A key line in "Africa" is "I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become," which is about drifting away from what you really want in life. Toto keyboard player David Paich, who wrote the song, felt his work was consuming him.
Eric Clapton's only Hot 100 #1, either solo or with one of his many bands, was his cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff."
The guys who wrote "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" had never been to a baseball game but knew it was a good song topic.
"What A Wonderful World," released in 1967 four years before Louis Armstrong died, didn't find an audience in America until 1988 when it was used in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam.
Freddie Mercury considered "We Are The Champions" his version of "My Way." "We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy," he said.
"We Will Become Silhouettes" by The Postal Service sounds happy and fun, but it's a very bleak song about a nuclear winter. Lead singer Ben Gibbard wrote the lyric while ruminating over 9/11.
A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.
The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.
The rock revolutionist on songwriting, quitting smoking, and what she thinks of Rush Limbaugh using her song.
The Creed lead singer reveals the "ego and self-fulfillment" he now sees in one of the band's biggest hits.
Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?
What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?