Waterloo Sunset

Waterloo Sunset

Author: BBC Radio 4 May 17, 2017 Duration: 27:18

Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks was released in 1967.

Soul Music hears the poignant, thoughtful and life-changing memories of those who love it.

Childhood holidays were an escape from bullying for John Harvey. He describes the unforgettable moment when he heard Waterloo Sunset for the first time, on the radio, in 1967. Getting to know the music of The Kinks, and finding out about the character of its lead singer, Ray Davies, shaped and coloured his life from then on.

Allison Moore Adams is an American who married Vernon, a Brit. Waterloo Sunset was sung at his bedside following a terrible road accident. The painting used to illustrate this edition of Soul Music is of Vernon and Allison on Waterloo Bridge. It's by Allison's friend, Isabelle Logie, who also sang to Vernon in hospital.

Christopher Young used to work in mental health. For him, the lyrics of Waterloo Sunset symbolise the isolation that many people feel.

Professor Allan Moore, a musicologist, discusses why this beautiful pop song works so well.

Producer: Karen Gregor

First brodacast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.


There’s a certain piece of music that, when you hear it, seems to stop time. It might be a melody from your childhood, a song that played at a pivotal moment, or a composition that simply reaches into your chest and grips your heart. Soul Music, from BBC Radio 4, is built around that very phenomenon. This isn’t a program about genres or charts; it’s an intimate exploration of why specific pieces of music carry such profound emotional weight. Each episode focuses on a single, iconic work-from classical adagios to folk ballads, from film scores to pop anthems. The podcast weaves together the voices of people whose lives have been indelibly marked by that music: listeners share personal, often moving stories of grief, joy, love, and remembrance, while composers and performers might shed light on the piece’s creation. You’ll hear the music itself, of course, but framed in a way that reveals its deeper resonance in human experience. It’s a quiet, thoughtful series that reminds us how soundtracks our inner lives. Tuning into this podcast feels like being part of a conversation about the invisible threads that connect us all through notes and rhythms, exploring how a sequence of sounds can become a vessel for collective memory and feeling.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Soul Music
Podcast Episodes
We Are Family [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:31
We Are Family written by Nile Rodgers and performed by the Sledge Sisters Kathy, Kim, Debbie and Joni was released in 1978 at the height of disco's popularity. Kim Sledge says it has become the anthem for diverse groups…
The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:53
'The Boxer' is Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel's 1969 masterpiece. People who have a deep personal connection with the song and its lyrics, discuss what it means to them.Seamus McDonagh is a former boxer. He recalls his tumul…
Farewell to Stromness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:30
Personal stories about Farewell to Stromness, by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Written in 1980 as a protest against uranium mining in Orkney, the music has touched and changed people's lives. The Orkney landscape which inspi…
Wind of Change [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:29
“I follow the Moskva, down to Gorky Park… listening to the wind of change.”The German rock band Scorpions’ lead singer Klaus Meine was inspired to write Wind of Change at a rock festival in Moscow in the summer of 1989.…
Streets of London by Ralph McTell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:55
Ralph McTell and others discuss a song that was written for a heroin addict, became an anthem against homelessness, and transcended the folk genre to become an enduring classic.Ralph says he’s thought constantly about th…
Back to Black [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:37
Amy Winehouse died in July 2011 aged just 27. 'Back to Black' - the title track of her second and final album - is a torch song to tragic love, addiction and loss. People who loved her and her music talk about how she he…
Let the River Run [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:29
The story of how a song from a classic 1980’s movie became an inspirational anthem for a 21st Century generation.Carly Simon’s ‘Let the River Run’ was originally conceived as the title track for the 1988 movie ‘Working G…
Smile [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:45
Charlie Chaplin wrote the music for 'Smile' in 1935 for the film 'Modern Times', but the lyrics were only added nearly 30 years later. Chris Philips tells the story of how his grandfather was inspired to write the words…
Schubert’s B-Flat Piano Sonata D960 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:31
The B-Flat Piano Sonata D960, which Schubert completed two months before his death, in 1828, is a vast and complex work. It’s the last of a triptych of piano sonatas that Schubert wrote, possibly in response to the death…
Shine On You Crazy Diamond [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:49
Shine On You Crazy Diamond discussed by voices, including David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.Understood to have been written about Syd Barrett, their former band member, it’s both a tribute, and a call for him to ‘shine on’ des…