Madonna didn't write "Papa Don't Preach," which deals with abortion. What drew her to the song was the singer standing up to male authority.
The French part in Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" explains that the killer is going after a girl, like Norman Bates in the movie Psycho.
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is one of the few Bernie Taupin lyrics that is more about him than Elton John. The song is about giving up glitz for the simple life - not exactly Elton's M.O.
"Nobody Does It Better" by Carly Simon was used in the film The Spy Who Loved Me. It was the first James Bond song not named after the movie.
Beck's "Where It's At" is a nod to the early years of hip-hop when DJs would use two turntables to loop drum breaks, and a microphone to hype the crowd ("two turntables and a microphone...").
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.
Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.
A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.
Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.
"Mr. Jones" took on new meaning when the song about a misguided view of fame made Adam famous.
Chad tells tales from his time as drummer for Nirvana, and talks about his group Before Cars.
Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?