Dolly Parton wrote the song "I Will Always Love You" in 1973 as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, and her decision to pursue a solo career. Dolly released her the country single in 1974. When her song reached number one on the country charts, Elvis Presley said that he wanted to record the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded, so Parton refused. At first everyone told her she was making a big mistake, and that Elvis would guarantee the song would make a lot of money. Of course, the last laugh was Dolly's, as the 1992 Whitney Houston version of that song made her over $10 million, which she used to help the Black community in Nashville -- by building a complex for the community and calling it "the house that Whitney built". Did you know Elvis wanted to record this song?

Desmond Child wrote a lot of songs in the 80s -- including co-writing Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself for Loving You," Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady," Cher's "We All Sleep Alone" and more. But one of his biggest hits was actually written as a totally different song, for a totally different artist. After he wrote "If You Were A Woman, (And I Was A Man)" for Bonnie Tyler in 1986, the song didn't do as well as he would have liked. So, he re-wrote the song (with a little help) to prove it was meant to be a big hit. And I guess he was right. "You Give Love a Bad Name" was a massive hit for Bon Jovi in 1986. In 2020 Ava Max had a hit song "Kings & Queens" which also sounded eerily like these two songs, and Desmond Child is credited as one of the writers. I guess he has a sound he likes. Since everyone (I think) knows what the Bon Jovi song sounds like, here is the Bonnie Tyler song. Do you hear the similarities (and now you now why)?

One of Van Halen's biggest singles, "Jump" was inspired from an unexpected source. The lyrics were written by singer David Lee Roth, who immediately thought of a story he'd seen on the news about a man who was threatening to jump off of a tower and commit suicide. Roth recalled thinking that there would have been at least one person in the crowd around the jumper telling him to "go ahead and jump." The song has been an often used anthem for sporting events, used for Detroit Pistons NBA games, Winnipeg Jets NHL games and Chicago Cubs ball games. Have you ever attended a sporting event where they played the Van Halen song "Jump"?

Inspiration can come from anywhere. And apparently often it comes from actor/comedian Jim Carrey. His 2004 movie, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind inspired Blossoms' "I Can't Stand It", their biggest hit. And the same Carrey movie also was the inspiration behind Canadian singer Billy Raffoul's 2022 song "Jim Carrey". The actor also was the inspiration behind Charlotte Cardin's 2023 song "Jim Carrey", where she actually proposes to him. Countless rappers have referenced Jim Carrey in their work. Play and The Weeknd was not only inspired by Carrey, but wrote a whole album inspired by and featuring Carrey. Did you know Jim Carrey was such a huge inspiration in music?