
Stevie Nicks got the title for the Fleetwood Mac song "Silver Springs" from the city of Silver Spring, Maryland, but the song has nothing to do with the city - it's a message to her bandmate Lindsey Buckingham following their split.

Mariah Carey's "My All" is about her affair with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
Irving Berlin wrote "How Dry I Am" in anticipation of Prohibition, envisioning a bleak future without alcohol.

Kid Rock performed his song "Amen" at Barack Obama's inaugural, but claims he didn't vote for him.

Beyoncé married Jay-Z five months before releasing "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," a song she sang in character as her alter-ego, Sasha Fierce.

Props to Aretha Franklin: her song "Respect" introduced the term "propers" as a sign of proper respect.
How well do you know this shock-rock harbinger who's been publicly executed hundreds of times?
The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.
When a waitress wouldn't take him home, Jack wrote what would become one of the Eagles most enduring hits.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.
Is Owl City on a quest for another hit like "Fireflies?" Adam answers that question and explains the influences behind many others.