The Sam & Dave classic "Soul Man" was re-recorded by Sam Moore and Lou Reed for the 1986 movie Soul Man, about a white guy who pretends to be black so he can get a scholarship to Harvard.
"If It Makes You Happy" by Sheryl Crow is about the sour grapes some of her collaborators from her first album expressed to the media when they felt slighted.
James Taylor wrote "Sweet Baby James" during a road trip to Virginia in honor of his brother’s new baby, also named James, whom he was about to meet for the first time.
Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler got the idea for "Money For Nothing" after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV.
Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, was the archetype for faraway mysticism when Bob Seger wrote a song about it in 1975.
Neil Young wrote the CSN&Y song "Ohio" about the Kent State Shootings, when the National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four.
Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.
As Procol Harum's lyricist, Keith wrote the words to "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." We delve into that song and find out how you can form a band when you don't sing or play an instrument.
Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.
Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?
David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.
Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.