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Podcasts · Music

Word In Your Ear

Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

300 episodes

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.

More about the show

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 page 6 of 6

  1. Film-maker Denny Tedesco on dad’s old band The Wrecking Crew and new doc “Immediate Family”

    · 24 min · Episode 734

    We’re long-time admirers of Denny Tedesco’s “Wrecking Crew” doc which celebrated the studio musicians of 60s Hollywood, the unseen hands who can be heard on all those Beach Boys and Spector hits. Now he’s done…

  2. Lennon & McCartney seen in a fresh, stirring and original new light by Ian Leslie

    · 44 min · Episode 733

    Ian Leslie posted his ‘64 Reasons To Celebrate Paul McCartney’ in 2020 and the viral reaction to its piercing and original points encouraged him to write ‘John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs’. Do we need another Beatles…

  3. The threat of AI, the appeal of Gene Hackman & the filthy glamour of Exile On Main St

    · 54 min · Episode 732

    In which we pedal the conversational tandem uphill and down dale, like a rabbit through the pea-vine or a turkey through the corn, stopping for moments of reflection which include … … “If someone wants to steal your…

  4. Graham Fellows, “the comedy of the underdog” and inventing John Shuttleworth and Jilted John

    · 26 min · Episode 731

    We first saw Graham Fellows as Jilted John on Top of the Pops in 1978 and we’ve followed his characters ever since, especially drawn to the keyboard-prodding, car-coated John Shuttleworth and his deathless pop anthems…

  5. Eternally cool rock stars, the Bond takeover and remembering Rick Buckler

    · 58 min · Episode 730

    As sinister autocrats stroke Persian cats in shark-pooled underground bunkers, their bony fingers reaching for the nuclear button, we shake another Vodka Martini and reflect on the week’s events, among them … … Amazon…

  6. Justin Hayward – ‘60s package tours, lost profits & the highpoint of the Moody Blues

    · 29 min · Episode 729

    Nights In White Satin - 260 million streams on Spotify - is still the central plank in the set Justin Hayward’s touring in October. He talks to us here about the first shows he ever saw and played, the ballroom circuit…

  7. Your guided tour of David Bowie’s London with Paul Gorman’s stories about its key locations

    · 55 min · Episode 728

    No musician is more closely associated with London or left more footprints than Bowie, and you can trace its influence on his life and work (and vice versa) through a series of landmarks from the suburbs to the centre.…

  8. Eddi Reader - busking, singing radio jingles and “men you put on the shoulder-pads for”

    · 40 min · Episode 727

    We first saw Eddi Reader singing with the Gang Of Four on Whistle Test in 1982. This eventful pod traces her story from seven kids in a two-bedroom council flat (“me in the toilet with a guitar singing Your Cheating…

  9. Why all great pop stars are cartoons, Bowie doing mime and people whose voices we’ve never heard

    · 46 min · Episode 726

    Passing the Dutchie 'pon the left-hand side, we sift through this week’s events, rants and theories which absorbingly include … … that Drake v Kendrick Lamar beef in full! … was Bowie only as good as his…

  10. Bob Marley in London, Chappell Roan’s outburst & records that sound best in the dark

    · 45 min · Episode 725

    Direct from the Government Yard in Trenchtown where, over cornmeal porridge by a log wood fire, the events of the week are gently appraised, among them … … how Bob Marley, the Walker Brothers, the Byrds, Hendrix,…

  11. The rise of David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars through the eyes of Woody Woodmansey

    · 37 min · Episode 724

    The teenage Woody Woodmansey was offered the job of under-foreman in the Vertex spectacle factory in Hull but then got a call from Bowie inviting him to move to London and play drums on his new album - “plus food and…

  12. So Long, Marianne Faithfull plus the Shipping Forecast as read by Nick Cave

    · 54 min · Episode 723

    In a courageous stand against AI technology, a pair of old lags communing via two cocoa tins and a piece of string attempt to put the rock and roll world to rights. Which this week involves … … what David saw in the…

  13. Did Britain invent the rock band? - plus our new laws about music & Garth Hudson RIP

    · 37 min · Episode 722

    When we get off of this mountain, you know where we want to go? Straight down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. While surveying the week’s events as we paddle, which involves … … the genius of Garth Hudson…

  14. Howard Jones has ‘the best job in the world’

    · 21 min · Episode 721

    We put Howard Jones on the cover of Smash Hits in 1983 billed as ‘the Most Promising New Act’ and, 15 albums and 42 years later, he’s about to set out on another tour, a double-bill with ABC. He looks back here at the…

  15. Andy Fairweather Low’s teenage psychedelic stardom

    · 28 min · Episode 720

    Another great hero on the podcast! We first heard Andy Fairweather Low with Amen Corner on jukeboxes in the late ‘60s and he’s touring the UK from February. Ten albums and countless collaborations later, he looks back…

  16. A 3-part rant about LPs sold as ‘antiques’, TikTok & the shameful AI Michael Parkinson

    · 50 min · Episode 719

    David feels a rant coming on. Mark lights the blue touchpaper, pulls on a tin hat and retires to a safe distance as they consider … … the US closure of TikTok: has a single governmental act ever had such impact on the…

  17. The unstoppable Francis Rossi – open the fridge door and he’ll do 30 minutes

    · 33 min · Episode 718

    Something happens when he walks out under the lights. He can never predict what but he’s programmed to perform. As he has for over 60 years and will again when he sets out on a 63-date tour in April peppered with…

  18. Graham Nash beat the Beatles in a talent contest

    · 13 min · Episode 717

    We both first heard Graham Nash just over 60 years ago when the Hollies’ Just One Look was on the BBC’s swinging Light Programme and we’ve followed him ever since, not least his transformational shift in the late-‘60s…

  19. The Dylan biopic, Sam & Dave and why 2025 is the most important year in our lives.

    · 46 min · Episode 716

    Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun, it is in fact just two old lags reviewing the current events, which this week include … … the made-up scene in A Complete Unknown which Dylan…

  20. Johnnie Walker, pop’s golden year and what’s wrecking rock documentaries.

    · 37 min · Episode 715

    It’s perishing cold in our frostbitten London HQ but we warmed our toes around a blazing conversational fire and roasted the following chestnuts … … “the job of pop records is to be better than the year before”. ……

  21. How Dylan and Leonard Cohen punctured the Summer Of Love plus the birth of blockbuster album

    · 45 min · Episode 714

    Among the walnut shells, wrapping paper, dried tangerine peel and broken toys beneath the Christmas Tree Of News we found a few unopened presents, among them … … Marine Homicide Unit solving murders in Scottish waters…

  22. Why we have enough Christmas hits plus the greatest songs about money

    · 40 min · Episode 713

    Deck the halls with beers and Stoli! The nutcracker of scrutiny was applied to this week’s noisettes of news and the following discussed over a glass of port … ... are a lot of new song catalogues just blogs set to…

  23. Bill Bailey celebrates “the things that make us human”.

    · 30 min · Episode 712

    The tremendous Bill Bailey is staging “a magical, musical mystery tour of the mind, along with other pressing matters” for 42 nights in London from December 28, a celebration of what makes us human in an age threatened…

  24. How Al Stewart struck gold, the folk boom and a flat-share with Paul Simon

    · 40 min · Episode 711

    The 17 year-old Al Stewart played electric guitar in a dance band in Bournemouth in 1963. When he borrowed an acoustic and sang Masters Of War in the break, he heard the sweet sound of applause. The next night he…

  25. ‘Mystique is dead’: what Gary Kemp learnt in 40 years of making and selling records

    · 50 min · Episode 710

    Gary Kemp has been posting reels of his recent visits to old haunts in Soho where he and his early bands used to rehearse, this in the run-up to releasing a third solo album, ‘This Destination’, in January. We talk to…

  26. The afterlife of Hallelujah and the day David sold his old singles

    · 52 min · Episode 709

    We ran our patent heat-sensing Scrutiniser®️ over the week’s news and here’s what set the bells off … … are buskers now more expensive live entertainment than Taylor Swift? … a Dickensian oik in Chapel Market and…

  27. The greatest sax solo, YMCA, musical one-night stands and Tom Hanks’ wise advice

    · 41 min · Episode 708

    Paddling the three-man conversational kayak across the rock and roll rapids this week involved … … Olive Mess, Candied Yams, Gorilla Biscuits …? Challenging indie act or seasonal vegan recipe? … the amount YMCA…

  28. How ‘60s pop was sold and the first news stories launching the hits

    · 45 min · Episode 707

    Joni Mitchell called it “stoking the star-maker machinery behind the popular song”. Every record sent out for review used to come with a press release knocked together by an over-excited PR before terms like…

  29. The Beatles ’64 movie - one of us loves it, the other doesn’t. Plus Rod’s tweets & Trump’s guitars

    · 49 min · Episode 706

    Reversing into tomorrow! This week’s news events given a vigorous once-over include … … what will a Trump guitar be worth in 30 years’ time? … the average age of a Glastonbury goer and how it sells its TV coverage.…

  30. How R.E.M. changed the game and why there’ll never be another band like them

    · 36 min · Episode 705

    R.E.M. considered themselves missionaries against the prevailing pop culture – no solos, no old-school stagecraft, no printed lyrics, no lip-syncing, no hard-sell videos, no obvious leader – and mapped out a whole new…

  31. Fairport, Nick Drake, Traffic and why Island Records was a sumptuous visual delight

    · 33 min · Episode 704

    Neil Storey worked in the Island press office in the ‘70s and ‘80s and has set out on mammoth undertaking, to compile a series of gorgeous, album-sleeve-sized books telling the story of virtually every record the label…

  32. Danny Baker - the panjandrum of unstoppable anecdote with a taste of his upcoming tour

    · 51 min · Episode 703

    Danny Baker, the act you’ve known for all these years, is kicking his legs up again in 2025 on a thundering new theatre tour, ‘Aye Aye! Ahoy Hoy!’ “Dead men tell no tales,” he points out, “so we might might as well get…

  33. The Band Aid recording, the birth of the tape loop and the power of the movie theme tune

    · 58 min · Episode 702

    This week’s events piled into a pipe and enthusiastically smoked include … … our memories of being at the Band Aid recording in Sarm studios, November 25 1984. … why it was the last dance of the mass media and why…

  34. How Toyah & Robert’s kitchen show became an Xmas rock’n’roll ding-dong

    · 24 min · Episode 701

    One of our rays of sunshine in the dark days of Lockdown was Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch, fizzing clips of the two of them in their Dorset kitchen, him playing off-brand rock and roll, her singing in extravagant…

  35. John Lydon on the genius of Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the fine art of Spoken Word

    · 37 min · Episode 700

    John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd,…

  36. The poshest pop star ever, music in Xmas ads and song lyrics we can still recite

    · 43 min · Episode 699

    In which we feed the week’s events through our heat-seeking Fun-Filter®️ to see what makes the bell ring. Which includes … … Richard Ashcroft in the new John Lewis Christmas ad. … U2 v Coldplay, the Beatles v Pink…

  37. Robert Hilburn on the lifetime achievement of Randy Newman

    · 30 min · Episode 698

    He’s written some of the darkest entries in the American songbook but became world famous with a sunny celebration of friendship on the soundtrack of “Toy Story”. Inbetween can be found a staggering range of songs…

  38. Peter Perrett of the Only Ones – teenage life, a wondrous return and a 35-year lost weekend.

    · 29 min · Episode 697

    After many years of invisibility, Peter Perrett of the Only Ones is out, about and on tour again and talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played, which involves … … what time he goes to bed. … “he…

  39. Does ‘celebrity endorsement’ still work? - and how Quincy Jones invented the blockbuster

    · 50 min · Episode 696

    Things this week that sent the needle into the red included … … the last dance craze the whole world noticed. ... “Rock stars used to be anti-establishment. Now they ARE the establishment.” … artworks, flags,…

  40. The genius of George Harrison and why he’s still underrated

    · 40 min · Episode 695

    The most streamed Beatles song – 700 million plays more than any other – is not by Lennon/McCartney but George who, as author Seth Rogovoy points out, is still widely considered “an economy-class Beatle” though his…

  41. Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds - his Year Zero moment, Imposter Syndrome and seeing the Beatles (aged 7)

    · 31 min · Episode 694

    Ian Broudie and the Lightning Seeds are about to set out on their 35th Anniversary Greatest Hits Tour – aka “beery parties”. He talks to us here about the first bands he ever saw and played in, which involves … ……

  42. Kraftwerk, Cream, Nirvana, savage reviews, fantasy girlfriends and a naked Nick Cave ‘plush doll’

    · 48 min · Episode 693

    Our crack pair of inquisitors tackle the week’s events and sift out the good, the bad and the riveting, which includes … … whatever happened to savage reviews? … “For God’s sake, keep the robots out of music!”: the…

  43. Life with the Lennons, fame, friendship, the FBI and the Lost Weekend – by Elliot Mintz.

    · 44 min · Episode 692

    Elliot Mintz, then a West Coast radio presenter, met the Lennons in 1971, the start of a close, unique and extraordinary friendship and hours of late-night phone calls. And he’s finally written a book about it, We All…

  44. How Goth took over, farewell Phil Lesh and the curse of teenage stardom

    · 52 min · Episode 691

    Brushing aside the cobweb spray and luminous flashing skulls, we ring rock and roll’s doorbell in pursuit of both tricks and treats. Among which you’ll find … … the gothification of entertainment … Harry Potter,…

  45. When Mark King of Level 42 was the 11 year-old singing drummer in a novelty act

    · 46 min · Episode 690

    Mark King and Level 42 have just announced 2025 tour dates and he talks to us here about … … the value of what you learn in covers bands from being ignored. … why being thrown out of home for being thrown out of…

  46. King Crimson, red hair dye and a singing Jack Russell: the boisterous memoir of Jakko Jakszyk

    · 39 min · Episode 689

    This is an extraordinary story on many levels – about the power and sanctuary of music, about what it took for bands to get noticed in the ‘70s, about how a teenager obsessed with King Crimson eventually joined the…

  47. Obsessive fans, Dylan’s reading list and how Taylor Swift tickets are the new codeword for wealth

    · 51 min · Episode 688

    Applying our patent wheat-chaff separator to recent rock and roll events, we filter out the following … … “They’ve got the guns but we got the numbers”: whatever happened to political songs? … the life of Libby Titus…

  48. Britpop, its peaks and its spiritual godfather: a Golden Age rebooted by Miranda Sawyer

    · 42 min · Episode 687

    You’ll know Miranda Sawyer from the Observer and the radio and, possibly, from her days at Smash Hits and Select magazines that form the foundation of her new book, Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs, a…

  49. Zappa and Elvis as fathers (!), Billy Joel’s house sale and the curse of too much choice

    · 44 min · Episode 686

    Our record-breaking partnership faces a fresh set of spin bowlers on the rock and roll pitch but rifles a few shots over the pavilion roof, among them … … the time Elvis let his daughter ride her pony through the…

  50. Hugh Cornwell on how the drummer has the best seat in the house

    · 24 min · Episode 685

    Hugh Cornwell is preparing for his “All The Fun Of The Fair” tour which begins in November and here he talks to David Hepworth about: ….why rehearsals are best in bursts ….why he no longer carries keyboards ….the…

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