"Baby One More Time," the breakout song for Britney Spears, was originally offered to TLC but they passed on it. The R&B trio didn't feel comfortable singing the line, "hit me baby one more time."
"I Wish" by Skee-Lo was the first hit song to use the word "baller" in the chorus ("I wish I was a baller..."). That term pervaded pop music over the next several year.
"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" is about a guy Jim Croce met in the National Guard, which Jim joined to keep him out of Vietnam. Leroy went AWOL, but got caught when he tried to pick up his paycheck.
When "Baby Love" reached the top spot, The Supremes became the first Motown act with two #1 hits on the Hot 100.
Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are" was originally written with Cee-Lo Green in mind, but the Gnarls Barkley singer didn't feel it was right for him.
Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.
On "Life Is A Highway," his burgeoning solo career, and the Rascal Flatts song he most connects with.
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.
"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."
