Scores McCartney still wants to settle, Country Joe and the rise of ‘destination gigs’

Scores McCartney still wants to settle, Country Joe and the rise of ‘destination gigs’

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold March 15, 2026 Duration: 1:02:35

Watering the scented hedgerows of news to see if any green shoots appear. And they do, in the form of …

 

… the most effective protest song ever written

 

… the commendable box-ticking life of Country Joe McDonald

 

… the Timothée Chalamet ding-dong: is it still safe to voice an opinion?

 

… Harry Styles’ 67 dates in just 7 locations: how ‘Destination gigs’ throttle the competition

 

… was Wings a worse name than the Beatles? And McCartney as a shepherd: discuss

 

… what makes a song work as a football chant?

 

... the most unusual things we've heard sung by crowds

 

…. Stormfront, Gothic Serpent, Midnight Hammer, Rolling Thunder … album title or US military campaign?

 

… why we love improv theatre

 

… when Champion Jack Dupree lived in Halifax and Kid Creole in Rotherham

 

… plus barrelhouse blues piano, ‘inflicting’ music on people and birthday guest Avi Chaudhuri & rock music as community singing.


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
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