Paul McCartney based the "Eleanor Rigby" story on old ladies he met at his housing estate. He saw how sometimes when they died, nobody really noticed.
"Grenade" was a term used on the show Jersey Shore to mean an ugly girl. Bruno Mars says his hit song with that title was written before the show started.
Mariah Carey's "My All" is about her affair with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
The line in John Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb" that sounds like "that's when a smoke was a smoke" is actually "that's when a sport was a sport," according to the published lyric. In that sense, "sport" is an endearment for someone of good nature.
"Don't Dream It's Over" is the biggest hit for Crowded House, whose lead singer, Neil Finn, sang it on tour when he joined Fleetwood Mac. He wrote the song when he was feeling a bit lost as a way of urging himself on.
Desmond Child thought Gavin Rossdale was singing "Kiss The Rain" on the Bush song "Glycerine." When he found out the truth, he wrote a song called "Kiss The Rain" for Billie Myers.
The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.
A history of songs dealing with transgender issues, featuring Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Morrissey and Green Day.
The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.
Did Al play on a Beach Boys record? Did he have beef with George Lucas and Coolio? See if you can spot weird but true stories.
A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.
The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.