Shows / Word In Your Ear
Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those…
Episodes
- Word In Your Ear
Kacey Musgraves’ naked TV appearance restaged by Alex Gold
In which we remember when one of the Stones was in the Air Force, the agony of loons pants, the genius of Irene Handl (and her screen roles: Mrs Crumbling…
- Word In Your Ear
Richard Balls: the intoxicating songs and chaotic life of Shane MacGowan
‘A Furious Devotion' is just out, written by Richard Balls after long conversations and nights spent with Shane and interviews with members of the Pogues, old…
Word In Your EarThe late Commander Cody and other enthusiastic smokers
White-hot, pressing topics kicked around the rock and roll park this week include … can heavy metal ever be sexy?, why the Beatles would have made the greatest…
Word In Your Ear"Mrs Robinson, you're trying to seduce me!"
In which we re-watch the Graduate, wonder when Yes songs stopped making sense, salute the best rock stage names and the Björn Ulvaeus song credit campaign…
Word In Your EarTony Fletcher and a rock press version of “the Beano Christmas Annual”
‘The Best Of Jamming!’ is a powerfully nostalgic collection of extracts from the fanzine Tony launched in 1977 when he was 13, born of the lost age of…
Word In Your EarA Rock Snobbery Special plus 50 years of the Old Grey Whistle Test
.. where we consider the brave new world in which Rick Astley plays the Smiths, a documentary explores the reasons people detest Kenny G and Rolling Stone…
Word In Your EarActs with embarrassingly duff names and the absurd notion of “a real fan”
Among the white-hot news items fondly examined this week you’ll find … the eternal wars in Fleetwood Mac, how we broadcast our love of bands before the rock…
Word In Your Ear"Pop music + distance = sadness"
In which we consider the melancholy of Abba (and find a 45 year-old bar of Abba soap), applaud the hidden message in Lee Perry's Cow Thief Skank, wonder how…
Word In Your EarFor the love of Charlie Watts
In which we wonder if it's the Stones without the drummer, tell the whole story of the "work five years and 20 years hanging around" interview, salute the…
Word In Your EarJohn Cooper Clarke’s wonderfully unvarnished memories of real life in the ‘50s and 60s
‘I Wanna Be Yours’, the superb memoir by “the bargain basement Baudelaire”, is now out in paperback, much of it an account of growing up in Salford. Here he…
Word In Your EarFrom Tom T Hall to the Weeley Festival by way of Una Stubbs
Topics this week given a vigorous shakedown include ... the magical story-telling of the late Tom T Hall, best-preserved '80s rock stars, the construction of…
Word In Your EarSummer in the City: Word in The Park presents ... Danny Baker
The fourth and last guest at our sun-roasted live event in Holland Park on July 17 was the ever-supercharged Danny Baker. Straw-hatted, drink-toting and…
Word In Your EarThe extraordinary life of Louis Armstrong plus George Harrison rebooted
Topics subjected to the usual forensic scrutiny this week include ... Jan & Dean's role in the kidnap of Frank Sinatra Jnr, is it still the Stones without…
Word In Your EarSummer in the City: Word in The Park presents ... Mark Lewisohn
We staged our first live event for 18 months on July 17, a sun-baked day at a spectacular outdoor venue kindly lent us by Opera Holland Park. A vast amount of…
Word In Your EarThe mysterious connection between Zappa and Sparks
Topics plumbed to their very depths this week include .... are tears for Olympic athletes now compulsory? The absurd names of Usain Bolt's children. The…
Word In Your EarAmy Winehouse, XTC and the joy of "re-loved CDs"
Matters of high import thrashed out this week include Dylan's Shadow Kingdom livestream, the Thunder Road lyric farrago, Apple Venus and Wasp Star - separated…
Word In Your EarWord in The Park #2: Lesley-Ann Jones remembers John Entwistle’s riotous funeral
We had our first live event for 18 months on a fabulous, sun-baked afternoon in Holland Park on July 17 and the writer and former Fleet Street columnist…
Word In Your EarSummer in the City: Word in The Park presents ... Gary Crowley
In our sun-baked return to live events on July 17, we had four guests onstage at a spectacular outdoor venue kindly lent us by Opera Holland Park in West…
Word In Your EarHow do songs become terrace anthems?
Sports writer and old pal Nige Tassell traces the story of Sweet Caroline, You’ll Never Walk Alone and Yes Sir I Can Boogie – with fond memories of the…
Word In Your EarFlat Rabbit, Mandible Rumpus ... what makes a band name work?
In which we salute Frogspawn Candy, Lord Snooty & his Pals and Steppenwolf, rejoice in the Onion's coverage of Lorde, applaud the return of the Siffleur and…
Word In Your EarBob Geldof: an unmissable hour of insight into rock stardom
Nobody is better qualified to talk about music as he's seen it from every angle. Bob Geldof broke into the Beatles' hotel room aged 12. He saw Dylan and the…
Word In Your EarRock band gangs you want to join
Matters of high import discussed this week include ... having a 'date night' with your old CDs. Can the one-piece jumpsuit ever return? The whole Billie Eilish…
Word In Your EarIf the England Squad were a rock band which would they be?
In which we shake down the piping hot topics du jour, among them ... the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury, the genius of Miles Copeland's management method, the…
Word In Your EarDJ Princess Diana
In this week's pod we explore whether Apple's new spatial audio is actually worth it, ponder urgent listener questions such as "is pop music all about…
Word In Your EarJoni Mitchell's golden month remembered
This week's burning hot topics include .... the 50th birthday of Joni Mitchell's 'Blue’. Songs about the joy of spending "a bankroll big enough to choke a…
Word In Your EarFavourite critics and pop star stamps
In which we salute some much-loved writers (Clive James on Rod Stewart: "he was hopping about like a bifurcated marrow"), investigate the Friends Reunion…
Word In Your EarBernie Marsden on the blues boom, "mailbox money", UFO and Whitesnake
Bernie's memoir - 'Where's My Guitar?' - is just out in paperback and this highly entertaining encounter with the old rock and roll trouper features his early…
Word In Your EarThe Bob Dylan million dollar 80th birthday bash
In which three old lags who've been following Dylan most of their lives - David Hepworth, Sid Griffin and Mark Ellen - offload a passionate personal theory and…
Word In Your EarRichard Thompson on Fairport and Sandy Denny's "Gustav Mahler emotional see-saw"
In which the beloved entertainer talks about his memoir 'Beeswing: Fairport, Folk and Finding My Voice 1967-1975', a rich and circuitous ramble that features…
Word In Your EarBurglary and bluebeat in a brilliant new Madness documentary
In which we look at the light-fingered early lives of Camden's Magnificent Seven and the soundtrack of the Pursuit of Love, note the collapse of the BRITs and…
Word In Your EarJoel Selvin on "a sylvan moment in Hollywood history"
The great Joel Selvin has just published 'Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars and the Myth of the California Paradise', a thumping account of the West…
Word In Your EarBob Marley RIP (who died 40 years ago on May 11)
In which we remember the Wailers' London shows and what made them unique, salute the fond but sceptical rock photographs of our old friend Ken Sharp, unravel…
Word In Your EarRickie Lee Jones promotes "thumping good read"!
Forty-two years after her meteoric ascent, Rickie Lee Jones has put out a memoir, 'Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of a Troubadour'. And this we strongly…
Word In Your EarDoes every act have a gimmick?
In which we're joined by old pal Kate Mossman who's had a colourful encounter with Tom Jones, we look at the legal battle for Nirvana's logo and the bands who…
Word In Your EarThe eternal battles between Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf
In which we shake down the Bat Out Of Hell saga and Morrissey v the Simpsons, wonder what happened to the Bay City Rollers billions, explore Richard Thompson's…
Word In Your EarOn Jagger's ropey new single and what made the Stones a dance band
A world-put-to-rights-special that tells the story of the man who hid in a crate on a three-day flight with only a book of Beatles song lyrics for…
Word In Your EarTessa Norton and Bob Stanley on the folklore of the Fall
Tessa and Bob are lifelong Mark E Smith devotees and have just published 'Excavate: the Wonderful And Frightening World of The Fall', a collection of essays…
Word In Your EarOriginal gangs that are still together
In which David delivers a tremulous rant about the curse of the two-minutes' silence at sport events, we note the Duke of Edinburgh's Beatles connection…
Word In Your EarWhat pop music will still be around in 200 years' time?
In which we applaud Paul Simon's light-fingered songwriting skills, delight in the fake Roxy Music rejection letter, trace the origins of rock's black uniform…
Word In Your Ear"It ain’t 'alf been a gas this time!"
In which we play theatrical moments from great live albums - Humble Pie, ELP, the Stones, James Brown, Sinatra & Count Basie, Free, the Who, the Allman…
Word In Your EarA 1971 Special on Nick Drake and Led Zeppelin at the Nottingham Boat Club
In which we're joined by old pal Trevor Dann who was one of the 200 people sitting on the floor of the Nottingham Boat Club 50 years ago hearing the unreleased…
Word In Your EarThe enduring magic of the mixtape
In which we relive the joys of cassette mixtape pop snobbery, discover a rock star's mum who was a WW2 secret agent, name the best songs about mothers, salute…
Word In Your EarThe undignified history of the Ponytail In Rock
In which we salute Chris Barber and Bunny Wailer, listen to Robert Fripp's £80-a-pop personal message service, marvel at the Kings Of Leon's new…
Word In Your EarHappy 50th, Nick Drake and the Stones 'farewell' tour!
In which we try the Obama/Springsteen pod, view astonishing footage of Sinatra recording in 1965, watch films we've never seen (eg "Life Of Brian" -…
Word In Your EarA guided tour chez Dolly Parton!
In the event of the temporary indisposition of Mr Mark Henry Ellen his part is taken for today's podcast by Mr Alexander Karl Gold and he and David Hepworth…
Word In Your EarThe Greatest Love Songs Ever Written
... a Valentine's Day Special (which naturally involves Jackie DeShannon and Lucinda Williams), the curious case of Bruce Springsteen, the Jeep ad and the shot…
Word In Your EarTom Lehrer, payola and the Midnight Train to Georgia
In which we navigate by way of pay-for-play bribery, Elvis Costello's mum, the songs the Bonzos taught us, the man who helped cook the Beatles' books, the…
Word In Your EarThe story about Phil Collins, George Harrison and the congas ...
In which the conversational spotlight alights upon the great Hilton Valentine (RIP), adventures with the KLF, Phil Collins' disastrous session for All Things…
Word In Your EarWhere Dolly and Phil Spector meet PG Wodehouse ...
A snow-filled scenic ramble featuring the appeal of Dolly Parton for the under-fives, the Cilla Black/Phil Spector chart battle of '65 (and Phil's unsettling…
Word In Your EarIt's all gone Sea Shanty!
In which we're joined by Sam Pope - the man who shantyised Eminem - on the new mass appeal of seafaring folk tunes, applaud the value of Happy Music (and name…
Word In Your EarNeil Young and the concert that invented 'the whoop'
In which we tell the story of James Taylor's tattoo, Bowie's coded message to Hermione, Tracy Chapman v Nicki Ninaj, Gerry Marsden stealing George Harrison's…
Word In Your EarThe priceless mishaps of Fleetwood Mac
Surely the only podcast on God’s Earth that covers Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, Pulp’s Disco 2000, Zulu, voter fraud in Citizen Kane, Mother’s club in…
Word In Your EarTo the sunlit uplands of the new Let It Be movie!
Surely the only podcast that's ever included tantalising Beatles film outtakes, the knock-down sale of Michael Jackson's Neverland, 'the Great Fatsby' by…
- Word In Your Ear
*EARLY ACCESS* Word Podcast 365 - to the sunlit uplands of the new Let It Be movie!
Surely the only podcast that's ever included tantalising Beatles film outtakes, the knock-down sale of Michael Jackson's Neverland, 'the Great Fatsby' by…
- Word In Your Ear
Word Podcast 364 - in stout defence of the Bee Gees
In which we dust down a great new Bee Gees doc (How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?), applaud Bill Bailey, remember the absurdity of the Best Guitarist polls (and…
- Word In Your Ear
*EARLY ACCESS* Word Podcast 364 - in stout defence of the Bee Gees
In which we dust down a great new Bee Gees doc (How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?), applaud Bill Bailey, remember the absurdity of the Best Guitarist polls (and…
- Word In Your Ear
Word Podcast 363 - $300m for Dylan catalogue "a bargain"
In which we salute the Taylor Swift publicity machine and the "sixth Stone" Ian Stewart, marvel at the money-spinning value of song copyrights (Dylan…
- Word In Your Ear
*EARLY ACCESS* Word Podcast 363 - $300m for Dylan catalogue officially "a bargain"
In which we salute the Taylor Swift publicity machine and the "sixth Stone" Ian Stewart, marvel at the money-spinning value of song copyrights (Dylan…
- Word In Your Ear
Word Podcast 362 - does anyone form a band any more?
Choice items discussed include Dua Lipa's 5-million-tickets-sold online show, the full list of Altamont catastrophes, the magic of the rock press 'on the road'…
- Word In Your Ear
Word Podcast 362 (audio version) - does anyone form a band any more?
Choice items discussed include Dua Lipa's 5-million-tickets-sold online show, the full list of Altamont catastrophes, the magic of the rock press 'on the road'…