Jack & Diane started off as an interracial couple; Mellencamp took race references out of the song at the request of his record company.
The White Stripes song "We're Going To Be Friends" is very innocent, but Jack White feared it would be interpreted cynically. It wasn't, and was even adapted into a children's book.
"True" by Spandau Ballet has some lyrics based on parts of the Vladimir Nabokov novel Lolita, including "Take your seaside arms," which in the book is "That little girl with her seaside limbs."
Mary J. Blige introduced three new words with her hit "Family Affair": hateration, holleration and dancerie.
Corinne Bailey Rae's 2006 hit "Put Your Records On" borrows the opening line ("Three little birds sat on my window") from the Bob Marley song "Three Little Birds." Both songs have the same message: Don't worry, because every little thing's going to be alright.
Dan Tyminski, the singer on Avicii's "Hey Brother" is the same guy who sang lead vocal on "A Man Of Constant Sorrow" in the movie O’ Brother, Where Art Thou.
Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.
Roger tells the stories behind some of his biggest hits, including "Give a Little Bit," "Take the Long Way Home" and "The Logical Song."
The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.
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 stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."
Is Owl City on a quest for another hit like "Fireflies?" Adam answers that question and explains the influences behind many others.