"Panama" by Van Halen is not about the country or the canal, but about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona.
"How To Save A Life" by The Fray was inspired by a teenager lead singer Isaac Slade mentored at a camp for troubled youth in Colorado.
Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys co-wrote the Mary J. Blige hit "Real Love."
"Walking In Memphis" isn't so much about Memphis as it is The Hollywood Cafe in Mississippi, where Marc Cohn encountered an older woman named Murial playing piano.
At the end of "Radar Love," the driver dies in a crash but maintains a psychic bond with the woman he was racing to see. The song's lyricist was inspired by stories of extrasensory perception (ESP).
Jimi Hendrix wrote "The Wind Cries Mary" not about marijuana, but about his girlfriend at the time, Kathy Mary Etchingham.
Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."
Holly Knight talks about some of the hit songs she wrote, including "The Warrior," "Never" and "The Best," and explains some songwriting philosophy, including how to think of a bridge.
The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.
10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces
Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?