"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers is about New York City, where lead singer Wesley Schultz moved to make it in music. He was dismayed to find many "trust fund kids" in the music scene while he struggled to pay the rent.
Kenny Loggins co-wrote the Doobie Brothers hit "What a Fool Believes," which is about a guy who just can't accept that an affair from long ago was meaningless to her.
Glenn Frey of the Eagles played a bad guy in a 1985 episode of Miami Vice based on his song "Smuggler's Blues."
The first line of "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" is "It was the 3rd of September," which is the day lead singer Dennis Edwards' father died.
"Closing Time" by Semisonic was written by the lead singer when his wife was pregnant. Some of the lyrics are about being born.
The "Don't Stop Believin'" resurgence started when the Journey song was used in a roller skating scene of the 2003 movie Monster.
The top chant artist in the Western world, Krishna Das talks about how these Hindu mantras compare to Christian worship songs.
The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.
Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.
Paul Stanley on his soul music project, the Kiss songs with the biggest soul influence, and the non-make-up era of the band.
The 5-octave voice of the classical rock band Renaissance, Annie is big on creative expression. In this talk, she covers Roy Wood, the history of the band, and where all the money went in the '70s.
Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.