Mike Batt still wrestles with the emotional legacy of the Wombles, the act that simultaneously made him and cast a shadow over the rest of his career, not least his early days as a songwriter at Liberty Records, discussed here, hired after he’d answered the same ad as Elton John and Bernie Taupin, a time when A&R men wore kipper ties and had Picassos on their wall. He forged a path through psychedelia and into TV and films, taking huge financial risks with musicals, orchestral works and big-selling acts like Katie Melua, his Art Garfunkel hit ‘Bright Eyes’ eventually promoting him from the Haves to the Have-Yachts. Life, he says, has been “like running through traffic”. His memoir is just out, ‘The Closest Thing to Crazy: My Life of Musical Adventures’. All sorts discussed here including ...

… his brief satin-jacketed tenure in Hapshash & the Coloured Coat.

… parallels between record producers and traffic cops.

… Happy Jack and songs about outsiders.

… being in Savile Row when the Beatles played the Apple roof.

… life as “a square” during psychedelia.

… a snatch of abandoned teenage composition ‘The Man With The Purple Hand’.

… John D. Laudermilk and the magic of writing credits.

… how Bright Eyes “got me into the Officers’ Mess of Songwriters”.

… his publishers insisting there was a Womble on the book jacket.

… “circumcising” the world in a seven-crew yacht.

... and feeling simultaneously smug and guilty when driving a Roller.

Order ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy: My Life of Musical Adventures’ here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Closest-Thing-Crazy-Musical-Adventures/dp/1785120840

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Joe Boyd produced Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and many others, released acts from all over the globe on his Hannibal label and has just written a mighty and definitive account of the history of popular music, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain, tracing the way different sounds from different countries became interwoven. Nobody is better qualified to write this book as you’ll discover from this enthralling conversation. Among the highlights …

… “if Mick and Keith had had Spotify there’d have been no Rolling Stones.”

… the African roots of Little Richard’s horn section.

… how a Zulu folk tune from 1939 ended up on the Lion King soundtrack.

… “Western musicians are governed by keys, valves and frets but what matters is the notes in between”.

… the evolution of ska as rock and roll was too exhausting in the heat of Jamaican dancehalls.

… Alan Freed, the “Pied Piper” that led white American teenagers into black music.

… Duke Ellington and music “too complicated for white audiences to follow”.

… the bossa nova in Nick Drake’s River Man.

… Paul Simon’s Graceland and the meaning of authenticity.

… world music’s problem with drum machines.

.. the attraction of music whose origin you can hear before the vocal comes in.

Order Joe’s highly recommended book here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roots-Rhythm-Remain-Journey-Through/dp/0571360009

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With Mark Ellen rambling in the West Country it’s left to David Hepworth to talk Alex Gold down from the ledge in the light of the Dave Grohl news and discuss:

•⁠ ⁠just how many offers come the way of rich and famous rock stars

•⁠ ⁠whether his recent admission will in any way detract from the most winning smile in rock

•⁠ ⁠is this an opportunity for Jon Bon Jovi to step up?

•⁠ ⁠how a quick word from Taylor Swift is worth all the five star reviews in the world

•⁠ ⁠Nick Lowe’s infallibly entertaining story of Jet Harris and seven pints of Kaliber

•⁠ ⁠When they organised a reunion of all the progeny of Screaming Jay Hawkins

•⁠ ⁠... and the greatest music book ever with Patreon supporter Ed Newman

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

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