Something In The Way (Nirvana Cover Songs Version)

Kurt Cobain wrote this about his life. He talks about living under a bridge, which he claimed happened when he got kicked out of the house and had to live under a nearby bridge. He expresses his feelings and emotions by saying "something in the way" - he thought everything was in the way every time he tried to feel better.

Nirvana performed this on their MTV Unplugged appearance shortly before Cobain's suicide.

The lyrics to this song were spray painted by Cobain on the wall of the bridge that he lived under when he left his home. It was later painted over in a clean up of the city.

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Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson Cover Songs Version)

Many of the songs Jackson writes are very personal in nature, but this one tells the fictional story of a particularly adept gangster, something far from his personal experience.

The refrain of "Annie are you OK" may be a play on the name "Annie Oakley," who was a female gunfighter in the Old West.

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Boys Don't Cry (The Cure Cover Songs Version)

This is about maintaining the manly image and hiding your tears behind your eyes. Tough guys still sometimes don't get the girl.

Nathan Larson covered this in 1999, and his version was used as the title song of the film Boys Don't Cry, for which Hilary Swank won the 1999 Oscar for Best Actress. Nathan Larson is the husband of Nina Persson, the lead singer of the Swedish pop group The Cardigans.

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Ruby Tuesday (Rolling Stones Cover Songs Version)

This is about a groupie. It may have been inspired by Linda Keith, who was Keith Richard's girlfriend. Richards said in According to the Rolling Stones: "It was probably written about Linda Keith not being there (laughs). I don't know, she had pissed off somewhere. It was very mournful, very, VERY Ruby Tuesday and it was a Tuesday."

Richards: "That's one of those things - some chick you've broken up with. And all you've got left is the piano and the guitar and a pair of panties. And it's goodbye you know. And so it just comes out of that. And after that you just build on it. It's one of those songs that are easiest to write because you're really right there and you really sort of mean it. And for a songwriter, hey break his heart and he'll come up with a good song."

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Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles Cover Songs Version)

The "Lucy" who inspired this song was Lucy O'Donnell (later Lucy Vodden), who was a classmate of John's son Julian Lennon when he was enrolled at the private Heath House School, in Weybridge, Surrey. It was in a 1975 interview that Lennon said "Julian came in one day with a picture about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

The identity of the real Lucy was confirmed by Julian in 2009 when she died of complications from Lupus. Lennon re-connected with her after she appeared on a BBC broadcast where she stated: "I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant… Julian had painted a picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from school."

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Going To California (Led Zeppelin Cover Songs Version)

This was inspired by Joni Mitchell's "California." Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were huge fans of hers. When performed live, after the lines "To find the queen without a king they say she plays guitar and cries and sings," Plant would often say the name "Joni."

The original title was "Guide To California."

This started as a song about earthquakes, but developed into a song about the search for a woman.

When Page, along with Led Zeppelin's manager and an engineer flew to Los Angeles to mix the track, there was an earthquake near San Diego.

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Light My Fire (The Doors Cover Songs Version)

This became The Doors' signature song. Released on their first album, it was a huge hit and launched them to stardom. Before this was released, The Doors were an underground band popular in the Los Angeles area, but this got the attention of a mass audience.

The Doors' record company thought this was too long to get radio play, so the guitar solos were edited down for the single to make it considerably shorter. Many stations played the 6:50 album version anyway. Since the single was a shortened version, fans had to buy the album to get the extended mix, which helped spur sales of the album.

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D'yer Mak'er (Led Zeppelin Cover Songs Version)

The title is pronounced "Jamaica," and is a play on the word: "She went to the Caribbean." "Jamaica?" "No, she went on her own." It could also be a sexual reference.

Many people thought the title was pronounced "Dear Maker" and read too much into it. Jimmy Page had an interest in the occult and Robert Plant wrote some very spiritual lyrics, which led to deeper meanings in many of their songs, but not this one.

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Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana Cover Songs Version)

Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's frontman and the song's author, claimed that this song was inspired by a television report of children suffering from cancer. However, many believe it was really written about his shaky but passionate relationship with his wife, Courtney Love. The lyrics do tend towards this latter interpretation, since they seem to concern themselves with an unstable romance between two individuals. It's worth noting that the lyrics mention Pisces and Cancer, Cobain's and Love's respective astrological signs. Love, after their second meeting sent a small heart-shaped box, containing, among other things, a doll's head, to his hotel room. This is believed to have inspired the song's title. Cobain and Love both shared a love and fascination of dolls.

The "Heart-Shaped Box" could be a reference to a uterus. The lyrics talk about the situation of an aborted fetus from the first-person viewpoint.

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Don't Dream It's Over (Crowded House Cover Songs Version)

Crowded House leader Neil Finn wrote this song after having a terrible fight with his wife, Sharon.

This was Crowded House's biggest hit in the US. The group is from New Zealand, where they are very popular. Crowded House was their first album, which did very well in the US. Subsequently released albums had success in the UK, but not in the states.

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