

Word In Your Ear
Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 10, 2022 • 53min
The horror, the horror! Why you MUST see the new Woodstock ’99 documentary
In bold and vigorous pursuit of entertainment we steer via the following topics … … Thora Hird with a rifle. … acts who wrote rejected songs for Bond movies. … the legend of Van Duren. … hilariously awful revelations about the private plane use of Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg etc on @CelebJets. … is pop music now largely about an old thing re-discovered? … the late Judith Durham of the Seekers and other great ‘stirring’ voices of our time. … a record we haven’t played for 44 years. … Beyoncé and her re-written lyric (and can it really need 25 people to write a song?). … exploding gas cylinders, toppled lighting towers, mass arson and looting, State troopers … the new Netflix three-part doc ‘Trainwreck: Woodstock 99’, the gripping – genuinely shocking – chronicle of one of the lowest points in entertainment history. … and BJ Cole in an ale shop.Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!——–Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 3, 2022 • 43min
In praise of Bernard Cribbins, Clive James and the noble art of guitar-smashing
Our weekly stroll through the sunlit uplands of rock and roll visits the following topics …… Bob Dylan’s worst lyrics… musicians in movies, actors who made albums (Judi Dench?) and the slight return of the Stackwaddy game… why Hole in The Ground is the greatest comedy record ever made, plus the staggering versatility of Bernard Cribbins… the contents of the basket at the beginning of Two-Way Stretch… the incomparable comic genius of Clive James… the achingly self-conscious Barack Obama summer reading and playlist. Kendrick Lamar? Bad Bunny & Bomba Estéreo? You sure?… the night at the Railway Tavern in 1964 that Pete Townshend accidently invented “auto-destruction”… and live consumption of fruity summer ale from the Ink Spot micropub in Newbiggin by the Sea (thanks to Simon and Ange). ‘Hole In The Ground’ by Bernard Cribbins …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-JVnlB7Onk The Ink Spot microbrewery …https://www.theinkspot49.co.uk/Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 24, 2022 • 37min
Why half the people at a gig don't really want to be there
While Mark Ellen is away in his French chateau, David Hepworth goes off on one about Bruce Springsteen tours and why you can't use "dynamic pricing" in the world of live music and why the concert-going audience can always be divided into the bringer and the brung.Plus Alex Gold explains why he chose to go to southern Italy in the middle of an unprecedented heat wave with not one but two pairs of Doc Martens while also throwing light on the eternal mystery of why young men will put up with discomfort and privation on a medieval scale as long as they're in a band.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon to receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 21, 2022 • 51min
Dave Grohl reaches ‘Meldrew age’, Be Here Now’s 25th birthday and the sex life of Dave Davies
In which we paddle our conversational canoe through the rock and roll backwaters, stopping off this week at … … the closure of Word magazine ten years ago and what we miss – and don’t miss - about it. … who in their right mind in this day and age would possibly want to be famous? … Bruce Findlay, the country’s only famous record store owner. … the energetic sexual activities of Dave Davies in his new memoir and the uniquely mid-‘60s British concept of ‘kinkiness’. … Dave Grohl reaches ‘the Meldrew Point’ – as old as Richard Wilson when he first played Victor Meldrew (who was a year older than Wilfred Brambell when he played Paul’s grandad). .. the documentary someone should make about the Rubettes. … Manny Charlton of Nazareth RIP and the bizarre pop fact that one of their biggest hits was a Joni Mitchell cover. … handcuffed men in court for stealing rare Eagles artefacts. … whether the legendarily awful Be Here Now album deserves a gentler appraisal 25 years later. Don’t forget it starts with “a minute of helicopter noise and morse code”. … and birthday patron Allan Williams’ collection of Hipgnosis album sleeves – paging Picnic, Helloe’en and Music From Free Creek! You can buy Dave Davies’ memoir Living On A Thin Line here …https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Thin-Line-Dave-Davies/dp/1472289773Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world... and with full visuals!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 11, 2022 • 59min
How much of ‘Indie’ is just shoes and hair?
High in the conversational mix this week … … the return the Stackwaddy game! - do Ben & Jerry’s do a Bohemian Raspberry? Are there really Apple Music genres called Pillow Talk and Countrypolitan? … Errol Flynn and his dachshund water-skiing. … James Caan’s opening scene in Misery.… is Nick Kyrgios the first ‘rap’ tennis star? … why ‘Indie’ doesn’t tolerate non-conformity (or success) – plus Razorlight and other bands who let you down. … bizarre combinations of celebrities we’ve bumped into at the BBC – eg Ronnie Corbett and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. .. the vital importance of communal suffering at rock festivals. … and can you get your money’s worth from a £1.5m one-off original Bob Dylan musical ‘artwork’?--------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!--------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 8, 2022 • 39min
Chris Blackwell remembers the “underdogs, rejects and misfits” he signed to Island Records
Nearly every Island act seemed impossibly hip, characterful and charismatic and much of that was down to the vision and long-term belief of the man who founded the label and ran it for 30 years. Chris Blackwell beams in from Goldeneye, the Ian Fleming estate he bought in Jamaica, to remember Errol Flynn and his dachshund waterskiing, the wit and charm of Noel Coward, record-buying trips for the local jukeboxes and sound-systems and the story of Millie’s My Boy Lollipop, and talks about his relationship with Free, Traffic, Tom Waits, U2 and Roxy Music (also the ones that got away like Madonna). At one point he explains how he and Bob Marley modified Jamaican reggae to give it international appeal and there’s a great moment where he relives the overpowering effect of first hearing Trevor Horn’s production of Two Tribes. Chris’s memoir The Islander is published by Bonnier Books. The Islander by Chris Blackwell … https://www.amazon.co.uk/Islander-My-Life-Music-Beyond/dp/1788705750\1Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - and with full visuals!: https//www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 4, 2022 • 49min
Danny Baker and Graham Gouldman at our live McCartney 80th birthday special!
On June 18, along with four guests, we held a party for Paul McCartney on his 80th in front of a big crowd in the magical tented arena at Opera Holland Park in West London. This was a lot of fun from start to finish, fond memories, forgotten songs, new angles, personal meetings, fresh theories and fascinating unknown tales.In this second part of the show Danny Baker talks about a lost masterpiece, does the McCartney walk, fights the corner for some of his least loved songs, puts him in perspective, sings impressively and tells the Besame Mucho/TFI Friday story.And our last guest is Graham Gouldman who was writing big hits for the Hollies, the Yardbirds and many others in the ‘60s before he co-founded 10cc. How did songwriters react to a new Beatles single? What did he nick from Things We Said Today? What are the McCartney signatures? How is it humanly possible to play those bass parts and sing at the same time?This episode comes rammed with revelations about McCartney’s life and songs and what he’s meant to us over the years.Part One - https://shows.acast.com/word-in-your-ear-2/episodes/word-podcast-459-word-in-the-park-1 - features the broadcaster Geoff Lloyd and the writer Andy Miller.Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - alongside a whole load more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 2, 2022 • 56min
Paul McCartney in the Park: our 80th birthday special (Part One!)
On June 18 we laid on a celebration of all things McCartney on his 80th in the magical tented arena at Opera Holland Park in West London. People came from all corners of the globe. It turned out to be a feast of fond memories, forgotten songs, fresh perspectives, personal encounters, original theories and fascinating unknown tales. In this first half, David and Mark talk to the broadcaster Geoff Lloyd – who once had him on his radio show and gave him random instruments to see if he could get a tune out of them and part-written songs to finish off. Geoff was born in ‘73 and pieced together the McCartney story via an interesting route. His account of meeting him is electrifying. Our second guest is the writer, star of the literary world and co-host of the Backlisted podcast Andy Miller, onstage wearing very special McCartney-related clothes for a very special reason. Like all of us, he watched Get Back and was astonished by what he learnt about the way the band worked. Also in this episode… the effect of All My Loving on a 13 year-old, what our parents thought of the Beatles, Cynthia Lennon’s lost letter and four of our favourite songs and why. Find a sunhat, fix a cold drink, pull up an imaginary deckchair and get stuck in …------------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world - alongside a whole lot more!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 28, 2022 • 35min
What links The Day Of The Jackal, Supertramp, the Sun and James Callaghan?
Appetising items on our lavish tray of conversational hors d'oeuvres this week include:- Billie Eilish, 20, (“the youngest at headliner at Glastonbury”) and pop stars who started even younger – “Little” Stevie Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Ranking Roger, Annabella Lwin, Alex Chilton and Peter Frampton. “The poison of criminal violence and gang warfare” (supposedly Brighton in 1948) and other highlights of Brighton Rock. The Stones – what they heard when the screaming stopped and the Hyde Park show 53 years ago. Kate Bush on Woman’s Hour. Found in the attic: an old copy of Smash Hits from 1982 and the rich variety on offer - the Belle Stars, Monsoon, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, The Teardrop Explodes on a bill with Queen, Vic Godard goes swing, Scritti Politti, Neil Tennant on Hambi & The Dance. A did-they-play-day-or-night-at-Woodstock parlour game. TLC v Sam Fender in the Glastonbury highlights. One of them was "monumentally boring". Famous quotes that were invented – “Let them eat cake”, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on”, “Ringo isn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles” etc.… and the winner(s) of this month’s quiz.-------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!-------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 20, 2022 • 44min
The new Elvis movie and why we loved it
Among the things of great import we ran up the flagpole this week:- Why Baz Lurhmann’s new movie will do for Elvis what Get Back’s done for the Beatles. Highlights of our Word In Your Park show – what happened on Geoff Lloyd’s McCartney radio special involving a flugelhorn? What was Andy Miller wearing and why? What obscure McCartney track did Danny Baker say was a masterpiece? What did Graham Gouldman nick from Things We Said Today when writing hits for the Hollies? The John Peel auction and the prices people paid for an Oz Obscenity Trial vest, copies of Sniffin’ Glue and a postcard from John Lennon. Is punk the new pop memorabilia sweet spot?Why gigs are getting longer. How music hall shaped the first pop package tours. Dads and daughters at concerts. Plus patron birthday guest Andrew Stocks and a Fava’s Day gift from Keith Adsley.-------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 1 additional month for free + a bonus gift! It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!-------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for a whole load of extra and exclusive content, benefits and rewards!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.