

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

May 8, 2020 • 59min
Word Podcast 324 - How to impersonate Roy Orbison...
... and other pop parlour games.In which we get Alexa to play Stack Waddy, Carly Simon meets James Bond, we wonder if girls make passes at rock stars in glasses, and remember Millie, Dave Greenfield, Florian Schneider and the first edition of the Face.Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpr0kvlQpx0 John Fogerty’s back garden …https://www.loudersound.com/news/marshmallows-a-golden-retriever-and-a-view-john-fogerty-raises-the-bar-on-lockdown-videos Doobie Brothers in lockdown …https://www.ktlo.com/2020/05/04/watch-doobie-brothers-members-virtually-perform-black-water-with-fans-while-in-lockdown/ Bugger Off by Stack Waddyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbBxhbAOdPY The Stranglers’ version of Walk On By with stunning Dave Greenfield keyboard solo …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqfqVDHNW6c Meryl Streep (aged 16) at Shea Stadium …https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x6aNSHLg18Y Creedence Clearwater playing I Put A Spell On You …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeXqtzusIU0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 7, 2020 • 0sec
EARLY ACCESS Word Podcast 324 - How to impersonate Roy Orbison and other pop parlour games
In which we get Alexa to play Stack Waddy, Carly Simon meets James Bond, we wonder if girls make passes at rock stars in glasses, and remember Millie, Dave Greenfield, Florian Schneider and the first edition of the Face.Made exclusively available early to you, dear Patron. Thanks for your continued support. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 30, 2020 • 48min
Word Podcast 323 - this week's lockdown winners are...
... the Incredible String Band, Mr Chalk and Mrs CheeseIn which we celebrate the 50th birthday of The Who's "Live At Leeds", wonder why the Incredible String Band suddenly sound so right and talk about what all those living room performances tell us about Rock Star's Homes.The case of the missing hit.https://tinyurl.com/y9ymj7saToyah and Robert Fripp dance in the kitchenhttps://youtu.be/gIPuHzCvXMMCat Stevens somewhere warm enough to leave the door openhttps://youtu.be/yXuq6XpoasESupport us via our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 23, 2020 • 45min
Word Podcast 322 - playing Pink Floyd Snap...
... reading old music papers, and telling Alexa to button it.In a packed programme David and Mark continue their quest to second-guess Amazon's mysterious lady DJ, remember the man who used to buy the Beatles' cars, look at how Pink Floyd's investment problems led to their embrace of disco, read out some small ads from old music papers, wonder whether rock music without an audience is really worth the trouble and recite the names of our new Patreons in a very exciting new way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 16, 2020 • 34min
Word Podcast 321 - How long does lockdown have to last...
... before we play unplayable albums?Just how desperate do you have to be before you give John and Yoko’s “Two Virgins” or Michael Nesmith’s “The Prison” a spin? Also in this episode, another round of Alexa’s Favourites, more people sign up to be Patreon patrons, getting Lene Lovich’s autograph on a train ticket, exactly when people started having their pictures taken on the Abbey Road zebra, and travel back in time to when Bob Dylan played Earls Court and the compact disc was about to make the LP redundant.LinksThe Sound Of The Hound is the new podcast from the EMI Archive Trusthttps://www.emiarchivetrust.org/the-sound-of-the-hound-a-new-podcast-series-about-the-birth-of-recorded-sound/Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/wordinyourearWord In Your Attic on YouTube: www.youtube.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 8, 2020 • 30min
Word Podcast 320 - paying tribute...
... to the special talents of John Prine & Adam SchlesingerAlso in the episode: pink moon over London, waking up to birdsong, Brinsley Schwarz at the Fillmore and the strange majesty of old Melody Maker headlines. Plus name-checks for our inaugural patrons. If you'd like to joint them see below. And don't forget to catch up with our brand new "Word In Your Attic" with Mark Billingham at https://youtu.be/JQoTS0mKeVM.John Prine and Iris DeMent doing "In Spite Of Ourselves"https://youtu.be/P8tTwXv4glYFountains of Wayne doing "Hackensack"https://youtu.be/S6N2KYq8q14Word In Your Ear Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 1, 2020 • 29min
Word Podcast 319 - another unashamedly trivial podcast...
... in which Mark Ellen and David Hepworth discuss milk in rock, read your correspondence and invent a game you can play with Alexa.Massively encouraged by the fact that nobody tried to physically stop them doing it again, Mark and David podcast from their lofts to anyone who has nothing better to do for the next half an hour. Subjects covered include: the musical tastes of "Parks And Recreation"'s April Ludgate, when dad bought his hifi on hire purchase, why the current lockdown is good news for the Abbey Road zebra and a really funny list from an old copy of Word.Bono doing "Let Your Love Be Known"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlA8p3O1C-UPaul Simon singing "American Tune"https://youtu.be/wVYPVvS-mI4The Roots and Jimmy Fallon performing "Stuck In The Middle With You"https://youtu.be/JKYiTg6_J-MIt's the 19-piece Rotterdam Philharmonic playing Beethoven's Ode To Joy on lockdown.https://youtu.be/nNBtwsPigccKevin Ayers Whatevershebringswesing with Robert Wyatt on backing vocals and Mike Oldfield playing bass and guitar…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j7AIUnRf4wFollow David on https://www.instagram.com/dhepworth/Please leave a comment on iTunes or anywhere else that allows you to post. We read all of them and really appreciate it. If you’ve got any particular favourites among the old Word podcasts please let us know which at wiye.london@gmail.comAnd watch our "Word In Your Attic" video.https://youtu.be/qXm4DyPPwI0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 26, 2020 • 29min
Word Podcast 318 - A "for the duration" podcast
In which Mark Ellen and David Hepworth talk about Joni Mitchell, Krakatoa and the importance of dressing properly while WFH.Since they're spending a proportion of the Current Unpleasantness talking to each other anyway. Mark Ellen and David Hepworth thought they may as well record some of it, explaining what's happening with Word In Your Ear in the light of the current situation, how they're getting by at home, what they're reading, what they've been listening to and what it might all mean for the return of long form listening. Well, it's not as if they've got anything else to do.Joni Mitchell in concert at the BBC in 1970https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAxjPfWOiqIJoni Mitchell doing "Me And My Uncle" i n 1965https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k6OYIvLLcAHere's a good place to start on the books of Simon Winchester.http://www.simonwinchester.com/And here's an introduction to Anthony Powell.http://anthonypowell.org/David's book "A Fabulous Creation" is out in paperback.https://amzn.to/39gVWmOPlease leave a comment on iTunes or anywhere else that allows you to post. We read all of them and really appreciate it. If you've got any particular favourites among the old Word podcasts please let us know which at wiye.london@gmail.comP.S. Here's Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend singing "Annie"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYoqT-RJLDo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 13, 2020 • 54min
Word Podcast 317 - Pete Paphides
Pete Paphides' acclaimed "Broken Greek" is, as David says when introducing him, the best book written by a former Smash Hits reader and looks set to do for unjustly uncelebrated popular music what Nick Hornby did for football in "Fever Pitch". This chat encompasses: Abba, West Brom, the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Mind Your Language, shopping for singles at Woolworths, living above a chip shop, hoping to be adopted by the Brotherhood Of Man and making the amazing discovery that John Lennon and Paul McCartney actually used to be in the same band! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 13, 2020 • 42min
Word Podcast 316 - Dan Franklin
Dan Franklin's first book "Heavy" chronicles his life-long love affair with heavy music in all its different manifestations, from Meat Loaf to Sunn 0))), and argues that it deserves a lot more respect than it gets as a rule. It's a story that takes us from a cassette copy of a Guns N' Roses album thrust into the hands of a puzzled eight-year-old, via the fields of Donington and the mosh pits of Camden to the lengths a new father will go to free a Type O Negative CD from the mangled remnants of a family car. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.