Christina Aguilera did her "Beautiful" vocal in one take; the opening line, "Don't look at me," is something she said to her friend in the studio who was there to offer support.
Robert Plant's "Heaven Knows" is a satirical look at the '80s, when style seemed to trump substance.
When the Christian band DC Talk covered Nirvana's "All Apologies" at concerts, they would change the line "Everyone is gay" to "Jesus is the Way."
The guy who wrote Taylor Dayne's "Tell It To My Heart" owns a collection of famous baseballs, including the one that went through Bill Buckner's legs in the 1986 World Series.
One of Tom Petty's most personal songs is "Room At The Top," which he stopped performing because it brought back painful memories.
When "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" climbed to #1 on the Hot 100, Katy Perry became the first woman to send five songs from one album to the top of the charts. The four previous chart-toppers from her Teenage Dream set were "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," "Firework" and "E.T."
Phil was a songwriter, producer and voice behind many Philadelphia soul classics. When disco hit, he got an interesting project: The Village People.
The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."
The Sevendust frontman talks about the group's songwriting process, and how trips to the Murder Bar helped forge their latest album.
His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."
When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception.
Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.