Ronnie Van Zant wrote the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Gimme Three Steps" after making the mistake of dancing with a girl whose boyfriend was in the bar and probably had a gun. He asked for a 3-step head start.
"Personal Jesus," a song about "being a Jesus for somebody else," was inspired by Elvis and Priscilla Presley.
Will.I.am, literally dreamt up "I Gotta Feelin'." Said the Black Eyed Pea: "Have you ever had a dream where there's a melody in your dream? I'll wake up out of my sleep and record that! 'I Gotta Feelin' was one of those songs."
Before she was famous on Friends, Courteney Cox danced on stage with Bruce Springsteen in his "Dancing In The Dark" video.
Pink wrote "Just Give Me A Reason" about how one partner can feel jilted over something trivial, like how her boyfriend passes her the butter.
The Information Society hit "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" samples the voice of Leonard Nimoy (Spock) from an episode of Star Trek.
She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.
The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.
Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."
Known in America for the hit "If You Leave," OMD is a huge influence on modern electronic music.
Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
