In 1939, a polka craze swept America thanks to "Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out The Barrel)."
There aren't many songs with a scientist as the main character, but Coldplay's "The Scientist" is one of their biggest hits. The guy in the song is brilliant, but despondent because he's lost his girl after neglecting her for his work.
Madonna didn't write "Papa Don't Preach," which deals with abortion. What drew her to the song was the singer standing up to male authority.
"Cotton Eye Joe" is a folk song dating to the 1800s, but it became a hit when a Swedish act called Rednex did a psychokinetic version in 1994.
Sleigh bells aren't very punk, but they play throughout the Stooges classic "I Wanna Be Your Dog."
Paul McCartney's favorite song that he wrote for someone else is Cilla Black's 1968 UK Top 10 hit "Step Inside Love."
The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.
Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.
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."
How well do you know your David Bowie lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.
An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.
On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.