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Word In Your Ear — Music
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 podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience.

Over these years they’ve produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they’ve produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Copyright: © Word In Your Ear

Latest Episodes:

When Peter Hooton, the Farm & Eric Cantona played Clash songs in an amphitheatre Jun 19, 2025

Show notes

The Farm are touring again this summer and have just made their first album for 31 years (with the same-line-up). This sparky and wide-ranging conversation with Peter Hooton stops off at the following …

… the advice Mark E Smith gave him when they were interviewed by Select magazine.

… “Suedeheads v Trogs and Greebos”: early ‘70s tribal warfare in Bootle.

… seeing Cockney Rebel, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Genesis at the Liverpool Empire.

… the death of old heroes – “you imagined Bowie was always going to be there”.

… backstage with the Clash in Paris and why they were the Farm’s role models.

… Bill Drummond’s attempt to remodel them “in tracksuits with hard dogs”.

… how the death of John Lennon made him start writing.

… the use of All Together Now as a football anthem – from everyone to Everton to Euros 2004 to a disastrous campaign by the Labour Party - “but the Qatar World Cup was a bridge too far”.

… touring with Mick Jones (“the Pied Piper”) for the Hillsborough 96 Campaign.

… his school band, Breakwind - “the forerunners of Half Man Half Biscuit” – and being in the cast of Oliver!.

…. his guided music tours of Liverpool and the places they visit.

… and why The Farm has “omni-appeal – a band who look like they’re from a street corner”.

Also in the mix: Big Audio Dynamite, Deaf School, Nile Rodgers, Roger Eagle and Cliff Richard on Top Of The Pops.

Buy tickets and the album Let The Music (Take Control) here: https://thefarmmusic.co.uk/

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carol Decker of T’Pau and the ocean-going world of the 80s package tour Jun 16, 2025

Show notes

Carol Decker - another Smash Hits cover star on the podcast! T’Pau are playing dates this summer and autumn and she talks here – hilariously - about life on the ‘80s package tour circuit and the first shows she ever saw and played, which stops off at ….

… does any audience beat a Butlin’s Mid-Weeker on their third pint?

… from Black Mirror to PG Tips: the afterlife of a hit.

… seeing Rod & the Faces in Stoke-On-Trent and Dire Straits in a Wrestling Hall.

… “Appearing In An A&E Near You!”: accident-prone ‘80s stars, a sitcom waiting to happen.

... the arcane world of the backing vocalist – “don’t distract, nothing too big”.

… the grim tradition of headline bands’ road crews making the support acts suffer.

… ‘80s package tours with OMD, Kim Wilde, Toyah, Clare Grogan and Nik Kershaw.

… playing working men’s clubs with the Lazers in 1980 - “an unwelcome distraction from the Bingo”.

… visits to Dusty Springfield’s grave.

… “Universal own the world”: when your songs appear in films and ads but you couldn’t keep the rights.

… more power to the Amnesty for Unrecouped Bands!

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversatiom going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The magnificent Sly Stone & Brian Wilson and the curse of our expectations Jun 15, 2025

Show notes

As the great Warren Zevon said, ‘Enjoy every sandwich’. The two-man canoe navigates this week’s rock and roll rivulet which sadly entails reflections on a pair of towering musical giants ‘whose legend occupied the space where activity should have been’. Things considered include …

…are you born with genius or does a set of circumstances allow it to flourish?

… the impossible task of living up to people’s expectations and the calamitous ways it led Sly and Brian Wilson to behave.

… like Sly’s plane landing at the moment he was meant to be onstage at Madison Square Garden.

… the massive cultural contrast between Woodstock and ‘the Black Woodstock’ a month earlier and how Sly & the Family Stone looked like they’d ‘come from Mars’.

… how Derek Taylor, Tom Nolan and Nick Kent helped fashion the Beach Boys’ myth.

… Sly’s impact on Miles Davis, Prince, Massive Attack and hip-hop and how a record as radical as There’s A Riot Goin’ On was a No 1 Christmas album.

… In My Room, a completely new kind of teenage song.

… David’s five Beach Boys teenage moments …

… and Mark’s three examples of Brian Wilson’s Greatest Bits – eg the overture to California Girls.

… and 'Arise, Sir Roger Daltrey!'

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Oasis were God’s gift to the rock press and the story of two missing teeth Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

Liam Gallagher calls Ted Kessler and Hamish MacBain “the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore of music journalism”. Both worked at the NME (and Ted at Q), both interviewed the band many times and have just published ‘A Sound So Very Loud’ which, in the grand tradition of Revolution In The Head, tells the story of every Oasis song ever recorded. They talk to Mark here about …

… why Oasis struck such an almighty chord and were the band the press were waiting for.

… their dismantling of the notion of rock stardom.

… “a visceral dislike”: why they were so socially divisive in the ‘90s.

… Liam “waking up in police custody with two missing teeth”.

… the Gallaghers’ dependable flair for the Smiths-style “performative interview” and why it sold the rock press.

… what Noel stole from Tony Blair’s maiden speech for the lyrics of Magic Pie.

… the turning point in the shift in the brothers’ powerbase.

… Liam and the invention of “Stillism”.

… “70 per cent of a band is the singer’s identity”.

… Noel’s blog and Liam’s Twitter and how the split might have been avoided if their debate hadn’t been played out in public.

… Supersonic, Cigarettes and Alcohol and the admirable honesty of Noel’s “brazen theft”.

… how Stop Crying Your Heart Out became an X-Factor standard.

… and the 5am Liam Gallagher social media publicity machine.

‘A SOUND SO VERY LOUD’ BY TED KESSLER AND HAMISH MACBAIN

Preorder link here!: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/ted-kessler/a-sound-so-very-loud/9781035078257

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elkie Brooks once opened for the Beatles. A lot happened in the next 65 years … Jun 10, 2025

Show notes

Elkie Brooks was on a package tour aged 15, supported the Beatles and the Animals, made a single when she was 19, joined the jazz-rock Dada, then Vinegar Joe (with Robert Palmer) and has since made 20 albums. She’s now out on her ‘Long Farewell Tour’ and looks back with us here from her home in Devon at …

… supporting the Beatles in ’64 and an audience already screaming for the headliners.

… memories of Dusty, Cilla and Maggie Bell and how few girl singers there were in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

… singing Cliff Richard’s ‘Pointed Toe Shoes’, aged 15, at the Don Arden talent show that won her a tour with Conway Twitty and Wee Willie Harris.

… supporting the Animals at the Paramount, New York.

… the male-weighted music world and how long it took to win any respect.

… seeing Ella Fitzgerald when she was 12 and being fired up by the range and phrasing of Billie Holiday.

… what she learnt from Humphrey Lyttelton and Eric Delaney.

… life on the scampi-in-the-basket cabaret circuit as a teenager.

… trying to keep Vinegar Joe together after Robert Palmer left.

Book tickets to the Long Farewell Tour here: https://www.elkiebrooks.com/

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why they MUST make the Cat Stevens movie + rock feuds, the best video & Beyoncé in a Stetson Jun 08, 2025

Show notes

Facing down the leg spinners of rock and roll news while trying to wallop the odd shot across the pavilion roof. On the scoreboard this week …

… has there ever been a rock feud as bitter as Trump v Musk?

… what Ray Charles, Taylor Swift and Dave Clark have in common.

… the 30-year golden age music video.

… things Van Morrison can’t forget.

… how some songs about lying in hammocks necking cocktails ended up worth $275m.

… Beyoncé, Stetsons, pink Cadillacs and how all visiting American acts bring with them the aura of America.

… the greatest and most influential video ever made.

… the song Carly Simon wrote about Cat Stevens.

… “Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)”

… Nick Mason’s menagerie: things your teenage self never imagined would happen.

… Kraft Cheese slices, Kylie videos, the cut above David Beckham’s eye and other things labelled ‘iconic’.

… and Birthday guest Paul Thompson’s night at the Music Video Preservation Society!

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuart Maconie – every character in the Beatles’ story has a story of their own Jun 06, 2025

Show notes

Stuart Maconie – broadcaster, prolific author – has a brilliant and original new perspective on the Beatles. His latest book With A Little Help From Their Friends identifies the 100 people who had the greatest impact on their story, from the inner circle to bit-part players – schoolfriends, girlfriends, managers, muses, support acts, advisors and exploiters. It’s immensely entertaining – and revealing, even for obsessives like us. Look out for these in particular …

… memories of his Mum taking him to see the Beatles in Wigan when he was three.

… the Shakespearian supporting cast – “we know the Othellos and King Lears but there are a lot of Rosencrantz and Guildensterns” such as Marsha Albert, Melanie Coe, Pablo Fanque, Mr Mustard and the night with the poet Royston Ellis that inspired Polythene Pam.

… villains of the piece who might have been misunderstood like the Maharishi and Allen Klein.

… what Derek Taylor shouted at Peter Blake at the Q Awards.

… the full extent of the Beatles’ American merchandise catastrophe.

… the “moving and spooky” sensation of standing on the spot in Woolton where John and Paul first met - and its repercussions.

… the Sliding Doors moments and why no other band merits this kind of depth and detail.

… the hoary redundant old saw about John v Paul – “guerilla genius v slick vaudevillian” and how Peter Jackson’s Get Back made us all fall in love with them even harder and deeper than before.

.

… the regrettable question he asked McCartney about Gerry & the Pacemakers.

… the tragedy of Jimmie Nicol – “being a member of the Beatles, even briefly, was the nearest equivalent to going to the Moon”.

… the impact of Paul’s life with the Ashers on the band’s intersections with art, theatre and poetry.

… how the ‘Oldies But Goldies’ album broke the band beyond the Iron Curtain.

.. why Penny Lane is like a Play for Today.

… and the greatest song the Beatles recorded.

Order With A Little Help From Our Friends here: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/with-a-little-help-from-their-friends-the-beatles-changed-the-world-but-who-changed-theirs-stuart-maconie?variant=54870051815803

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inside the world of reissues with producer Rob Caiger Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

Rob Caiger is one of those special people who turned their teenage obsession with music into a job

… from being the only one in ELO’s office who knew where the old tapes were

… to learning that what it says on the outside of the box isn’t always what’s on the tape

… through embarking on a ten-year project to put out the last Small Faces album from 1970 in its proper form

… via blindfolded journeys to mysterious destinations with the promise of finding some long-lost jewels

… and hearing a Rolling Stones out-take bleeding through a multi-track by the Move

… through the vault under Smithfield Market out of which tapes would sometimes emerge covered in blood

… to preparing for a future where nobody who was there will be able to explain how and why things were recorded

… this is the world as seen by the remarkably dedicated people who put together the box sets we all hanker for.

The Small Faces: The Autumn Stone record and CD - https://www.thesmallfaces.com/shop/

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Genuinely ‘iconic’ rock pictures, words we should ban and how Freddie Mercury still makes headlines Jun 01, 2025

Show notes

Hoary old tales retold – ideally in an Irish accent - and new ones prized from the giddy carousel of rock and roll news which, this week, features …

… was there a better stage name than Rick Derringer?

… Linda Ronstadt, Ronnie Spector, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and other new biopics under construction.

… genuinely ‘iconic’ rock images – the Ziggy lightning stipe, Johnny Cash at San Quentin, Elvis dancing in Jailhouse Rock, Dylan and Suze Rotolo in Jones Street …

… our old pal Barry McIlheney, his Belfast band Shock Treatment and the time he asked U2 to draw a duck.

… the thin wall that separates hilarity and grief.

… how TikTok and a 1962 B-side booted the 87-year old Connie Francis.

… Banned words! – ‘iconic, circle back, reach out, Ramones-esque, eponymous sophomore effort’ and other clichés that MUST be banished!

… “Sgt Pepper: it’s like the Beatles on acid!”

… why 80 per cent of the stadium experience is beyond our control.

... how Freddie Mercury still makes headlines beyond the grave.

… the real Rikki in ‘Rikki Don’t Lose that Number’.

… and when you find yourself at a Springsteen gig next to a Trump supporter.

Watch the Barry McIlheney podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjw-6HZWa-E

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martha Wainwright - ‘never nervous, always ballsy’ and onstage from the age of eight May 30, 2025

Show notes

Martha Wainwright is a key member of the Wainwright/McGarrigle clan, all of them big favourites of ours. She’s currently on her 20th anniversary tour and looks back here at the first shows she ever saw and played which involves …

… growing up in a folk dynasty in Montreal.

… the sight of Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen, backing singers on Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man tour, “who made me want to be onstage too”.

… the story of ‘Matapedia’, the song Kate McGarrigle wrote when an old boyfriend thought she was her teenage daughter.

… her first shows playing Elvis, Dylan and Woody Guthrie songs on the coffeehouse circuit.

… singing with her brother Rufus and her cousins with Kate & Anna McGarrigle at folk festivals.

… onstage at the Roches’ Christmas shows in New York.

… the time her brother stole the show over Emmylou Harris: “I thought I want that kind of attention!”

… seeing Pink Floyd’s The Wall in a Montreal hockey stadium, aged 9 – “a very marking experience”.

… the songs of her mother’s she always plays: “I’m obsessed with her legacy”.

Martha Wainwright 20th Anniversary tour tickets here: https://marthawainwright.com/shows

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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