‘Bob Dylan is my father’ - and why Sam Sussman is convinced it’s true.
Sam Sussman’s mother Fran had a year-long love affair with Dylan when he was working on Blood on the Tracks – she’s mentioned in Tangled Up In Blue – and they met again in 1990. What she told him about that relationship is mapped out in the book he’s just written, Boy From the North Country, along with the firm belief that he’s Dylan’s son. Imagine how that must feel. This extraordinary conversation takes a number of turns and these are among them … … Norman Raeben’s art class where Dylan was trying break his creative block and met the 20-year old Fran Sussman … details of their 12-month affair and how it ended: “he gave me love songs but not love” … the verses of Tangled Up In Blue that relate to Fran and the philosophy, art and poetry woven into his songs at the time … Dylan’s other women in 1974 … being told by a teacher that he looked like Dylan and how he’s played up that connection ever since … how it feels to think you might have numerous Dylan siblings - and how many there might be(!) … the kind of people Sam meets in his book-signing queues ... and why his mother wouldn’t confirm who his father was. Order copies of Boy From The North Country here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/boy-from-the-north-country/sam-sussman/9781804711286Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey had a ‘manifesto for success’. Here’s how it worked
Tom Bailey’s been based in New Zealand for the last 30 years, making records, DJing and avoiding British winters. He tours the UK in 2026 playing the Thompson Twins’ greatest hits and looks back here from Auckland at the first shows he ever saw and played, all this high in the mix … ... dance music and the British Invasion of America … the inspiring delights of Some Kind Of Mushroom, his local record shop in Chesterfield … seeing Blodwyn Pig, Edgar Broughton and Principal Edwards Magic Theatre when he was 15 … “bass players go to bed last” … when his folk-rock band the Witching Hour supported Mick Farren & the Deviants - and promptly split up … living in Clapham squats with members of the Pop Group and the Slits … the Thompson Twins - from “the young angry white-boy funk” to the MTV trio with a policy statement .. their manifesto and division of labour – “Tom Bailey music, Alannah Currie lyrics, Joe Leeway the live show” … Live Aid with Madonna when the David Letterman house band became the Thompson Twins … “a miraculous palette of sound”: how affordable technology changed his life … and the extravagant talent of his all-female band. Tickets for Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey & Blancmange 2026 Tour here: https://www.alttickets.com/thompson-twins-tom-bailey-ticketsHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Cowbells, maracas, gongs, castanets – classic percussion parts demonstrated!
The raw ingredients of this week’s news gently diced, simmered and served as a nutritious broth. And flavoured with the following … … why Lily Allen’s divorce album doubled the value of her house … how can you play real living people as fundamentally bad after Steve Coogan’s ‘Lost King’ court case? … the cowbell on Honky Tonk Women, the guiro on Gimme Shelter, the tambourine on classic Motown: Richard Pite gives a percussion demo … Kraftwerk, 10cc, Coolio, George McCrae – more records that sound unique … music used in movies to say ‘we’re flying East!’ … You Have Selected Regicide, Kill Wealthy Dowager: Morrissey song or line from the Simpsons? … Woodbines, potted herrings, Paris buns: things we expect to find in Van Morrison’s soon-to-open childhood home ... why it’s worth hearing Mishima by Philip Glass and John the Revelator by Son House … the time Jack Ashford was flown across America just to add a tambourine … people who found they had a famous father … and Mick ‘Two Pairs of Maracas’ Jagger and what Eno predicted about I Feel Love.Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Smiths’ Mike Joyce on triumph, gladioli & Morrissey when he was still ‘Steve’
Morrissey and Marr both wrote memoirs but Mike Joyce hasn’t read either, preferring to publish ‘The Drums’, his version of one of the great success stories of the ‘80s, a book about “the beauty we’d given to people – and to ourselves”. At one point he and Andy Rourke shout, ‘Where did it all go right?”. He looks back here at … … the fateful meeting in Geales fish bar when Johnny told them he was leaving – “none of us, not even Morrissey, saw it coming” … the first Smiths rehearsal and impressions of “Steve” the singer … how the songs were written - “we never asked what they meant” … and how they were arranged: “I locked with Johnny like Charlie with Keith, and Andy played a bass song over the top” ... memories of Johnny at X Clothes in Manchester and Morrissey in ‘82 - “funny, dark, so Manc” … the “almost anti-punk” appeal of the Buzzcocks and the urge for a John Maher red Premier drumkit … “Morrissey’s articulacy was both his strength and his Achilles heel” … echoes of Motown and James Honeyman-Scott in Marr’s guitar … “Singers need to feel they’re the most important person in the room” … on-stage gladioli versus “the austerity of the Hacienda” … and Morrissey today - “very angry” - and the legacy of the Smiths. Order copies of ‘The Drums here: https://www.resident-music.com/product/joyce-mike-the-drumsHelp us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Records that sound unique and why all bands need a backlash
Boarding this week’s giddy carousel of news, we ride the following ponies … … the Sliding Doors moment that made a ‘50s star a fortune … Soft Cell’s Dave Ball and the art of being the Other One in a pop duo … Bohemian Rhapsody, O Superman, I Feel Fine: records that sounded like nothing before them … what links the Prodigy, Wet Leg, Daft Punk and Donna Summer? … how all bands need a bad patch to make you appreciate the good ones … “the concept album is a good servant but a bad master” … Expensive = Reassuringly valuable? Cheap = Worthless? … a new Taylor Swift album in ‘sweat and vanilla-perfumed orange glitter vinyl’, anyone? … and the tricks singers use to disguise the fact that they can’t hit the top notes anymore. … plus ‘the Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria’ by Blue Öyster Cult and birthday guest Phil Hopwood on best and worst concept albums.Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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.
Canada - english