About this season
Exclusive interviews and acoustic performances with the legends responsible for some of the most famous songs of our times. Each acclaimed songwriter discusses their unique musical inspiration and writing processes before giving an exclusive intimate acoustic performance of some of their seminal songs.
Episodes (8)
1. James Blunt
Aired 12 November 2009 • 45 min
James Blunt talks about the moment he first knew he wanted to dedicate his life to music, learning the guitar as a teenager, starting out as a songwriter and combining this with an army career and the inspiration behind four of his most famous songs.
2. Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol)
Aired 19 November 2009 • 45 min
Snow Patrol guitarist, singer and songwriter, Gary Lightbody, talks about the band’s long climb to success, his musical influences, the fans’ varying interpretations and his musical plans for the future.
3. Don Black
Aired 26 November 2009 • 45 min
The Oscar winning writer Don Black talks frankly about writing lyrics for stage, screen and chart hits. Recalling his start as a song plugger on Tin Pan Alley and how this led him to eventually make collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Don remembers the challenges of writing for Bond films, recalling working with the likes of John Barry, Shirley Bassey, and Tom Jones.
4. Brett Anderson
Aired 3 December 2009 • 45 min
Suede's former frontman talks frankly about: growing up in Haywards Heath, the early days of Suede, living on the dole, brit pop clichés, his prodigious drug use during Suede days and his feelings about drugs now.
5. Texas
Aired 10 December 2009 • 45 min
Sharleen Spiteri and Johnny McElhone, the songwriting partnership behind Texas, talk about their 20 years of success together. Discussing the early days in Glasgow and how they formed their songwriting partnership. How trying to interpret their favourite artists leads them in new musical directions, the excitement they still feel hearing their songs get airplay and how their different personalities combine to create their musical relationship.
6. Midge Ure
Aired 17 December 2009 • 45 min
Midge Ure looks back on his Glaswegian youth and how the motivation for forming a band was at first purely to attract girls. The Scottish singer recalls his days with Visage, Ultravox and remembers how his famous collaboration with Bob Geldof came about. Midge talks about leaving the security of writing with bands to launch a solo career and the inspiration behind his hit single If I Was.
7. Ray Davies Pt 1
Aired 24 December 2009 • 45 min
Musical legend Ray Davies looks back on his early musical influences – records that his older sister would send from Canada, how the signature Kinks sound was formed by him and his brother playing guitar on a broken amp in their parents’ front room. He talks about their US ban in the 1960s and how it affected the future and the sound of the band; ending the show by talking about the songwriting process and lyrical inspiration behind the Kinks classic song Waterloo Sunset.
8. Ray Davies Pt 2
Aired 31 December 2009 • 45 min
Ray Davies continues revealing the inspiration and songwriting process behind some of the Kinks hits. Discussing the process of recently re-recording many of the songs with a choir, going back to his youth as a choirboy, and takes a look at his newer, solo songs, which he personally finds more exposing than writing for a band.