Podcast appearances and mentions of Benjamin Zephaniah

Send us a textThis weeks feature is Bob Clarke; Creative Director of Licklemor Productions, CEO & Founder of charity Mama Youth Project, as well as being a 2 time BAFTA winner.In part 3 of his feature he shares his journey in. reading his production company, the works of his charity and collaborations with Benjamin Zephaniah. Connect with Bob Clarke www.mamayouthproject.org.uk  https://www.youtube.com/@LicklemorProductionsYouTubeDisclaimer : The views and opinions expressed are those of guests featured and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Reggae Uprising Podcast or its representatives. Reggae Uprising Podcast does not own any of the rights to any of the music or extracts featured. It is used only as a tool of education, upliftment and empowerment for and of people of Africa and its diaspora.Subscribe & Connect : www.danieal.live/podcastOfficial Merch : www.dgarms.com

For those who haven't heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention, and the intertwining careers of Joe Boyd, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-one-minute bonus episode available, on Judy Collins’ version of this song. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by editing, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum For about an hour this was uploaded with the wrong Elton John clip in place of “Saturday Sun”. This has now been fixed. Resources Because of the increasing problems with Mixcloud’s restrictions, I have decided to start sharing streaming playlists of the songs used in episodes instead of Mixcloud ones. This Tunemymusic link will let you listen to the playlist I created on your streaming platform of choice — however please note that not all the songs excerpted are currently available on streaming. The songs missing from the Tidal version are “Shanten Bells” by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” by A.L. Lloyd, two by Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, three by Elton John & Linda Peters, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow” by Sandy Denny and “You Never Know” by Charlie Drake, but the other fifty-nine are there. Other songs may be missing from other services. The main books I used on Fairport Convention as a whole were Patrick Humphries' Meet On The Ledge, Clinton Heylin's What We Did Instead of Holidays, and Kevan Furbank's Fairport Convention on Track. Rob Young's Electric Eden is the most important book on the British folk-rock movement. Information on Richard Thompson comes from Patrick Humphries' Richard Thompson: Strange Affair and Thompson's own autobiography Beeswing.  Information on Sandy Denny comes from Clinton Heylin's No More Sad Refrains and Mick Houghton's I've Always Kept a Unicorn. I also used Joe Boyd's autobiography White Bicycles and Chris Blackwell's The Islander.  And this three-CD set is the best introduction to Fairport's music currently in print. Transcript Before we begin, this episode contains reference to alcohol and cocaine abuse and medical neglect leading to death. It also starts with some discussion of the fatal car accident that ended last episode. There’s also some mention of child neglect and spousal violence. If that’s likely to upset you, you might want to skip this episode or read the transcript. One of the inspirations for this podcast when I started it back in 2018 was a project by Richard Thompson, which appears (like many things in Thompson’s life) to have started out of sheer bloody-mindedness. In 1999 Playboy magazine asked various people to list their “songs of the Millennium”, and most of them, understanding the brief, chose a handful of songs from the latter half of the twentieth century. But Thompson determined that he was going to list his favourite songs *of the millennium*. He didn’t quite manage that, but he did cover seven hundred and forty years, and when Playboy chose not to publish it, he decided to turn it into a touring show, in which he covered all his favourite songs from “Sumer Is Icumen In” from 1260: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Sumer is Icumen In”] Through numerous traditional folk songs, union songs like “Blackleg Miner”, pieces by early-modern composers, Victorian and Edwardian music hall songs, and songs by the Beatles, the Ink Spots, the Kinks, and the Who, all the way to “Oops! I Did It Again”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Oops! I Did it Again”] And to finish the show, and to show how all this music actually ties together, he would play what he described as a “medieval tune from Brittany”, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”] We have said many times in this podcast that there is no first anything, but there’s a reason that Liege and Lief, Fairport Convention’s third album of 1969, and the album other than Unhalfbricking on which their reputation largely rests, was advertised with the slogan “The first (literally) British folk rock album ever”. Folk-rock, as the term had come to be known, and as it is still usually used today, had very little to do with traditional folk music. Rather, the records of bands like The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel were essentially taking the sounds of British beat groups of the early sixties, particularly the Searchers, and applying those sounds to material by contemporary singer-songwriters. People like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan had come up through folk clubs, and their songs were called folk music because of that, but they weren’t what folk music had meant up to that point — songs that had been collected after being handed down through the folk process, changed by each individual singer, with no single identifiable author. They were authored songs by very idiosyncratic writers. But over their last few albums, Fairport Convention had done one or two tracks per album that weren’t like that, that were instead recordings of traditional folk songs, but arranged with rock instrumentation. They were not necessarily the first band to try traditional folk music with electric instruments — around the same time that Fairport started experimenting with the idea, so did an Irish band named Sweeney’s Men, who brought in a young electric guitarist named Henry McCullough briefly. But they do seem to have been the first to have fully embraced the idea. They had done so to an extent with “A Sailor’s Life” on Unhalfbricking, but now they were going to go much further: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves” (from about 4:30)] There had been some doubt as to whether Fairport Convention would even continue to exist — by the time Unhalfbricking, their second album of the year, was released, they had been through the terrible car accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band’s drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend. Most of the rest of the band had been seriously injured, and they had made a conscious decision not to discuss the future of the band until they were all out of hospital. Ashley Hutchings was hospitalised the longest, and Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, and Sandy Denny, the other three surviving members of the band, flew over to LA with their producer and manager, Joe Boyd, to recuperate there and get to know the American music scene. When they came back, the group all met up in the flat belonging to Denny’s boyfriend Trevor Lucas, and decided that they were going to continue the band. They made a few decisions then — they needed a new drummer, and as well as a drummer they wanted to get in Dave Swarbrick. Swarbrick had played violin on several tracks on Unhalfbricking as a session player, and they had all been thrilled to work with him. Swarbrick was one of the most experienced musicians on the British folk circuit. He had started out in the fifties playing guitar with Beryl Marriott’s Ceilidh Band before switching to fiddle, and in 1963, long before Fairport had formed, he had already appeared on TV with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, led by Ian Campbell, the father of Ali and Robin Campbell, later of UB40: [Excerpt: The Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Shanten Bells (medley on Hullaballoo!)”] He’d sung with Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd: [Excerpt: A.L. Lloyd, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” ] And he’d formed his hugely successful duo with Martin Carthy, releasing records like “Byker Hill” which are often considered among the best British folk music of all time: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, “Byker Hill”] By the time Fairport had invited him to play on Unhalfbricking, Swarbrick had already performed on twenty albums as a core band member, plus dozens more EPs, singles, and odd tracks on compilations. They had no reason to think they could actually get him to join their band. But they had three advantages. The first was that Swarbrick was sick of the traditional folk scene at the time, saying later “I didn’t like seven-eighths of the people involved in it, and it was extremely opportune to leave. I was suddenly presented with the possibilities of exploring the dramatic content of the songs to the full.” The second was that he was hugely excited to be playing with Richard Thompson, who was one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, and Martin Carthy remembers him raving about Thompson after their initial sessions. (Carthy himself was and is no slouch on the guitar of course, and there was even talk of getting him to join the band at this point, though they decided against it — much to the relief of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol, who is a perfectly fine player himself but didn’t want to be outclassed by *two* of the best guitarists in Britain at the same time). And the third was that Joe Boyd told him that Fairport were doing so well — they had a single just about to hit the charts with “Si Tu Dois Partir” — that he would only have to play a dozen gigs with Fairport in order to retire. As it turned out, Swarbrick would play with the group for a decade, and would never retire — I saw him on his last tour in 2015, only eight months before he died. The drummer the group picked was also a far more experienced musician than any of the rest, though in a very different genre. Dave Mattacks had no knowledge at all of the kind of music they played, having previously been a player in dance bands. When asked by Hutchings if he wanted to join the band, Mattacks’ response was “I don’t know anything about the music. I don’t understand it… I can’t tell one tune from another, they all sound the same… but if you want me to join the group, fine, because I really like it. I’m enjoying myself musically.” Mattacks brought a new level of professionalism to the band, thanks to his different background. Nicol said of him later “He was dilligent, clean, used to taking three white shirts to a gig… The application he could bring to his playing was amazing. With us, you only played well when you were feeling well.” This distinction applied to his playing as well. Nicol would later describe the difference between Mattacks’ drumming and Lamble’s by saying “Martin’s strength was as an imaginative drummer. DM came in with a strongly developed sense of rhythm, through keeping a big band of drunken saxophone players in order. A great time-keeper.” With this new line-up and a new sense of purpose, the group did as many of their contemporaries were doing and “got their heads together in the country”. Joe Boyd rented the group a mansion, Farley House, in Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire, and they stayed there together for three months. At the start, the group seem to have thought that they were going to make another record like Unhalfbricking, with some originals, some songs by American songwriters, and a few traditional songs. Even after their stay in Farley Chamberlayne, in fact, they recorded a few of the American songs they’d rehearsed at the start of the process, Richard Farina’s “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” and Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Ballad of Easy Rider”] Indeed, the whole idea of “getting our heads together in the country” (as the cliche quickly became in the late sixties as half of the bands in Britain went through much the same kind of process as Fairport were doing — but usually for reasons more to do with drug burnout or trend following than recovering from serious life-changing trauma) seems to have been inspired by Bob Dylan and the Band getting together in Big Pink. But very quickly they decided to follow the lead of Ashley Hutchings, who had had something of a Damascene conversion to the cause of traditional English folk music. They were listening mostly to Music From Big Pink by the Band, and to the first album by Sweeney’s Men: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “The Handsome Cabin Boy”] And they decided that they were going to make something that was as English as those records were North American and Irish (though in the event there were also a few Scottish songs included on the record). Hutchings in particular was becoming something of a scholar of traditional music, regularly visiting Cecil Sharp House and having long conversations with A.L. Lloyd, discovering versions of different traditional songs he’d never encountered before. This was both amusing and bemusing Sandy Denny, who had joined a rock group in part to get away from traditional music; but she was comfortable singing the material, and knew a lot of it and could make a lot of suggestions herself. Swarbrick obviously knew the repertoire intimately, and Nicol was amenable, while Mattacks was utterly clueless about the folk tradition at this point but knew this was the music he wanted to make. Thompson knew very little about traditional music, and of all the band members except Denny he was the one who has shown the least interest in the genre in his subsequent career — but as we heard at the beginning, showing the least interest in the genre is a relative thing, and while Thompson was not hugely familiar with the genre, he *was* able to work with it, and was also more than capable of writing songs that fit in with the genre. Of the eleven songs on the album, which was titled Liege and Lief (which means, roughly, Lord and Loyalty), there were no cover versions of singer-songwriters. Eight were traditional songs, and three were originals, all written in the style of traditional songs. The album opened with “Come All Ye”, an introduction written by Denny and Hutchings (the only time the two would ever write together): [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Come All Ye”] The other two originals were songs where Thompson had written new lyrics to traditional melodies. On “Crazy Man Michael”, Swarbrick had said to Thompson that the tune to which he had set his new words was weaker than the lyrics, to which Thompson had replied that if Swarbrick felt that way he should feel free to write a new melody. He did, and it became the first of the small number of Thompson/Swarbrick collaborations: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Crazy Man Michael”] Thompson and Swarbrick would become a brief songwriting team, but as much as anything else it was down to proximity — the two respected each other as musicians, but never got on very well. In 1981 Swarbrick would say “Richard and I never got on in the early days of FC… we thought we did, but we never did. We composed some bloody good songs together, but it was purely on a basis of “you write that and I’ll write this, and we’ll put it together.” But we never sat down and had real good chats.” The third original on the album, and by far the most affecting, is another song where Thompson put lyrics to a traditional tune. In this case he thought he was putting the lyrics to the tune of “Willie O'Winsbury”, but he was basing it on a recording by Sweeney’s Men. The problem was that Sweeney’s Men had accidentally sung the lyrics of “Willie O'Winsbury'” to the tune of a totally different song, “Fause Foodrage”: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “Willie O’Winsbury”] Thompson took that melody, and set to it lyrics about loss and separation. Thompson has never been one to discuss the meanings of his lyrics in any great detail, and in the case of this one has said “I really don't know what it means. This song came out of a dream, and I pretty much wrote it as I dreamt it (it was the sixties), and didn't spend very long analyzing it. So interpret as you wish – or replace with your own lines.” But in the context of the traffic accident that had killed his tailor girlfriend and a bandmate, and injured most of his other bandmates, the lyrics about lonely travellers, the winding road, bruised and beaten sons, saying goodbye, and never cutting cloth, seem fairly self-explanatory: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Farewell, Farewell”] The rest of the album, though, was taken up by traditional tunes. There was a long medley of four different fiddle reels; a version of “Reynardine” (a song about a seductive man — or is he a fox? Or perhaps both — which had been recorded by Swarbrick and Carthy on their most recent album); a 19th century song about a deserter saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert; and a long take on “Tam Lin”, one of the most famous pieces in the Scottish folk music canon, a song that has been adapted in different ways by everyone from the experimental noise band Current 93 to the dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the comics writer Grant Morrison: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Tam Lin”] And “Matty Groves”, a song about a man killing his cheating wife and her lover, which actually has a surprisingly similar story to that of “1921” from another great concept album from that year, the Who’s Tommy. “Matty Groves” became an excuse for long solos and shows of instrumental virtuosity: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves”] The album was recorded in September 1969, after their return from their break in the country and a triumphal performance at the Royal Festival Hall, headlining over fellow Witchseason artists John and Beverly Martyn and Nick Drake. It became a classic of the traditional folk genre — arguably *the* classic of the traditional folk genre. In 2007 BBC Radio 2’s Folk Music Awards gave it an award for most influential folk album of all time, and while such things are hard to measure, I doubt there’s anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of British folk and folk-rock music who would not at least consider that a reasonable claim. But once again, by the time the album came out in November, the band had changed lineups yet again. There was a fundamental split in the band – on one side were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, whose stance was, roughly, that Liege and Lief was a great experiment and a fun thing to do once, but really the band had two first-rate songwriters in themselves, and that they should be concentrating on their own new material, not doing these old songs, good as they were. They wanted to take the form of the traditional songs and use that form for new material — they wanted to make British folk-rock, but with the emphasis on the rock side of things. Hutchings, on the other hand, was equally sure that he wanted to make traditional music and go further down the rabbit hole of antiquity. With the zeal of the convert he had gone in a couple of years from being the leader of a band who were labelled “the British Jefferson Airplane” to becoming a serious scholar of traditional folk music. Denny was tired of touring, as well — she wanted to spend more time at home with Trevor Lucas, who was sleeping with other women when she was away and making her insecure. When the time came for the group to go on a tour of Denmark, Denny decided she couldn’t make it, and Hutchings was jubilant — he decided he was going to get A.L. Lloyd into the band in her place and become a *real* folk group. Then Denny reconsidered, and Hutchings was crushed. He realised that while he had always been the leader, he wasn’t going to be able to lead the band any further in the traditionalist direction, and quit the group — but not before he was delegated by the other band members to fire Denny. Until the publication of Richard Thompson’s autobiography in 2022, every book on the group or its members said that Denny quit the band again, which was presumably a polite fiction that the band agreed, but according to Thompson “Before we flew home, we decided to fire Sandy. I don't remember who asked her to leave – it was probably Ashley, who usually did the dirty work. She was reportedly shocked that we would take that step. She may have been fragile beneath the confident facade, but she still knew her worth.” Thompson goes on to explain that the reasons for kicking her out were that “I suppose we felt that in her mind she had already left” and that “We were probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though there wasn't a name for it back then.” They had considered inviting Trevor Lucas to join the band to make Denny more comfortable, but came to the (probably correct) conclusion that while he was someone they got on well with personally, he would be another big ego in a band that already had several, and that being around Denny and Lucas’ volatile relationship would, in Thompson’s phrasing, “have not always given one a feeling of peace and stability.” Hutchings originally decided he was going to join Sweeney’s Men, but that group were falling apart, and their first rehearsal with Hutchings would also be their last as a group, with only Hutchings and guitarist and mandolin player Terry Woods left in the band. They added Woods’ wife Gay, and another couple, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and formed a group called Steeleye Span, a name given them by Martin Carthy. That group, like Fairport, went to “get their heads together in the country” for three months and recorded an album of electric versions of traditional songs, Hark the Village Wait, on which Mattacks and another drummer, Gerry Conway, guested as Steeleye Span didn’t at the time have their own drummer: [Excerpt: Steeleye Span, “Blackleg Miner”] Steeleye Span would go on to have a moderately successful chart career in the seventies, but by that time most of the original lineup, including Hutchings, had left — Hutchings stayed with them for a few albums, then went on to form the first of a series of bands, all called the Albion Band or variations on that name, which continue to this day. And this is something that needs to be pointed out at this point — it is impossible to follow every single individual in this narrative as they move between bands. There is enough material in the history of the British folk-rock scene that someone could do a 500 Songs-style podcast just on that, and every time someone left Fairport, or Steeleye Span, or the Albion Band, or Matthews’ Southern Comfort, or any of the other bands we have mentioned or will mention, they would go off and form another band which would then fission, and some of its members would often join one of those other bands. There was a point in the mid-1970s where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport Convention while Fairport Convention had none. So just in order to keep the narrative anything like wieldy, I’m going to keep the narrative concentrated on the two figures from Fairport — Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson — whose work outside the group has had the most influence on the wider world of rock music more broadly, and only deal with the other members when, as they often did, their careers intersected with those two. That doesn’t mean the other members are not themselves hugely important musicians, just that their importance has been primarily to the folk side of the folk-rock genre, and so somewhat outside the scope of this podcast. While Hutchings decided to form a band that would allow him to go deeper and deeper into traditional folk music, Sandy Denny’s next venture was rather different. For a long time she had been writing far more songs than she had ever played for her bandmates, like “Nothing More”, a song that many have suggested is about Thompson: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Nothing More”] When Joe Boyd heard that Denny was leaving Fairport Convention, he was at first elated. Fairport’s records were being distributed by A&M in the US at that point, but Island Records was in the process of opening up a new US subsidiary which would then release all future Fairport product — *but*, as far as A&M were concerned, Sandy Denny *was* Fairport Convention. They were only interested in her. Boyd, on the other hand, loved Denny’s work intensely, but from his point of view *Richard Thompson* was Fairport Convention. If he could get Denny signed directly to A&M as a solo artist before Island started its US operations, Witchseason could get a huge advance on her first solo record, while Fairport could continue making records for Island — he’d have two lucrative acts, on different labels. Boyd went over and spoke to A&M and got an agreement in principle that they would give Denny a forty-thousand-dollar advance on her first solo album — twice what they were paying for Fairport albums. The problem was that Denny didn’t want to be a solo act. She wanted to be the lead singer of a band. She gave many reasons for this — the one she gave to many journalists was that she had seen a Judy Collins show and been impressed, but noticed that Collins’ band were definitely a “backing group”, and as she put it “But that's all they were – a backing group. I suddenly thought, If you're playing together on a stage you might as well be TOGETHER.” Most other people in her life, though, say that the main reason for her wanting to be in a band was her desire to be with her boyfriend, Trevor Lucas. Partly this was due to a genuine desire to spend more time with someone with whom she was very much in love, partly it was a fear that he would cheat on her if she was away from him for long periods of time, and part of it seems to have been Lucas’ dislike of being *too* overshadowed by his talented girlfriend — he didn’t mind acknowledging that she was a major talent, but he wanted to be thought of as at least a minor one. So instead of going solo, Denny formed Fotheringay, named after the song she had written for Fairport. This new band consisted at first of Denny on vocals and occasional piano, Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Lucas’ old Eclection bandmate Gerry Conway on drums. For a lead guitarist, they asked Richard Thompson who the best guitarist in Britain was, and he told them Albert Lee. Lee in turn brought in bass player Pat Donaldson, but this lineup of the band barely survived a fortnight. Lee *was* arguably the best guitarist in Britain, certainly a reasonable candidate if you could ever have a singular best (as indeed was Thompson himself), but he was the best *country* guitarist in Britain, and his style simply didn’t fit with Fotheringay’s folk-influenced songs. He was replaced by American guitarist Jerry Donahue, who was not anything like as proficient as Lee, but who was still very good, and fit the band’s style much better. The new group rehearsed together for a few weeks, did a quick tour, and then went into the recording studio to record their debut, self-titled, album. Joe Boyd produced the album, but admitted himself that he only paid attention to those songs he considered worthwhile — the album contained one song by Lucas, “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, and two cover versions of American singer-songwriter material with Lucas singing lead. But everyone knew that the songs that actually *mattered* were Sandy Denny’s, and Boyd was far more interested in them, particularly the songs “The Sea” and “The Pond and the Stream”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “The Pond and the Stream”] Fotheringay almost immediately hit financial problems, though. While other Witchseason acts were used to touring on the cheap, all packed together in the back of a Transit van with inexpensive equipment, Trevor Lucas had ambitions of being a rock star and wanted to put together a touring production to match, with expensive transport and equipment, including a speaker system that got nicknamed “Stonehenge” — but at the same time, Denny was unhappy being on the road, and didn’t play many gigs. As well as the band itself, the Fotheringay album also featured backing vocals from a couple of other people, including Denny’s friend Linda Peters. Peters was another singer from the folk clubs, and a good one, though less well-known than Denny — at this point she had only released a couple of singles, and those singles seemed to have been as much as anything else released as a novelty. The first of those, a version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” had been released as by “Paul McNeill and Linda Peters”: [Excerpt: Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”] But their second single, a version of John D. Loudermilk’s “You’re Taking My Bag”, was released on the tiny Page One label, owned by Larry Page, and was released under the name “Paul and Linda”, clearly with the intent of confusing particularly gullible members of the record-buying public into thinking this was the McCartneys: [Excerpt: Paul and Linda, “You’re Taking My Bag”] Peters was though more financially successful than almost anyone else in this story, as she was making a great deal of money as a session singer. She actually did another session involving most of Fotheringay around this time. Witchseason had a number of excellent songwriters on its roster, and had had some success getting covers by people like Judy Collins, but Joe Boyd thought that they might possibly do better at getting cover versions if they were performed in less idiosyncratic arrangements. Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway went into the studio to record backing tracks, and vocals were added by Peters and another session singer, who according to some sources also provided piano. They cut songs by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “You Get Brighter”] Ed Carter, formerly of The New Nadir but by this time firmly ensconced in the Beach Boys’ touring band where he would remain for the next quarter-century: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “I Don’t Mind”] John and Beverly Martyn, and Nick Drake: [Excerpt: Elton John, “Saturday Sun”] There are different lineups of musicians credited for those sessions in different sources, but I tend to believe that it’s mostly Fotheringay for the simple reason that Donahue says it was him, Donaldson and Conway who talked Lucas and Denny into the mistake that destroyed Fotheringay because of these sessions. Fotheringay were in financial trouble already, spending far more money than they were bringing in, but their album made the top twenty and they were getting respect both from critics and from the public — in September, Sandy Denny was voted best British female singer by the readers of Melody Maker in their annual poll, which led to shocked headlines in the tabloids about how this “unknown” could have beaten such big names as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black. Only a couple of weeks after that, they were due to headline at the Albert Hall. It should have been a triumph. But Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway had asked that singing pianist to be their support act. As Donahue said later “That was a terrible miscast. It was our fault. He asked if [he] could do it. Actually Pat, Gerry and I had to talk Sandy and Trevor into [it]… We'd done these demos and the way he was playing – he was a wonderful piano player – he was sensitive enough. We knew very little about his stage-show. We thought he'd be a really good opener for us.” Unfortunately, Elton John was rather *too* good. As Donahue continued “we had no idea what he had in mind, that he was going to do the most incredible rock & roll show ever. He pretty much blew us off the stage before we even got on the stage.” To make matters worse, Fotheringay’s set, which was mostly comprised of new material, was underrehearsed and sloppy, and from that point on no matter what they did people were counting the hours until the band split up. They struggled along for a while though, and started working on a second record, with Boyd again producing, though as Boyd later said “I probably shouldn't have been producing the record. My lack of respect for the group was clear, and couldn't have helped the atmosphere. We'd put out a record that had sold disappointingly, A&M was unhappy. Sandy's tracks on the first record are among the best things she ever did – the rest of it, who cares? And the artwork, Trevor's sister, was terrible. It would have been one thing if I'd been unhappy with it and it sold, and the group was working all the time, making money, but that wasn't the case … I knew what Sandy was capable of, and it was very upsetting to me.” The record would not be released for thirty-eight years: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Wild Mountain Thyme”] Witchseason was going badly into debt. Given all the fissioning of bands that we’ve already been talking about, Boyd had been stretched thin — he produced sixteen albums in 1970, and almost all of them lost money for the company. And he was getting more and more disillusioned with the people he was producing. He loved Beverly Martyn’s work, but had little time for her abusive husband John, who was dominating her recording and life more and more and would soon become a solo artist while making her stay at home (and stealing her ideas without giving her songwriting credit). The Incredible String Band were great, but they had recently converted to Scientology, which Boyd found annoying, and while he was working with all sorts of exciting artists like Vashti Bunyan and Nico, he was finding himself less and less important to the artists he mentored. Fairport Convention were a good example of this. After Denny and Hutchings had left the group, they’d decided to carry on as an electric folk group, performing an equal mix of originals by the Swarbrick and Thompson songwriting team and arrangements of traditional songs. The group were now far enough away from the “British Jefferson Airplane” label that they decided they didn’t need a female vocalist — and more realistically, while they’d been able to replace Judy Dyble, nobody was going to replace Sandy Denny. Though it’s rather surprising when one considers Thompson’s subsequent career that nobody seems to have thought of bringing in Denny’s friend Linda Peters, who was dating Joe Boyd at the time (as Denny had been before she met Lucas) as Denny’s replacement. Instead, they decided that Swarbrick and Thompson were going to share the vocals between them. They did, though, need a bass player to replace Hutchings. Swarbrick wanted to bring in Dave Pegg, with whom he had played in the Ian Campbell Folk Group, but the other band members initially thought the idea was a bad one. At the time, while they respected Swarbrick as a musician, they didn’t think he fully understood rock and roll yet, and they thought the idea of getting in a folkie who had played double bass rather than an electric rock bassist ridiculous. But they auditioned him to mollify Swarbrick, and found that he was exactly what they needed. As Joe Boyd later said “All those bass lines were great, Ashley invented them all, but he never could play them that well. He thought of them, but he was technically not a terrific bass player. He was a very inventive, melodic, bass player, but not a very powerful one technically. But having had the part explained to him once, Pegg was playing it better than Ashley had ever played it… In some rock bands, I think, ultimately, the bands that sound great, you can generally trace it to the bass player… it was at that point they became a great band, when they had Pegg.” The new lineup of Fairport decided to move in together, and found a former pub called the Angel, into which all the band members moved, along with their partners and children (Thompson was the only one who was single at this point) and their roadies. The group lived together quite happily, and one gets the impression that this was the period when they were most comfortable with each other, even though by this point they were a disparate group with disparate tastes, in music as in everything else. Several people have said that the only music all the band members could agree they liked at this point was the first two albums by The Band. With the departure of Hutchings from the band, Swarbrick and Thompson, as the strongest personalities and soloists, became in effect the joint leaders of the group, and they became collaborators as songwriters, trying to write new songs that were inspired by traditional music. Thompson described the process as “let’s take one line of this reel and slow it down and move it up a minor third and see what that does to it; let’s take one line of this ballad and make a whole song out of it. Chopping up the tradition to find new things to do… like a collage.” Generally speaking, Swarbrick and Thompson would sit by the fire and Swarbrick would play a melody he’d been working on, the two would work on it for a while, and Thompson would then go away and write the lyrics. This is how the two came up with songs like the nine-minute “Sloth”, a highlight of the next album, Full House, and one that would remain in Fairport’s live set for much of their career: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth”] “Sloth” was titled that way because Thompson and Swarbrick were working on two tunes, a slow one and a fast one, and they jokingly named them “Sloth” and “Fasth”, but the latter got renamed to “Walk Awhile”, while “Sloth” kept its working title. But by this point, Boyd and Thompson were having a lot of conflict in the studio. Boyd was never the most technical of producers — he was one of those producers whose job is to gently guide the artists in the studio and create a space for the music to flourish, rather than the Joe Meek type with an intimate technical knowledge of the studio — and as the artists he was working with gained confidence in their own work they felt they had less and less need of him. During the making of the Full House album, Thompson and Boyd, according to Boyd, clashed on everything — every time Boyd thought Thompson had done a good solo, Thompson would say to erase it and let him have another go, while every time Boyd thought Thompson could do better, Thompson would say that was the take to keep. One of their biggest clashes was over Thompson’s song “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”, which was originally intended for release on the album, and is included in current reissues of it: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”] Thompson had written that song inspired by what he thought was the unjust treatment of Alex Bramham, the driver in Fairport’s fatal car crash, by the courts — Bramham had been given a prison sentence of a few months for dangerous driving, while the group members thought he had not been at fault. Boyd thought it was one of the best things recorded for the album, but Thompson wasn’t happy with his vocal — there was one note at the top of the melody that he couldn’t quite hit — and insisted it be kept off the record, even though that meant it would be a shorter album than normal. He did this at such a late stage that early copies of the album actually had the title printed on the sleeve, but then blacked out. He now says in his autobiography “I could have persevered, double-tracked the voice, warmed up for longer – anything. It was a good track, and the record was lacking without it. When the album was re-released, the track was restored with a more confident vocal, and it has stayed there ever since.” During the sessions for Full House the group also recorded one non-album single, Thompson and Swarbrick’s “Now Be Thankful”: [Excerpt, Fairport Convention, “Now Be Thankful”] The B-side to that was a medley of two traditional tunes plus a Swarbrick original, but was given the deliberately ridiculous title “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”] The B. McKenzie in the title was a reference to the comic-strip character Barry McKenzie, a stereotype drunk Australian created for Private Eye magazine by the comedian Barry Humphries (later to become better known for his Dame Edna Everage character) but the title was chosen for one reason only — to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the song with the longest title. Which they did, though they were later displaced by the industrial band Test Dept, and their song “Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes and Is Constantly Perfected Under the Immaculate Guidance of the Great, Honourable, Generous and Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is the Blue Sky in the Hearts of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage and Bow in Deep Respect and Gratitude to Her. The Milk of Human Kindness”. Full House got excellent reviews in the music press, with Rolling Stone saying “The music shows that England has finally gotten her own equivalent to The Band… By calling Fairport an English equivalent of the Band, I meant that they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they maintain their roots in rock.” Off the back of this, the group went on their first US tour, culminating in a series of shows at the Troubadour in LA, on the same bill as Rick Nelson, which were recorded and later released as a live album: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth (live)”] The Troubadour was one of the hippest venues at the time, and over their residency there the group got seen by many celebrities, some of whom joined them on stage. The first was Linda Ronstadt, who initially demurred, saying she didn’t know any of their songs. On being told they knew all of hers, she joined in with a rendition of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. Thompson was later asked to join Ronstadt’s backing band, who would go on to become the Eagles, but he said later of this offer “I would have hated it. I’d have hated being on the road with four or five miserable Americans — they always seem miserable. And if you see them now, they still look miserable on stage — like they don’t want to be there and they don’t like each other.” The group were also joined on stage at the Troubadour on one memorable night by some former bandmates of Pegg’s. Before joining the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Pegg had played around the Birmingham beat scene, and had been in bands with John Bonham and Robert Plant, who turned up to the Troubadour with their Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page (reports differ on whether the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, also came along). They all got up on stage together and jammed on songs like “Hey Joe”, “Louie Louie”, and various old Elvis tunes. The show was recorded, and the tapes are apparently still in the possession of Joe Boyd, who has said he refuses to release them in case he is murdered by the ghost of Peter Grant. According to Thompson, that night ended in a three-way drinking contest between Pegg, Bonham, and Janis Joplin, and it’s testament to how strong the drinking culture is around Fairport and the British folk scene in general that Pegg outdrank both of them. According to Thompson, Bonham was found naked by a swimming pool two days later, having missed two gigs. For all their hard rock image, Led Zeppelin were admirers of a lot of the British folk and folk-rock scene, and a few months later Sandy Denny would become the only outside vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin record when she duetted with Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” on the group’s fourth album: [Excerpt: Led Zeppelin, “The Battle of Evermore”] Denny would never actually get paid for her appearance on one of the best-selling albums of all time. That was, incidentally, not the only session that Denny was involved in around this time — she also sang on the soundtrack to a soft porn film titled Swedish Fly Girls, whose soundtrack was produced by Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow?”] Shortly after Fairport’s trip to America, Joe Boyd decided he was giving up on Witchseason. The company was now losing money, and he was finding himself having to produce work for more and more acts as the various bands fissioned. The only ones he really cared about were Richard Thompson, who he was finding it more and more difficult to work with, Nick Drake, who wanted to do his next album with just an acoustic guitar anyway, Sandy Denny, who he felt was wasting her talents in Fotheringay, and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, who was more distant since his conversion to Scientology. Boyd did make some attempts to keep the company going. On a trip to Sweden, he negotiated an agreement with the manager and publisher of a Swedish band whose songs he’d found intriguing, the Hep Stars. Boyd was going to publish their songs in the UK, and in return that publisher, Stig Anderson, would get the rights to Witchseason’s catalogue in Scandinavia — a straight swap, with no money changing hands. But before Boyd could get round to signing the paperwork, he got a better offer from Mo Ostin of Warners — Ostin wanted Boyd to come over to LA and head up Warners’ new film music department. Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to LA with his fiancee Linda Peters, spending the next few years working on music for films like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange, as well as making his own documentary about Jimi Hendrix, and thus missed out on getting the UK publishing rights for ABBA, and all the income that would have brought him, for no money. And it was that decision that led to the breakup of Fotheringay. Just before Christmas 1970, Fotheringay were having a difficult session, recording the track “John the Gun”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “John the Gun”] Boyd got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the session, and went for a meal and several drinks with Denny. He kept insisting that she should dump the band and just go solo, and then something happened that the two of them would always describe differently. She asked him if he would continue to produce her records if she went solo, and he said he would. According to Boyd’s recollection of the events, he meant that he would fly back from California at some point to produce her records. According to Denny, he told her that if she went solo he would stay in Britain and not take the job in LA. This miscommunication was only discovered after Denny told the rest of Fotheringay after the Christmas break that she was splitting the band. Jerry Donahue has described that as the worst moment of his life, and Denny felt very guilty about breaking up a band with some of her closest friends in — and then when Boyd went over to the US anyway she felt a profound betrayal. Two days before Fotheringay’s final concert, in January 1971, Sandy Denny signed a solo deal with Island records, but her first solo album would not end up produced by Joe Boyd. Instead, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens was co-produced by Denny, John Wood — the engineer who had worked with Boyd on pretty much everything he’d produced, and Richard Thompson, who had just quit Fairport Convention, though he continued living with them at the Angel, at least until a truck crashed into the building in February 1971, destroying its entire front wall and forcing them to relocate. The songs chosen for The North Star Grassman and the Ravens reflected the kind of choices Denny would make on her future albums, and her eclectic taste in music. There was, of course, the obligatory Dylan cover, and the traditional folk ballad “Blackwaterside”, but there was also a cover version of Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”] Most of the album, though, was made up of originals about various people in Denny’s life, like “Next Time Around”, about her ex-boyfriend Jackson C Frank: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Next Time Around”] The album made the top forty in the UK — Denny’s only solo album to do so — and led to her once again winning the “best female singer” award in Melody Maker’s readers’ poll that year — the male singer award was won by Rod Stewart. Both Stewart and Denny appeared the next year on the London Symphony Orchestra’s all-star version of The Who’s Tommy, which had originally been intended as a vehicle for Stewart before Roger Daltrey got involved. Stewart’s role was reduced to a single song, “Pinball Wizard”, while Denny sang on “It’s a Boy”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “It’s a Boy”] While Fotheringay had split up, all the band members play on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Guitarists Donahue and Lucas only play on a couple of the tracks, with Richard Thompson playing most of the guitar on the record. But Fotheringay’s rhythm section of Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway play on almost every track. Another musician on the album, Ian Whiteman, would possibly have a profound effect on the future direction of Richard Thompson’s career and life. Whiteman was the former keyboard player for the mod band The Action, having joined them just before they became the blues-rock band Mighty Baby. But Mighty Baby had split up when all of the band except the lead singer had converted to Islam. Richard Thompson was on his own spiritual journey at this point, and became a Sufi – the same branch of Islam as Whiteman – soon after the session, though Thompson has said that his conversion was independent of Whiteman’s. The two did become very close and work together a lot in the mid-seventies though. Thompson had supposedly left Fairport because he was writing material that wasn’t suited to the band, but he spent more than a year after quitting the group working on sessions rather than doing anything with his own material, and these sessions tended to involve the same core group of musicians. One of the more unusual was a folk-rock supergroup called The Bunch, put together by Trevor Lucas. Richard Branson had recently bought a recording studio, and wanted a band to test it out before opening it up for commercial customers, so with this free studio time Lucas decided to record a set of fifties rock and roll covers. He gathered together Thompson, Denny, Whiteman, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, pianist Tony Cox, the horn section that would later form the core of the Average White Band, and Linda Peters, who had now split up with Joe Boyd and returned to the UK, and who had started dating Thompson. They recorded an album of covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Otis and others: [Excerpt: The Bunch, “Willie and the Hand Jive”] The early seventies was a hugely productive time for this group of musicians, as they all continued playing on each other’s projects. One notable album was No Roses by Shirley Collins, which featured Thompson, Mattacks, Whiteman, Simon Nicol, Lal and Mike Waterson, and Ashley Hutchings, who was at that point married to Collins, as well as some more unusual musicians like the free jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill: [Excerpt: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, “Claudy Banks”] Collins was at the time the most respected female singer in British traditional music, and already had a substantial career including a series of important records made with her sister Dolly, work with guitarists like Davey Graham, and time spent in the 1950s collecting folk songs in the Southern US with her then partner Alan Lomax – according to Collins she did much of the actual work, but Lomax only mentioned her in a single sentence in his book on this work. Some of the same group of musicians went on to work on an album of traditional Morris dancing tunes, titled Morris On, credited to “Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield”, with Collins singing lead on two tracks: [Excerpt: Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with Shirley Collins, “The Willow Tree”] Thompson thought that that album was the best of the various side projects he was involved in at the time, comparing it favourably to Rock On, which he thought was rather slight, saying later “Conceptually, Fairport, Ashley and myself and Sandy were developing a more fragile style of music that nobody else was particularly interested in, a British Folk Rock idea that had a logical development to it, although we all presented it our own way. Morris On was rather more true to what we were doing. Rock On was rather a retro step. I'm not sure it was lasting enough as a record but Sandy did sing really well on the Buddy Holly songs.” Hutchings used the musicians on No Roses and Morris On as the basis for his band the Albion Band, which continues to this day. Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks both quit Fairport to join the Albion Band, though Mattacks soon returned. Nicol would not return to Fairport for several years, though, and for a long period in the mid-seventies Fairport Convention had no original members. Unfortunately, while Collins was involved in the Albion Band early on, she and Hutchings ended up divorcing, and the stress from the divorce led to Collins developing spasmodic dysphonia, a stress-related illness which makes it impossible for the sufferer to sing. She did eventually regain her vocal ability, but between 1978 and 2016 she was unable to perform at all, and lost decades of her career. Richard Thompson occasionally performed with the Albion Band early on, but he was getting stretched a little thin with all these sessions. Linda Peters said later of him “When I came back from America, he was working in Sandy’s band, and doing sessions by the score. Always with Pat Donaldson and Dave Mattacks. Richard would turn up with his guitar, one day he went along to do a session with one of those folkie lady singers — and there were Pat and DM. They all cracked. Richard smashed his amp and said “Right! No more sessions!” In 1972 he got round to releasing his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, which featured guest appearances by Linda Peters and Sandy Denny among others: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “The Angels Took My Racehorse Away”] Unfortunately, while that album has later become regarded as one of the classics of its genre, at the time it was absolutely slated by the music press. The review in Melody Maker, for example, read in part “Some of Richard Thompson’s ideas sound great – which is really the saving grace of this album, because most of the music doesn’t. The tragedy is that Thompson’s “British rock music” is such an unconvincing concoction… Even the songs that do integrate rock and traditional styles of electric guitar rhythms and accordion and fiddle decoration – and also include explicit, meaningful lyrics are marred by bottle-up vocals, uninspiring guitar phrases and a general lack of conviction in performance.” Henry the Human Fly was released in the US by Warners, who had a reciprocal licensing deal with Island (and for whom Joe Boyd was working at the time, which may have had something to do with that) but according to Thompson it became the lowest-selling record that Warners ever put out (though I’ve also seen that claim made about Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, another album that has later been rediscovered). Thompson was hugely depressed by this reaction, and blamed his own singing. Happily, though, by this point he and Linda had become a couple — they would marry in 1972 — and they started playing folk clubs as a duo, or sometimes in a trio with Simon Nicol. Thompson was also playing with Sandy Denny’s backing band at this point, and played on every track on her second solo album, Sandy. This album was meant to be her big commercial breakthrough, with a glamorous cover photo by David Bailey, and with a more American sound, including steel guitar by Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers (whose overdubs were supervised in LA by Joe Boyd): [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”] The album was given a big marketing push by Island, and “Listen, Listen” was made single of the week on the Radio 1 Breakfast show: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Listen, Listen”] But it did even worse than the previous album, sending her into something of a depression. Linda Thompson (as the former Linda Peters now was) said of this period “After the Sandy album, it got her down that her popularity didn't suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and that was the start of her really fretting about the way her career was going. Things only escalated after that. People like me or Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson would think, ‘What are you on about? This is folk music.'” After Sandy’s release, Denny realised she could no longer afford to tour with a band, and so went back to performing just acoustically or on piano. The only new music to be released by either of these ex-members of Fairport Convention in 1973 was, oddly, on an album by the band they were no longer members of. After Thompson had left Fairport, the group had managed to release two whole albums with the same lineup — Swarbrick, Nicol, Pegg, and Mattacks. But then Nicol and Mattacks had both quit the band to join the Albion Band with their former bandmate Ashley Hutchings, leading to a situation where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport plus their longtime drummer while Fairport Convention itself had no original members and was down to just Swarbrick and Pegg. Needing to fulfil their contracts, they then recruited three former members of Fotheringay — Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Donahue on lead guitar, and Conway on drums. Conway was only a session player at the time, and Mattacks soon returned to the band, but Lucas and Donahue became full-time members. This new lineup of Fairport Convention released two albums in 1973, widely regarded as the group’s most inconsistent records, and on the title track of the first, “Rosie”, Richard Thompson guested on guitar, with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Rosie”] Neither Sandy Denny nor Richard Thompson released a record themselves in 1973, but in neither case was this through the artists’ choice. The record industry was changing in the early 1970s, as we’ll see in later episodes, and was less inclined to throw good money after bad in the pursuit of art. Island Records prided itself on being a home for great artists, but it was still a business, and needed to make money. We’ll talk about the OPEC oil crisis and its effect on the music industry much more when the podcast gets to 1973, but in brief, the production of oil by the US peaked in 1970 and started to decrease, leading to them importing more and more oil from the Middle East. As a result of this, oil prices rose slowly between 1971 and 1973, then very quickly towards the end of 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict that year. As vinyl is made of oil, suddenly producing records became much more expensive, and in this period a lot of labels decided not to release already-completed albums, until what they hoped would be a brief period of shortages passed. Both Denny and Thompson recorded albums at this point that got put to one side by Island. In the case of Thompson, it was the first album by Richard and Linda as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Today, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and as one of the two masterpieces that bookended Richard and Linda’s career as a duo and their marriage. But when they recorded the album, full of Richard’s dark songs, it was the opposite of commercial. Even a song that’s more or less a boy-girl song, like “Has He Got a Friend for Me?” has lyrics like “He wouldn’t notice me passing by/I could be in the gutter, or dangling down from a tree” [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “Has He got a Friend For Me?”] While something like “The Calvary Cross” is oblique and haunted, and seems to cast a pall over the entire album: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “The Calvary Cross”] The album itself had been cheap to make — it had been recorded in only a week, with Thompson bringing in musicians he knew well and had worked with a lot previously to cut the tracks as-live in only a handful of takes — but Island didn’t think it was worth releasing. The record stayed on the shelf for nearly a year after recording, until Island got a new head of A&R, Richard Williams. Williams said of the album’s release “Muff Winwood had been doing A&R, but he was more interested in production… I had a conversation with Muff as soon as I got there, and he said there are a few hangovers, some outstanding problems. And one of them was Richard Thompson. He said there’s this album we gave him the money to make — which was I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — and nobody’s very interested in it. Henry the Human Fly had been a bit of a commercial disappointment, and although Island was altruistic and independent and known for only recording good stuff, success was important… Either a record had to do well or somebody had to believe in it a lot. And it seemed as if neither of those things were true at that point of Richard.” Williams, though, was hugely impressed when he listened to the album. He compared Richard Thompson’s guitar playing to John Coltrane’s sax, and called Thompson “the folk poet of the rainy streets”, but also said “Linda brightened it, made it more commercial. and I thought that “Bright Lights” itself seemed a really commercial song.” The rest of the management at Island got caught up in Williams’ enthusiasm, and even decided to release the title track as a single: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Neither single nor album charted — indeed it would not be until 1991 that Richard Thompson would make a record that made the top forty in the UK — but the album got enough critical respect that Richard and Linda released two albums the year after. The first of these, Hokey Pokey, is a much more upbeat record than their previous one — Richard Thompson has called it “quite a music-hall influenced record” and cited the influence of George Formby and Harry Lauder. For once, the claim of music hall influence is audible in the music. Usually when a British musician is claimed to have a music ha

Send us a textBenjamin Zephaniah Day : A Festival of Rhythm, Unity & Revolution at Brunel UniversityQian Zephaniah, Benjamin's wife, hosted the inaugural Benjamin Zephaniah Day at Brunel University of London where Benjamin was a Professor of Creative Writing. The special day celebrated Benjamin's extraordinary contributions, not only to literature and education but also to the causes he championed throughout his life, including performances from poets, musicians and artists from around the world.Qian has set up the Benjamin Zephaniah Foundation to celebrate his legacy and inspire.Danieal premiered live performance of her latest music releases; a project inspired by Mento music heritage, self produced and written using everyday objects, vocal sounds and sounds from nature.After five years of the show, Reggae Uprising Podcast featured its first live stage show featuring guest, author & documentary creator; Amen Wisdom.Amen Wisdom Youtube : blahblahmanpublishingFilmed at #bruneluniversity to celebrate the legacy of #benjaminzephaniah featuring The Pan African Society, Black Dragon School of Martial Arts, Danieal, Reggae Uprising Podcast, #michaelrosen, #lintonkwesijohnson, #jeremycorbyn, Qian Zephaniah & Basil Gabbidon.DaniealSubscribe & Connect : https://www.danieal.liveReggae Uprising PodcastListen & Subscribe : https://www.danieal.live/podcastDGARMSOrganic Cotton Eco Store : https://dgarms.livePatreonAccess to full footage & exclusives : Disclaimer : The views and opinions expressed are those of guests featured and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Reggae Uprising Podcast or its representatives. Reggae Uprising Podcast does not own any of the rights to any of the music or extracts featured. It is used only as a tool of education, upliftment and empowerment for and of people of Africa and its diaspora.Subscribe & Connect : www.danieal.live/podcastOfficial Merch : www.dgarms.com

Send us a textPart three of our guests feature; Visual Anthropologist, Writer, Photographer and filmmaker; Professor Shawn Hailemariam Sobers.His research has spanned a wide range of topics, including; Rastafari, Ethiopian and Caribbean cultures, Emperor Haile Selassie's time living in Bath, community media, creative education, trans-Atlantic slavery, disability & walking, religion, and photography & generative AI. His recent book, 'Black Everyday Lives, Material Culture & Narrative: Tings in de House', was published by Routledge in 2023. He co-founded Firstborn Creatives production company in 1999 with Rob Mitchell, and made programmes for BBC 1, ITV West and Channel 4. A notable film is Shawn Directed and Produced the documentary 'Footsteps of the Emperor', with presenter Benjamin Zephaniah, about Emperor Haile Selassie's time living in exile.Connect with Professor Shawn Hailemariam Sobers : www.shawnsobers.comDisclaimer : Reggae Uprising Podcast does not own any of the rights to any of the music or extracts featured. It is used only as a tool of education, upliftment and empowerment for and of people of the diaspora.Subscribe & Connect : www.danieal.live/podcastOfficial Merch : www.dgarms.com

Riverside StudiosFor over 45 years, Riverside Studios has been the home of an extraordinary mix of new and innovative theatre, film, comedy, art, dance, music and television. A cultural hub that has attracted some of the world's best creative talent including Samuel Beckett, David Bowie, Benjamin Zephaniah, Amy Winehouse, Yoko Ono, Lenny Henry and Michael Clark.  Now, in our glorious new building, we are beginning our next creative chapter, driven by a belief in the power of creativity to bring people together, unlock potential and spark positive change in the world. We are ambitious, curious and audacious, we are for our community, our artists and our audiences.  We aim to be an independent home for new, innovative and international work, for an audience rooted in our local West London community and which is accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Send us a textPart two of a three part feature, this weeks guest is a Visual Anthropologist, Writer, Photographer and filmmaker; Professor Shawn Hailemariam Sobers.His research has spanned a wide range of topics, including; Rastafari, Ethiopian and Caribbean cultures, Emperor Haile Selassie's time living in Bath, community media, creative education, trans-Atlantic slavery, disability & walking, religion, and photography & generative AI. His recent book, 'Black Everyday Lives, Material Culture & Narrative: Tings in de House', was published by Routledge in 2023. He co-founded Firstborn Creatives production company in 1999 with Rob Mitchell, and made programmes for BBC 1, ITV West and Channel 4. A notable film is Shawn Directed and Produced the documentary 'Footsteps of the Emperor', with presenter Benjamin Zephaniah, about Emperor Haile Selassie's time living in exile.Connect with Professor Shawn Hailemariam Sobers : www.shawnsobers.comDisclaimer : Reggae Uprising Podcast does not own any of the rights to any of the music or extracts featured. It is used only as a tool of education, upliftment and empowerment for and of people of the diaspora.Subscribe & Connect : www.danieal.live/podcastOfficial Merch : www.dgarms.com

Send us a textPart one of a three part feature, this weeks guest is a Visual Anthropologist, Writer, Photographer and filmmaker; Professor Shawn Hailemariam Sobers.His research has spanned a wide range of topics, including; Rastafari, Ethiopian and Caribbean cultures, Emperor Haile Selassie's time living in Bath, community media, creative education, trans-Atlantic slavery, disability & walking, religion, and photography & generative AI. His recent book, 'Black Everyday Lives, Material Culture & Narrative: Tings in de House', was published by Routledge in 2023. He co-founded Firstborn Creatives production company in 1999 with Rob Mitchell, and made programmes for BBC 1, ITV West and Channel 4. A notable film is Shawn Directed and Produced the documentary 'Footsteps of the Emperor', with presenter Benjamin Zephaniah, about Emperor Haile Selassie's time living in exile.Connect with Professor Shawn Hailemariam Sobers : www.shawnsobers.comDisclaimer : Reggae Uprising Podcast does not own any of the rights to any of the music or extracts featured. It is used only as a tool of education, upliftment and empowerment for and of people of the diaspora.Subscribe & Connect : www.danieal.live/podcastOfficial Merch : www.dgarms.com

We're going to be talking about the discovery of an ancient pharaoh's tomb, how hens have been helping boost olive farms in Cyprus, and a forest that's been planted to remember Benjamin Zephaniah. We'll also be having a big debate about whether books should have happy endings.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benjamin Zephaniah's urgent, imperative “To Michael Menson” was written when he was a poet in residence at a human rights barrister in England. His poem resonates with his repeated calls for justice for a murdered Black musician — not a justice that is gullible, impotent, or hopeless but one that is clear-eyed, collaborative, and mighty.Benjamin Zephaniah was born and raised in Birmingham, England. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including City Psalms, Propa Propaganda, and Too Black, Too Strong. In 2000, he was poet in residence for the chambers of human rights barrister Michael Mansfield, where he worked on numerous cases, including the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Zephaniah appeared on the TV show Peaky Blinders and is also known for his poetry books for children.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.We're pleased to offer Benjamin Zephaniah's poem and invite you to subscribe to Pádraig's weekly Poetry Unbound Substack newsletter, read the Poetry Unbound book, or listen to past episodes of the podcast. Order your copy of Kitchen Hymns (new poems from Pádraig) and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (new essays by Pádraig) wherever you buy books.

"I'm like a collector—everything I come across makes it into my music." The dance music don talks about the music that shaped him and his recent L.B. Dub Corp album on Dekmantel. Luke Slater, the British DJ, producer and occasional drummer, has been making music under a slew of monikers since the '80s: Planetary Assault Systems, L.B. Dub Corp, LSD, The 7th Plain, Clementine—the list goes on. While he's put out an excellent range of dynamic analogue music that runs the gamut of house, acid, breakbeat, electro and even spoken word, he's probably best known for his productions and live shows that focus on sleek and solid techno, as showcased on Ostgut Ton and his own imprint, Mote-Evolver. In the latest instalment of our flagship live series Playing Favourites, Slater unpacks the tracks that, for him, best illustrate the history of techno at large, as well as the records that define his creative process and career trajectory. He speaks with Chloe Lula live from Polifonic festival about his love of Detroit and Underground Resistance, as well as the abiding influence of hip-hop on his early work and his love of intentionally integrating mistakes in his music. He also reflects on how he became the first non-German artist to release on Berghain's esteemed record label, as well as discussing his most recent release, Saturn to Home, for Dekmantel. The double LP saw him return to his drumming practice and introduce surprising and powerful collaborations from electronic music contemporaries and vocalists like Kittin and the poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Listen to the episode in full.

"I'm like a collector—everything I come across makes it into my music." The dance music don talks about the music that shaped him and his recent L.B. Dub Corp album on Dekmantel. Luke Slater, the British DJ, producer and occasional drummer, has been making music under a slew of monikers since the '80s: Planetary Assault Systems, L.B. Dub Corp, LSD, The 7th Plain, Clementine—the list goes on. While he's put out an excellent range of dynamic analogue music that runs the gamut of house, acid, breakbeat, electro and even spoken word, he's probably best known for his productions and live shows that focus on sleek and solid techno, as showcased on Ostgut Ton and his own imprint, Mote-Evolver. In the latest instalment of our flagship live series Playing Favourites, Slater unpacks the tracks that, for him, best illustrate the history of techno at large, as well as the records that define his creative process and career trajectory. He speaks with Chloe Lula live from Polifonic festival about his love of Detroit and Underground Resistance, as well as the abiding influence of hip-hop on his early work and his love of intentionally integrating mistakes in his music. He also reflects on how he became the first non-German artist to release on Berghain's esteemed record label, as well as discussing his most recent release, Saturn to Home, for Dekmantel. The double LP saw him return to his drumming practice and introduce surprising and powerful collaborations from electronic music contemporaries and vocalists like Kittin and the poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Listen to the episode in full.

Moby, Lindsay, and Bagel wish you a very happy New Year! To kick off the New Year's Eve celebrations, Moby has created a special DJ mix just for you. Enjoy the music, and have a safe and fun start to 2025! 1. "Go" by Moby, featuring Chris Stussy   2. "Where Is Your Pride" by Essel, Moby, and Benjamin Zephaniah   3. "Dark Days" by Undercat, Lady Blackbird, and Moby   4. "You and Me" by Anfisa Letyago, Moby, and SG Lewis   5. "Feeling So Real" by Miss Monique and Moby   6. "Extreme Ways" by Moby and Armin van Buuren   7. "Where Is Your Pride" by Moby and Benjamin Zephaniah   8. "Sweet Moon" (Jung Remix) by Moby and Choklate   9. "Transit" (Lafayette Remix) by Moby and Gaidaa   10. "Fall Back" by Moby, Akemi Fox, and Coco Bryce   11. "Precious Mind" (April Remix) by Moby and India Carney   12. "Medusa" (808 Remix) by Moby and Aynzli   13. "On Air" (Strings Version) by Moby and Serpentwithfeet   — We want to hear from you! Shoot over an email and say hi: mobypod@moby.com Don't forget to subscribe! Leave us a comment!    Follow @moby @linzhicks @candicebergenbagel  Part of the Human Content Podcast Network A Little Walnut Production

 In this episode Meg interviews Rachel from Animal-Free Science Advocacy (AFSA), a not for profit organisation dedicated to advocating for the removal of animals from experimental science.  We talk about AFSA's efforts to facilitate a culture of animal free alternatives in research, experimentation and training, and how this relates to the evolution of non animal experimental models of all kinds. Join us as we talk about current technology, how AFSA is tapping into this ever evolving aspect of research, and why it's important to move away from animal models for scientific progress.  https://animalfreescienceadvocacy.org.au/what-you-can-do/ https://www.youtube.com/@AnimalFreeScienceAdvocacy https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/animalfreescienceadvocacy  External Links: https://www.whenwejustify.org/ https://www.testsubjectsfilm.com  Music  Spoken word poem by Benjamin Zephaniah: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=793396332139224&rdid=juvvSOL12iCZJnj0  Rocky Raccon - The Beatles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqA4ZiQaGtU  Song for Camp Beagle - Maria Daines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPYc2zDJhSc   

Choirboy, drag act, grandson, mentor, poet, lover, activist, performer: Dean Atta has played many roles in his life. In his explosive, candid and courageous memoir Person Unlimited (Canongate) he describes a life lived in defiance of categories. Benjamin Zephaniah wrote of Atta's work as being ‘As honest as truth itself. He follows no trend; he seeks no favours . . . Beyond black, beyond white, beyond straight, beyond gay, so I say. Love your eyes over these words of truth. You will be uplifted'. Dean Atta reads from his work and talks about it with writer and broadcaster Michael Rosen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When violent conflict erupts, you might think that staging a Shakespearean play would not be a priority. You might think that developing your business skills is a luxury reserved for peaceful times. In this episode of Our World, Connected, Christine Wilson talks to two guests whose work challenges these notions. Dr Hala Nur joins us to discuss her experience of working for the British Council during Sudan's ‘forgotten war'. Hala has seen first-hand the relief that artistic expression can bring in times of war, and how education can be a beacon of hope. She highlights the extraordinary efforts and achievements of her team who continue their work in supporting arts and education, despite adversity.  Amr Gamal shares the inspiring story of his unique production of Shakespeare's Hamlet in Aden, Yemen, in 2023. Amr's story highlights the enduring power of classics and the vital role of culture in rebuilding communities.  This episode, inspired by the late poet Benjamin Zephaniah's theme of ‘planting seeds to harvest hope', challenges us to rethink the importance of culture and education during times of crisis. Tune in to learn how this essential work is sustained by remarkable people who are shaping a path towards a more peaceful future.  Dive deeper: ‘85': a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/english-currency  Discover young Sudanese perspectives with the British Council Next Generation Sudan report - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/next-generation-sudan  Learn more about Amr Gamal's work in theatre and film - https://theamrgamal.info  Follow British Council Research and Insight: Newsletter – https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight/subscribe  Twitter – https://twitter.com/InsightBritish  Website - https://www.britishcouncil.org/research-insight 

All around us, from parks to gardens and flowerpots to pavements, there's a world of wonder just waiting to be discovered. Why not look a little closer and see what you find? You can now Subscribe to Lets Read with Lyla & Dad. Helping us get lots more great books & record your wonderful requests for some super stories: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letsreadlylaanddad/subscribe

01. Solomun - Can't Stop 02. Jmj (Fr) - Turn It Up 03. Kino Todo, My Lord - Pon Di Riddim 04. Marten Horger - Right Here 05. Pls&Ty, Dan Soleil - With You 06. Wh0 - Sunglasses 07. Dada Life - That Song With The Kick Drum 08. Max Styler - Satisfy 09. Martin Ikin, Winnie Ama - Control It 10. Dj Louis - Let Me Blow Ya Mind 11. Byor - Thunder 12. Rudelies - Dirty Vibe 13. Diplo, Oliver Tree - Ultraman 14. Dyro, Linney - Obsession 15. Sean Paul, Odd Mob - Get Busy 16. Mark Bale, Noel Holler, Alyshia - Let Me Go 17. Medikate - Bumpin' 18. Frankie Corsano - Backroom 19. Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Will Sparks - Rave Generator 20. Mauro Fire, Tony Molinari, Ariel El Leon - Pa' Hoy 21. Yellow Claw, €Uro Tra$H, Feyi - Body Pop 22. Oomloud, Alannys Weber - Don't Get Lazy 23. Tiesto - The Bump 24. Ac Slater, Young Lyxx - Bass Face 25. Shermanology, Rudimental - Calling 26. 7 Skies - Tokyo777 27. Benny Benassi, Dubdogz, Mairee - La Musica 28. Riggi, Piros - Body To The Beat 29. Melsen - Feel The Rush 30. Kaleena Zanders - Rumble In The Disco 31. Silque - Paparazzi 32. Don Diablo, R3Hab, Neeka - Disco Marathon 33. Sofi Tukker - Spiral 34. Swedish House Mafia, Niki, The Dove - Lioness 35. Bad Monkey - What's That Thing Called 36. Jayalexvard - Rumba 37. Moby, Benjamin Zephaniah - where is your pride

Sue Lawley talks to the poet Benjamin Zephaniah in a programme first broadcast in 1997. Benjamin Zephaniah died in January 2024 at the age of 65.

In the memory of Benjamin Zephaniah. You can join the party, you can lose your swim suit, just don't lose your social consciousness.It's almost summer, let's start the chill now as the heat has arrived. With this mixtape you could be post rave in Ibiza or sun tanning on a council estate, whatever your state of mind or location, this music will let you enhance your experience or give you an escape. Featuring classic Cafe del Mar balearic type tracks - on the dub side as I can't help myself, and a new beautiful song from Kid Loco and Lisa Li-Lund and a Moby collaboration with Benjamin Zephaniah (Rest In Power) - it's a necessary banger. Let's go!For more info and tracklisting, visit: https://thefaceradio.com/matt-pape-mixtape/Tune into new broadcasts of Matt Pape Mixtape, Fridays from 12 - 1 AM EST / 5 - 6 AM GMT.//Dig this show? Please consider supporting The Face Radio: http://support.thefaceradio.com Support The Face Radio with PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thefaceradio. Join the family at https://plus.acast.com/s/thefaceradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playlist: BADBADNOTGOOD - Eyes on MeCharlotte Day Wilson - My WayLake Street Dive - Twenty-FiveButcher Brown - Thirty OneSoul Revivers, featuring Ash Walker - Holding The DubBOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - War (Alternate Mix)Eek-A-Mouse, DJ Bestixxx - This PainGrace Jones - Use MeDavid Sanborn - Can't Get Next to YouJames Brown, featuring David Sanborn - The TwistJordan Rakei - TrustIbibio Sound Machine - Political CorrectThe Brooks - Soon as I Cangirl in red - Girlfriend is BetterDry Cleaning - Hot Penny DayMoby, Benjamin Zephaniah - where is your pride?Glasses Malone, Terrace Martin - Put OnEzra collective - AjalaNatural Twenty - Saint LadyFunky Desination - Mr Bong - Louie's beat re-workRJD2, Jamie Lidell - Catch the Exit DoorFive Alarm Funk - We Play the Funk- Slynk remixFreak Motif - The Heist pt. 11Billy Paul - Am I Black Enough for You?Laurie Anderson - Language is a VirusMonster Rally - Sister Owls

Today's poem is Rant by Nathalie Anderson.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "It feels like many people are passing from our lives. Not that the death of a poet is any more devastating, but when a poet dies, my grief is heavier. The year 2023 saw the loss of many poets I admire, including Benjamin Zephaniah and Louise Glück. When poet Donald Hall died in 2018, I noticed a great shift of voices, one generation exiting as another emerged. We will no longer hear their music in language. Maybe, this has always been the case.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Always centered at night is the next pillar anchoring Moby's extensive body of work. A constant collaborator, Moby's next page includes some of his favorite vocalists, including the late Benjamin Zephaniah, serpentwithfeet, Gaidaa, and on “dark days,” the soul-infused, jazz-inflected vocals of Lady Blackbird. 

A conversation with a gifted poet who left us far too soon.

For questions, comments or to get involved, e-mail us at audibleanarchist(at)gmail.com Text read https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra... Benjamin Zephaniah, 15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023 "Don't get disillusioned and downhearted, don't feel overpowered and defeated. Do what you can," "Do the little, (or the big), things that make a difference you can see. The tangible stuff. Or take to the streets to do something for the future. Do anything. Just don't give up. "Don't let them grind you down. Rise up all ye sisters and brothers who know better. Stand firm in the downturn." https://benjaminzephaniah.com/ive-cri...

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE.In this special episode, we honour the poetry legend that is Benjamin Zephaniah by sharing this conversation with poet Roy McFarlane, talking about 'Dis Poetry' and the hugely influential part Benjamin Zephaniah has played in Roy's life.Roy McFarlane is a poet born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage. He has held the roles of Birmingham's Poet Laureate, Starbucks' Poet in Residence and Birmingham & Midland Institute's Poet in Residence. He has three collections published by Nine Arches Press: Beginning With Your Last Breath (2016); The Healing Next Time (2018), which was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award, and Living By Troubled Waters (2022). In 2023, Roy McFarlane was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023) was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. He was included in The Times' list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008 and was probably the most televised poet of his generation in the UK. His down-to-earth mission to take poetry wherever he could – and especially to those who would not normally read it – led him to being known to millions as ‘The People's Poet. Zephaniah was revolutionary in bringing his Jamaican voice, speech and heritage into poetry – both on the page and in performance – opening up doors for many poets to come. A lifelong activist, Zephaniah's wrote about his lived experiences of incarceration and racism, and was a radical voice for freedom, equality and humanity around the world. The recording of 'Dis Poetry', performed by Benjamin Zephaniah, is taken from To Do Wid Me - a 2013 film portrait of Benjamin Zephaniah by Pamela Robertson-Pearce drawing on both live performances and informal interviews. The film and accompanying Selected Poems are available from Bloodaxe Books: https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/to-do-wid-me-dvd-book--1038.Roy McFarlane's extraordinary poem 'In the city of a hundred tongues' is taken from his collection The Healing Next Time, published by Nine Arches Press in 2018.Roy McFarlane is in conversation with Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaeffer.*********Dis Poetryby Benjamin ZephaniahDis poetry is like a riddim dat dropsDe tongue fires a riddim dat shoots like shotsDis poetry is designed fe rantinDance hall style, big mouth chanting,Dis poetry nar put yu to sleepPreaching follow meLike yu is blind sheep,Dis poetry is not Party PoliticalNot designed fe dose who are critical.Dis poetry is wid me when I gu to me bedIt gets into me dreadlocksIt lingers around me headDis poetry goes wid me as I pedal me bikeI've tried Shakespeare, respect due dereBut did is de stuff I like.Read the full poem on our website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 36: Y.AYasmin Ali, also known as Y.A is South Asian Lyricist, International Slam Champion, Performance Poet, Spoken Word Artist and Writer from South East London. Renowned for delivering the kind of poetic lyricism that immediately captivates an audience, Y.A's words transcend beyond expectation deeming her to be one of the most highly sought after spoken word artists on the UK scene. Y.A featured in the US hit “I Got the Mic” produced by Tina Knowles and has headlined on Sky Art's BAFTA award winning TV series “Life and Rhymes” hosted by the late Benjamin Zephaniah. Y.A's clients include well known brands such as Dove, Red Bull UK, The Big Idea Media company, Snap.inc and PwC US to name a few. Y.A recently hosted the Money 20/20 “50 years of Hip Hop Icons” concert at the famous Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas presenting the likes of Rev Run, DJ Ruckus and DJ Spinderella. Y.A performed a spoken word piece before the legendary Grand Master Flash's set as an ode to those who pioneered the music genre.Y.A also became the first spoken word artist on the highly regarded Color's platform with an editorial on her poetic interpretation of Palette 1's primeval colors.Y.A has been mentored by the formidable Kae Tempest and 7 x Grammy nominated, Natalie Floacist Stewart of Neo Soul duo Floetry.Some of Y.A's previous commissions and performances include Vegas Money 20/20, Amsterdam Money 20/20 FinTech Summit, SNAPS DEI innovation Summit 2020, London Fashion Week, Universal Studios, Breaking Conventions, The Tate Modern, Greater London Authority and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Y.A has also featured on BBC radio London and Reprezent radio and hosted on BBC Radio 6 Music, as-well as previously hosted a weekly spoken word show (The Word) on Soho radio. Y.A has facilitated workshops for various organisations such as the Princes Trust, Lewisham Young Advisors, The Greater London Authority, Albany Theatre, Lewisham Council as well as at numerous schools, community groups and charities.Y.A leads the Lewisham Music Lyricist Collective and the Alchemy Spoken Word Collective. She also founded the Young Wordsmith Project for young people in South East London. Y.A has toured internationally in Europe and the US. She is a proud mental health advocate, youth participation advocate and women's rights activist. Y.A has worked with The Million Women Rise and the Women's Equality Party to campaign for an end to gender-based violence against women and girls.Y.A challenges some of the most common misconceptions of poets, women and mothers, all whilst continuing to represent South Asian female creatives in the UK. #hygystpod #YA #YApoetHave You Got Your Sh*t Together? with Caitlin O'Ryan, is a podcast that celebrates not having your sh*t together! In each episode, Caitlin interviews guests who seemingly “have their sh*t together” - be that in life/love/work/hobbies. Throughout the conversation, the questions unveil whether they actually do, or whether the whole concept is a lie! With a mix of guests from various backgrounds, the podcast is sure to be relatable, honest, and an antidote to Instagram culture. Producer - Ant Hickman (www.ahickman.uk)Artwork - Tim Saunders (www.instagram.com/timsaunders.design)Photography - Patch Bell (www.patchstudio.uk)Music - Cassia - 'Slow' (www.wearecassia.com)Web: www.hygystpod.comInsta: www.instgram.com/hygystpodEmail: hygystpod@gmail.comRSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/644a8e8eadac0f0010542d86 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

House, funk, soul, bass and beats for open-minded listeners with an old-skool state of mind, presented by DJ D'Francisco. Contact: fdisco@hotmail.com / @frankiedisco54 Catch the pod live every Friday afternoon on www.musicboxradio.co.uk 3-5 UK time, as a podcast or at www.mixcloud.com/francisco Tracklist: Brittney Carter - Open LetterBrittney Carter - Open VerseBrittney Carter - Open ArmsBahamadia - Funky for YouBenjamin Zephaniah - De Rong Song Benjamin Zephaniah - One TribeBenjamin Zephaniah & The Revolutionary Minds - Revolutionary MindsSly5thAve - No No No ft Jonathan MonesSilver Convention - Fly Robin FlyKool & the Gang - Funky StuffHomeboy Sandman - All AKA Ciao (D'Francisco Dancefloor Edit)EPMD - It's Time To PartyMFSB - T.S.O.P.The Evasions - Wikka WrapPiers Kirwan - Arps With HatsDeepside - PrrlusionBen Gomori & Ally McMahon - Prelude in EIndie - ApolloniaDJ Roska - Early FlightsDJ Gregory - Attend 1St Germain - The First TimeX-Presidents - Diamond Rings '96Dreem Team - The ThemeGrant Nelson ft. Lynsey MooreOdd Mob - Left to Right (33 Below Remix)Borai & Denham Audio - Make Me (Mani Festo Remix)Dream Team - Stamina

Music in tribute to Benjamin Zephaniah and Amp Fiddler (Rest In Peace) that we were so excited to release on Tru Thoughts. Soul from BINA., Nevi and Mocky. Hip Hop from Bishop Nehru, Black Sheep, an M.O.P dubplate, Asher Kosher & Deema. Dancefloor Beats from Coen, Kaval and a classic from Irfane. Drum & Bass from Binta, Disrupta and Faysha. Deep Dub from Srirajah Sound System and Horus All Stars. Jazz from the Duo Brothers. Plus plenty more music treats.

House, funk, soul, bass and beats for open-minded listeners with an old-skool state of mind, presented by DJ D'Francisco Catch the pod live every Friday afternoon on www.musicboxradio.co.uk 3-5 UK time, as a podcast or at www.mixcloud.com/francisco Tracklist: Bettye Everett - God Only KnowsAlice Russell - Hurry OnTa'Raach - BaaabyDobey Dobe - At Ease ft. Perry PorterRoots Manuva - Let The SpiritBig Daddy Kane - Warm It UpMbuzi Gang - BaikokoNatty, Benjamin Zephaniah & Mala - Word & SoundKokoroko - War Dance (Hagan Remix)DJ Center - Some Say AhOrlando Julius - Disco HighlifeBosq & Kaleta - Meji Meji (Folamour Remix)Sonny Okosuns Ozziddi - Oba ErediauwaDangerous Dan & Nicky Night Time - Mystery (DJ Kaos Edit)DJ Joe Lewis - Dub of My Own (remix)Boyd Jarvis - The Musics Got MeChuck Armstrong - Something Got A Hold Of MeMark Knight, Green Velvet & James Hurr - The Greatest Thing AliveXpress 2 - Say WhatKleu & Cropz - Turn Up The MusicGenetix & Habitat - Back In The DayUrban Shakedown - ArsonistMeat Beat Manifesto - Radio Babylon

Comedians Andy Zaltzman and Catherine Bohart take up Nish and Coco's challenge, to find the laughs in another chaotic year in British politics. Is it cheating that they had to deploy novelty Christmas hats? You decide.Our review of 2023 starts with a fresh-faced and optimistic Rishi Sunak making his five pledges, and ends with the Conservatives tearing themselves apart over Rwanda. In between, we take in King Charles getting his fancy new hat, Nicola Sturgeon's shock exit, Boris Johnson getting his comeuppance, Keir Starmer getting glitterbombed, and of course, the continuing mis-adventures of Suella Braverman.Plus two Ben's battle it out for the title of PSUK Hero of the Year, while it's more of a one-man race to the title of PSUK Villain of the Year. Pod Save the UK is a Reduced Listening production for Crooked Media. Contact us via email: PSUK@reducedlistening.co.ukWhatsApp: 07514 644 572 (UK) or + 44 7514 644 572Insta: https://instagram.com/podsavetheukTwitter: https://twitter.com/podsavetheukTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@podsavetheukFacebook: https://facebook.com/podsavetheukYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/podsavetheworld Guests:Andy Zaltzman, presenter of BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz, and The Bugle podcastCatherine Bohart, comedian and co-presenter of Trusty Hogs podcast Audio credits:Sky NewsBBC NewsRishi Sunak - InstagramITV NewsGB NewsSTV News Useful links:https://www.catherinebohart.com/livehttps://www.thebuglepodcast.com/live

Sapphire, Michelle and Joseph chat about what they've been reading, watching, and listening to this week including the thought-provoking The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce D. Perry, the international bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent from Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson, the atmospheric novella Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal (translated by Jessica Moore), and Blue Sisters, the highly anticipated second novel by Coco Mellors.This week's deep dive book is the critically-acclaimed grim dark epic Babel by R. F. Kuang.This week's listener recommendation request comes from Cathy who is looking for engaging detective fiction similar to her favourite, Agatha Christie. Sapphire recommends The Maid and The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, An Expert In Murder by Nicola Upson, The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey, Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, The Appeal by Janice Hallett, and The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett. Michelle recommends Whose Body? By Dorothy L Sayers, Footsteps In The Dark by Georgette Heyer, Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi, and Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. Joseph recommends The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo.Also mentioned in this episode:The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah by Benjamin ZephaniahThe Bee Sting by Paul Murray The Year of Living Danishly by Helen RussellHow to Raise a Viking by Helen RussellThe Novel Thoughts team also pay tribute to poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah. Rest in power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Bannister on The dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah who overcame childhood trauma to become an acclaimed performer and writer.Laura Lean, who volunteered for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, helping to support distressed families after The Grenfell Tower fire and greeting Afghan evacuees.Stacy Marking, one of the first women directors in documentary television whose work focused on social issues.Eric Freeman, the Gloucestershire farmer who played a key role in saving the county's rare breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs.Interviewee: Qian Zephaniah Interviewee: Neil Astley Interviewee: Dot Newman Interviewee: Adam Henson Interviewee: Clifford Freeman Interviewee: Havana MarkingProducer: Gareth Nelson-DaviesArchive Used:Benjamin Zephaniah performance of Dis Poetry, BBC Radio 1, 05/06/1984; Benjamin Zephaniah, To Do Wild Me (trailer), Blood Axe Books, director: Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Uploaded 17/02/2013; Benjamin Zephaniah interview, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 13/06/1997; Benjamin Zephaniah, I Luv Me Mudder, Benjamin Zephaniah Orchard Enterprises, YouTube uploaded 08/11/2014; Benjamin Zephaniah - What has Stephen Lawrence Taught Us?, AKL Concepts, YouTube, Uploaded 16/02/2012; Laura Lean interview, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry; fany.org.uk; 2022; Princess Alice inspects First Aid Nursing Yoemanry Unit and donated ambulances (1940), British Pathe, British Pathe YouTube channel, uploaded 11/11/2020; Eric Freeman interviews courtesy of Vernon Harwood, Eric Freeman, Auction Memories. Farming Today, BBC Radio 4, 17/04/2017; Eric Freeman Future of Rare Breeds. On Your Farm, BBC Radio 4 03/03/2013; Gloucester Cattle. Country Matters, BBC Radio Gloucestershire 19/05/2013; Wassail. Country Matters, BBC Radio Gloucestershire 14/01/2007;

Five seconds after Jemma and Marina finished recording the last Trawl, typically, British politics took a new turn for the mad. Cleverly has declared that unless you earn £37.5K you can't settle here with a foreigner. Having crushed millions of people's hopes and dreams and stuck a big Tory finger up to romance, there's hardly time to scream 'But what about Shirley Valentine?' before moving on to the next psychodrama. Oh yes, it's Rwanda shitshow time. The Tories are fighting like rats in a sack, determined to get the 'Rwanda Safety Bill' through and to hell with the law. None of it has been edifying but Mark Francois strutting about talking about his 'star chamber' and 'spartans' and the 'five families' is particularly astounding and generates a lot of great tweets. George Monbiot put in a brilliantly impressive turn on Question Time so Marina and Jemma make sure you hear a bit of that. Then it's time to pay tribute to poet Benjamin Zephaniah who sadly died.  It's fitting that this episode finishes with a poem for pudding. This one is written by Michael Forte (Jemma's dad) and the Trawl ladies think it's got Trawl written all over it.  Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast Patreon https://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 218 brought to you by TROPICAL BOX a premium tropical fruit supplier servicing London and surrounding areas, delivering a little sunshine to your door. Go to the website www.tropicalbox.co.uk and get 10% off your order using FULLYGEEKED at the checkout ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#TheFullyGeekedPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ return with podcast episode 218 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#FullyGeekedWeeklyRoundUp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠00:23⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) This weeks topics include and GCSE choices, Rwanda Bill passes in commons, some things to look forward to. Joey Barton is doing an absolute madness on 'X', All Turkish football has been suspended for a week after the president of Ankaragucu punches the ref and also kicks him when he is down. We look at some new trailers: Mr & Mrs Smith TV Series, Dune Part 2 . RIP to Benjamin Zephaniah a true gentleman, scholar and someone who is inspiration to all before what is what in the land of TV and film (⁠⁠⁠⁠30:47⁠⁠⁠) Power Book 3: Raising Kanan S3E2 (⁠⁠⁠⁠#PrimeVideo⁠⁠⁠⁠) (⁠⁠⁠⁠45:56) Rap Game UK S5 E6 Season Finale (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#BBCThree⁠⁠⁠⁠) (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠55:58⁠⁠) Platform 7 (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#ITVX) (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠01:07:50⁠⁠) Leave the World Behind (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Netflix⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠01:17:14⁠) What else should you be watching: Candy Cane Lane (#PrimeVideo), Santa Slay (#Lionsgate+), Merry Little Batman (#PrimeVideo), Squid Game: The Challenge (#Netflix), Invasion (#AppleTv+) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#TheFullyGeekedPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Films⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#TV⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#Review⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#GuysThatPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#TropicalBox⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠#RapGameUK⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠#PowerBook3 #RaisingKanan ⁠ ⁠#PowerBookUniverse #Platform7⁠ ⁠#LeaveTheWorldBehinmd #BenjaminZephaniah #CandyCane ⁠#Mr&MrsSmith ⁠#SquidGame⁠ ⁠#SquidGameTheChallenge⁠ ⁠ ⁠#KIN⁠ ⁠#RGUK⁠⁠ ⁠ ⁠#UKRap⁠ ⁠#RapGameUkBBC⁠ ⁠#Follow⁠⁠ ⁠#Comment⁠ ⁠#Subscribe⁠

In this episode of Why Dance Matters, we revisit a conversation from October 2022, in tribute to the poet, performer and activist Benjamin Zephaniah, who died earlier this month. As a performance poet he gave words a glorious physical form, his rhythms dancing from line to line. He had also provided a voiceover for Rambert's dance version of the hit tv series Peaky Blinders. In our conversation, Benjamin was impressively candid about his journey, richly reflective about poetry, and also emotionally generous – unexpectedly moved when speaking about the generations of readers who have been touched and shaped by his work.Find out more about the work of the RADFollow the RAD on social media and join the conversation with host David Jays:Instagram @royalacademyofdanceFacebook @RoyalAcademyofDanceTwitter @RADheadquartersYouTube / royalacademydanceDavid Jays @mrdavidjaysSign up to our mailing list to keep in touch!RAD is an independent educational charity and does not receive regular government funding. Every penny we make goes back into the work we do. You can support us by either naming a seat as part of our Name A Seat Campaign or making a donation.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We mark the death of poet and social activist Benjamin Zephaniah and talk about a new literary prize to be awarded by US prison inmates; author Don Gillmor joins us on his provocative new novel, Breaking and Entering, Canadian publisher Biblioasis' submission for the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize.

A meditative Christmas Song inspired by the late dub poet, activist and musician Benjamin Zephaniah - featuring samples of his Talking Turkey and Faceless poems with soundscape samples from Eddie Crozier's cover of Concrete Jungle and Pete Salmond's remix of The Lamb. All samples courtesy of rights holders. A review on your podcast app of choice is much appreciated

This week I discuss the cost of childcare, Benjamin Zephaniah's unfortunate passing, Christmas movies on Youtube and much more. #LOUDITPodcast is hosted by Nnedinso. Tune in every Monday for some funny stories and girl talk to cheer up your Monday blues. From life experiences to wild stories and current media, no topic is off limits. Let's LOUD IT and talk some rubbish! Twitter: @Nneddy121 and YouTube: ItsNnedinso

In this special episode, recorded at the shop, Jeremy Corbyn and Margaret Busby read from and discuss the newly-published poetry anthology Poetry for the Many, edited by Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey. The late and great Benjamin Zephaniah is also remembered, with readings from his poetry given by Pauline Melville. Music by Antony Hurley.

The poet, writer and activist Benjamin Zephaniah sadly passed away this week, aged 65. In this archive discussion from 2019, journalist Samira Ahmed speaks with Zephaniah about his life's work and the journey that took him from his youth in Birmingham to becoming one of the UK's most distinct and relevant voices harnessing the power of poetry and the spoken word. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is he actually having a breakdown? Certainly the country he leads is… as Rishi Sunak comes to terms with another 24 hours of pure parliamentary chaos, the Two Matts ask: How much more of this can anyone take?! Also - in part two - Matt and Matt are joined by Middle East expert and host of the Disorder podcast, Jason Pack. Jason unpacks the complexities in how a long term solution involving Qatar could bring at least a semblance of stability to Gaza - but warns we are a long way off and things will get a lot worse before they get better. Lastly, a tribute to the late great Benjamin Zephaniah, whose poem “The British” is more relevant than ever.Listen to Jason's podcast, Disorder: https://podfollow.com/disorderLISTENER OFFER: subscribe and get a copy of Alistair Campbell's 2023 diary absolutely FREE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee intense fighting throughout southern Gaza. Also: a meeting between the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the EU highlights differences over trade, international affairs and human rights and, the novelist, poet and playwright, Benjamin Zephaniah has died aged 65.

The British poet Benjamin Zephaniah died this week after a short illness. Here we revisit a conversation between Zephaniah and George the Poet from 2020. They discussed why, having been born a generation apart, their work was exposing racial injustice. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Fred D'Aguiar discusses the life and poetry of Benjamin Zephaniah, whose death was announced today.Tom Sutcliffe reviews Wim Wenders' film about the artist Anselm Kiefer and the BBC's adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five, with film critic Leila Latif and children's author Candy Gourlay. Which is the standout Christmas TV advert this year? Tom discusses the art of selling Christmas with Matt Gay, creative director of several high-profile John Lewis ads and media journalist Liz Gorny.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Film Reviews - Paul Young - Benjamin Zephaniah

In the Midweek Social, we are joined by Paul Webb from the AVFC London Lions, an official Aston Villa supporters group based in the UK capital. Follow and join the AVFC London Lions on Twitter.We are still buzzing from Villa's big win over Manchester City.- How Villa beat City- The atmosphere at the ground- Star players- Brilliant Leon Bailey finds consistency- Are Villa in a title race?- Can Villa beat Arsenal?- How to join the London LionsFOLLOW US AND SUBSCRIBE ONLINE!WEBSITEwww.allvillanofiller.comGET IN TOUCHTwitter: @VillaNoFillerInstagram: @allvillanofillerFacebook: All Villa No FillerEmail: allvillanofiller@gmail.comHOSTS: George Zielinski (@ZielinskiGeorge) / Frankie Maguire (@FrankieMaguire)PRODUCTION: Frankie Maguire#astonvilla #avfc #football #soccer #utv #manchestercity #arsenal Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hak Baker, Benjamin Zephaniah, Celeste and Baxter Dury talk about writing whilst living in London, their view of success in their careers so far, and the impact of family and cultural history on their writing. Hak Baker was born in Luton and raised on the Isle of Dogs, in London. At a young age he was exposed to everything from reggae and dub to classic pop, R&B and soul via friends and family. His first introduction to performing was as part of the Southwark Cathedral choir, before moving towards grime and MC-ing at his local community centre. Later he learned to play guitar, and started writing songs about his experiences and those of the people around him, digging deep into everything from toxic masculinity to social inequality, identity and unity. This year he released his debut album World's End FM, which is presented as a pirate radio broadcast transmitting from the edge of the apocalypse. Benjamin Zephaniah is a novelist, playwright and musician, and one of the UK's best poets of the last 50 years. Born in Birmingham, he is influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and writes about race, politics and social injustice. He's recorded numerous reggae records and has worked with the likes of Sinead O'Connor and The Wailers. Celeste is an American-born British singer who has established herself as one of the finest soul singers in the UK right now. After winning the Brit Award Rising Star of 2020, she released her critically acclaimed debut album Not Your Muse, becoming the first female British solo artist in five years to reach number one with a debut album. Baxter Dury is a singer and musician known for his gritty vocals and witty, observant storytelling. His sound brings in influences from hip-hop to new wave, and in June of this year he released his new album I Thought I Was Better Than You, written with his teenage son Kosmo during lockdown.

In this episode of The Poetry Exchange, we are thrilled to be joined by the poetry tour-de-force that is Salena Godden, to hear about the poem that has been a friend to her: You Don't Know What Love Is by Kim Addonizio.Salena spoke with Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaeffer about this elusive, gorgeous poem and the part it has played in her life.Salena Godden FRSL is an award-winning author, poet and broadcaster of Jamaican-mixed heritage. Her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death won the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the People's Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize. Film and TV rights for Mrs Death Misses Death have been optioned by Idris Elba's production company Green Door Pictures.A hardback edition of Pessimism is for Lightweights - 30 Pieces of Courage and Resistance was published by Rough Trade Books in February 2023. She is currently working on a memoir and a poetry collection which are both due for publication in May 2024, plus an eagerly anticipated second novel set in the Mrs Death Misses Death universe due for publication in spring 2025.Salena Godden's work has been widely anthologised and broadcast on BBC radio, TV and film. Her latest credits include her contribution to the BAFTA award-winning Life and Rhymes presented by Benjamin Zephaniah, and co-starring in award-winning indie anti-rom-com movie Brakes. Her essay Shade was published in groundbreaking anthology The Good Immigrant (Unbound 2016). Godden has had several volumes of poetry published including Under The Pier (Nasty Little Press 2011) Fishing in the Aftermath: Poems 1994-2014 (Burning Eye Books 2014), plus also a childhood memoir, Springfield Road (Unbound 2014).After hearing this episode, you will probably want to seek out and read as much as you can of Kim Addonizio's work. Go on an adventure with this bold, bravura poet's work...*********You Don't Know What Love Isby Kim AddonizioYou don't know what love isbut you know how to raise it in melike a dead girl winched up from a river. How towash off the sludge, the stench of our past.How to start clean. This love even sits upand blinks; amazed, she takes a few shaky steps.Any day now she'll try to eat solid food. She'll wantto get into a fast car, one low to the ground, and driveto some cinderblock shithole in the desertwhere she can drink and get sick and thendance in nothing but her underwear. You knowwhere she's headed, you know she'll wake upwith an ache she can't locate and no moneyand a terrible thirst. So to hellwith your warm hands sliding inside my shirtand your tongue down my throatlike an oxygen tube. Cover mein black plastic. Let the mourners through.From 'What Is This Thing Called Love' by Kim Addonizio (2005, W.W. Norton & Co.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Zephaniah describes himself as a "Poet, writer, lyricist, musician and naughty boy." He is the son of a Barbadian postman and a Jamaican nurse and was born in Handsworth the 'Jamaican capital of England'. Benjamin attended over 15 schools as a child, moving regularly with his mother to evade his father, who was abusive. Unusually, Benjamin grew up separately from his siblings, who stayed with their dad. This means that the brothers and sisters are not close, and have almost the opposite story to tell about their childhoods. In this episode we talk about that, about what brotherhood means, about being the 'cock of the school' and how community organising after the death of Benjamin's cousin did something to repair the sibling bonds. ** Keep listening to after the music for a poetry treat!**Relatively is brought to you in partnership with leading family history website, Findmypast. With family records you won't find anywhere else and easy-to-use tools to help your family tree bloom, Findmypast is the perfect place to explore your ancestors' amazing stories. Start building your family tree for free at Findmypast today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Zephaniah was the author of the first poetry collection I ever owned. For many of us, he was the chronicler of our youth: a novelist and poet who made language exciting and funny and told stories full of action and hilarity. I was so excited to get to speak to him for today's episode, and he didn't let me down. We talk about his failure as a 'gangsta' - and his early brushes with the law (he served a prison sentence for burglary) as well as what being incarcerated taught him. We talk about his failures at school, his dyslexia and leaving mainstream education at the age of 13. And, in one of the most emotional conversations I've ever had on the topic, we talk about his failure to have children and his own journey with male infertility. It's the first time I've spoken about fertility struggles with a male guest, and it's a conversation I'll never forget. Just a note to say: we both get emotional and if you're feeling in a fragile space yourself because you're going through something similar, you might understandably want to come back to this episode later. On the other hand, it might be exactly what you need to remind you that you're not alone.--This episode is airing on Windrush Day in the UK, 22nd June, a legacy Zephaniah explores in his latest book for children, We Sang Across the Sea: The Empire Windrush and Me, available to order here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/we-sang-across-the-sea-the-empire-windrush-and-me/benjamin-zephaniah/onyinye-iwu/9780702311161--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Benjamin Zephaniah @BZephaniah