Word In Your Ear
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.
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- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 43 minutes
- Episodes
- 858
- Years Active
- 2007 - 2025
"Mrs Robinson, you're trying to seduce me!"
In which we re-watch the Graduate, wonder when Yes songs stopped making sense, salute the best rock stage names and the Björn Ulvaeus song credit campaign, ponder the curious UK launch of Rolling Sto…
Tony Fletcher and a rock press version of “the Beano Christmas Annual”
‘The Best Of Jamming!’ is a powerfully nostalgic collection of extracts from the fanzine Tony launched in 1977 when he was 13, born of the lost age of spraymount, cow gum, Tippex, typewriters and cut…
A Rock Snobbery Special plus 50 years of the Old Grey Whistle Test
.. where we consider the brave new world in which Rick Astley plays the Smiths, a documentary explores the reasons people detest Kenny G and Rolling Stone rather self-consciously revise their list of…
Acts with embarrassingly duff names and the absurd notion of “a real fan”
Among the white-hot news items fondly examined this week you’ll find … the eternal wars in Fleetwood Mac, how we broadcast our love of bands before the rock t-shirt arrived (involves a canvas bag, a …
"Pop music + distance = sadness"
In which we consider the melancholy of Abba (and find a 45 year-old bar of Abba soap), applaud the hidden message in Lee Perry's Cow Thief Skank, wonder how Judee Sill would be marketed today, rememb…
For the love of Charlie Watts
In which we wonder if it's the Stones without the drummer, tell the whole story of the "work five years and 20 years hanging around" interview, salute the great Charlie album sleeve moments and inves…
John Cooper Clarke’s wonderfully unvarnished memories of real life in the ‘50s and 60s
‘I Wanna Be Yours’, the superb memoir by “the bargain basement Baudelaire”, is now out in paperback, much of it an account of growing up in Salford. Here he looks back at the days when “the Rialto ci…
From Tom T Hall to the Weeley Festival by way of Una Stubbs
Topics this week given a vigorous shakedown include ... the magical story-telling of the late Tom T Hall, best-preserved '80s rock stars, the construction of John Cooper Clarke's pickled onion "pork …
Summer in the City: Word in The Park presents ... Danny Baker
The fourth and last guest at our sun-roasted live event in Holland Park on July 17 was the ever-supercharged Danny Baker. Straw-hatted, drink-toting and delighted audience members were treated to a s…
The extraordinary life of Louis Armstrong plus George Harrison rebooted
Topics subjected to the usual forensic scrutiny this week include ... Jan & Dean's role in the kidnap of Frank Sinatra Jnr, is it still the Stones without Charlie?, the Offspring drummer kicked out f…
Summer in the City: Word in The Park presents ... Mark Lewisohn
We staged our first live event for 18 months on July 17, a sun-baked day at a spectacular outdoor venue kindly lent us by Opera Holland Park. A vast amount of fun was had. We’re putting up podcasts o…
The mysterious connection between Zappa and Sparks
Topics plumbed to their very depths this week include .... are tears for Olympic athletes now compulsory? The absurd names of Usain Bolt's children. The backstage chaos of the Concert For Bangladesh.…
Amy Winehouse, XTC and the joy of "re-loved CDs"
Matters of high import thrashed out this week include Dylan's Shadow Kingdom livestream, the Thunder Road lyric farrago, Apple Venus and Wasp Star - separated at birth!, the best reggae album ever, l…
Word in The Park #2: Lesley-Ann Jones remembers John Entwistle’s riotous funeral
We had our first live event for 18 months on a fabulous, sun-baked afternoon in Holland Park on July 17 and the writer and former Fleet Street columnist Lesley-Ann Jones was one of the four guests (t…
Summer in the City: Word in The Park presents ... Gary Crowley
In our sun-baked return to live events on July 17, we had four guests onstage at a spectacular outdoor venue kindly lent us by Opera Holland Park in West London, the first our old pal the shy, retiri…
How do songs become terrace anthems?
Sports writer and old pal Nige Tassell traces the story of Sweet Caroline, You’ll Never Walk Alone and Yes Sir I Can Boogie – with fond memories of the Tranmere Rovers’ spontaneous vegan chant moment…
Flat Rabbit, Mandible Rumpus ... what makes a band name work?
In which we salute Frogspawn Candy, Lord Snooty & his Pals and Steppenwolf, rejoice in the Onion's coverage of Lorde, applaud the return of the Siffleur and pop tunes that feature whistling, back Elv…
Bob Geldof: an unmissable hour of insight into rock stardom
Nobody is better qualified to talk about music as he's seen it from every angle. Bob Geldof broke into the Beatles' hotel room aged 12. He saw Dylan and the Stones when he was 13. Radio Luxembourg se…
Rock band gangs you want to join
Matters of high import discussed this week include ... having a 'date night' with your old CDs. Can the one-piece jumpsuit ever return? The whole Billie Eilish apology saga. Do all first girlfriends …
If the England Squad were a rock band which would they be?
In which we shake down the piping hot topics du jour, among them ... the 50th anniversary of Glastonbury, the genius of Miles Copeland's management method, the new six-hour Beatles movie, Bob Geldof …