a backstage pass, wouldn't you?
The trail runs from flying saucer songs in the '50s, through Bowie, blink-182 and Katy Perry.
