Woody Guthrie wrote an erotic ode to Ingrid Bergman, which was unearthed years later by Guthrie's daughter.

In 1998, Billy Bragg and Wilco recorded unreleased songs penned by Woody Guthrie.

Ingrid Bergman left her husband for Italian director Roberto Rossellini, sparking a major scandal in Hollywood's Golden Age.

Bob Dylan considered Woody Guthrie a foundational influence, a sentiment he immortalized in his 1962 recording 'Song to Woody.'

Explore a critic's list of the best Ingrid Bergman performances, including 'Casablanca,' 'Notorious,' and 'Autumn Sonata.'

Ingrid Bergman's first film role was as an extra in the 1932 Swedish film 'Landskamp.'

After a 6-year exile, Ingrid Bergman returned to the US to accept an award for her performance in 'Anastasia.'

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 1940 concept album about agricultural and economic destruction, 'Dust Bowl Ballads.'

Actress Ingrid Bergman was born on Aug. 29 and died on the same day, 67 years later.

After actress Ingrid Bergman had a child out of wedlock, a Colorado senator proposed granting the government the ability to ban performers deemed morally objectionable.

Woody Guthrie emblazoned 'This machine kills fascists' on his guitar, a phrase he borrowed from war machinery.

Before he was known as a folk singer, Woody Guthrie was a popular radio host in Los Angeles.

The FBI tracked Woody Guthrie's politics for years, amassing an enormous file that was only discovered many years after his death.

Listen to Woody Guthrie's 'Columbia River Songs,' the government-commissioned album about Washington state's Columbia River.

Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, the stars of 'Casablanca,' bonded over how little they thought of 'Casablanca.'

The most famous line attributed to 'Casablanca'—'Play it again, Sam'—is never said in the movie.

Stan Getz initially didn't want to release 'The Girl from Ipanema,' which would go on to become one of the most popular jazz recordings ever.

'Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!'

- Actress Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982)

Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' as a sarcastic response to 'God Bless America.'

Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska' was influenced by writer Flannery O'Connor

Springsteen became obsessed with the "Southern gothic" writer when he began working on the songs for "Nebraska," inspired by O'Connor's tragic characters and grotesque imagery.

Bob Dylan wrote and recorded songs that later became hits when they were covered by artists like Jimi Hendrix, Adele, and Guns N' Roses.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect.

Watch Bruce Springsteen's 1985 performance of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land,' which he calls 'the greatest song ever written about America.'

The poem behind 'Strange Fruit'

"Bitter Fruit" was written by Abel Meeropol, a teacher, under the pseudonym Lewis Allen, after seeing a photograph of a lynching. Eventually, he set the words to music, and the song was then performed by his wife and other singers. In 1938, he played it for Holiday, who began performing it at the New York's Cafe Society. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' 'Islands in the Stream' was written by the Bee Gees.

Carol Steinbeck, John Steinbeck's first wife, played an integral role in producing 'The Grapes of Wrath.'

Woody Guthrie was briefly a member of the Communist Party USA, but he was kicked out for 'lack of discipline.'

Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 film 'Spellbound,' starring Ingrid Bergman, features a surreal scene designed by Salvador Dalí.

Bob Dylan deeply admires Willie Nelson

The Nobel Prize-winning songwriter is a big fan of the country troubadour. When Dylan was asked for his thoughts on Nelson for a New Yorker profile, he offered a poetic monologue not unlike his lyrics, including a comparison to "the invisible air."

EY 'Yip' Harburg is the lyricist behind 'The Wizard of Oz'

The 1939 film’s songs were written by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist EY “Yip” Harburg. In an early draft of "Over the Rainbow," the movie's most famous song, Harburg scribbled "Some day I’ll wish upon a star + wake + find the darkness far behind me,” which would eventually become the iconic line, “Some day I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me.”

Revisiting the milieu of the Greenwich Village music scene

Few neighborhoods of the world stand out as more productive of a robust music scene than New York City's Greenwich Village, the bohemian launchpad of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and other folk artists of the 1960s and '70s. Expert David Browne discusses why it became so significant in this episode of "Sound Opinions."

Before the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed was a workaday songwriter

His job at Pickwick Records, a label that churned out budget records for department stores, was to crank out generic pop fare. One of those songs was 1964’s “The Ostrich,” a dance song in the style of Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion.”

Read a 1984 interview with Dolly Parton, conducted by artist Andy Warhol.

The Hays Code, a set of moral precepts for Hollywood movies during the industry's golden age, forced "Casablanca" to revise its original ending.

Bossa nova standard 'The Girl from Ipanema,' made famous by Astrud Gilberto, is one of jazz's most famous songs.

In the late '80s, Dylan formed the Traveling Wilburys with other rock legends

The word “supergroup” gets tossed around plenty in rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s never been more apt than with the Traveling Wilburys, a late '80s band featuring Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. At the time, Dylan was feeling creatively adrift and far removed from the passion of his earlier work. The winking alter-egos of the Wilburys reinvigorated him, leading to a great record and a renaissance in Dylan’s solo career.

'Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' the song that's now a 7th inning tradition at every MLB game, was inspired by a billboard advertisement.

The lives of Liza Minnelli and her mother, Judy Garland, have many striking similarities

Both performers charmed audiences with their immense talent, particularly their singing and acting. They also shared struggles, as both battled with addiction, experienced multiple divorces, and dealt with public criticism. Both are also beloved icons of the gay community, with Garland even earning an informal title as the "Elvis of Homosexuals."

Minnelli's acting career began as a toddler

Her first film appearance was at age three in 1949's "In the Good Old Summertime," which starred her mother, Judy Garland. Minnelli's stage debut came not long after, at the age of 10. At age 19, she'd made her Broadway debut in "Flora, the Red Menace," and landed a Tony Award for the performance.

A legendary rock writer ranks the greatest girl group records

Greil Marcus is considered one of the greatest American rock writers of all time, providing a literary legitimacy to rock ‘n’ roll when it was still considered mere pop culture. This 1975 essay on the great girl group records is the perfect example, offering a thought-provoking analysis of the era’s definitive singles.

As a girl, Billie Holiday fell in love with music while scrubbing the floors of a brothel

Record players were rarities in the 1920s, but Holiday had access to one at Alice Dean's, the brothel in Baltimore where she scrubbed floors. It was there that she listened to her heroes, Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith.

How Kurt Cobain was influenced by the Beats

Fresh off the success of Nirvana's "Nevermind," band frontman Kurt Cobain reached out to his literary idol, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs, suggesting a collaboration. The correspondence led to "The 'Priest' They Called Him," a hard-to-find recording featuring Burroughs reading a story and Cobain on dissonant guitar.

Watch an early performance by Bruce Springsteen at a Greenwich Village coffeehouse in 1972.

In 2016, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his lyrics, marking the first time a rock songwriter had won the award.

'Waiting for Godot' was inspired by a Friedrich painting

Samuel Beckett was an admirer of art and, while touring German art galleries in 1937, saw Caspar David Friedrich’s Two Men Contemplating the Moon. A directorial notebook for the original production of “Waiting for Godot” notes that the end of the play’s first act was inspired by the 19th-century work.

Musician Gladys Bentley defied gender norms during the Harlem Renaissance and was openly gay, even though homosexuality was still widely considered taboo.

Why Neil Young is sometimes called 'the godfather of grunge'

The legendary singer-songwriter's work with his band Crazy Horse, especially "Rust Never Sleeps" and "Ragged Glory," married infectious melodies with overpowering guitars, a formula that many grunge acts would replicate. Young would go on to perform with Pearl Jam (like in the performance of "Rockin' in the Free World" below) and record the 1995 album "Mirror Ball" with them.

'Over the Rainbow' became a widely covered standard

Judy Garland’s original 1939 version won the Academy Award for best original song, though it never appeared on the Billboard pop singles chart (which didn’t appear until 1940). Twenty different versions of the song by other artists—including Willie Nelson, Patti LaBelle, and Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole—have appeared on numerous Billboard charts.

Although not known for horror, a young Tennessee Williams wrote a gothic radio play

The "Streetcar Named Desire" author wrote "The Strangers," a short script, while a student at the University of Iowa in the 1930s. Andrew Gulli, managing editor for the literary magazine that published the unearthed piece, said that it blends classic '30s radio horror with themes Williams would revisit in later, more famous work.

See Minnelli's iconic performance of 'Maybe This Time' that helped earn her an Oscar

In the film "Cabaret," Minnelli performs the show tune as Sally Bowles, a protagonist embarking on a new love affair in 1930s Berlin. Minnelli's emotive performance and belting vocals helped land her the prestigious acting award.

Charlie Parker's 'Ornithology' is one of bebop jazz's defining standards—and a self-referential nod to Parker's nickname, Bird.