The Secret Life of Songs
‘The Secret Life of Songs’ is a new podcast series exploring ten classic pop recordings to get to the heart of why they mean so much to us. I'm a musician who writes and performs under the name 'sky coloured' and in each episode, I'll discuss and perform a different classic pop song, from Sam Cooke, to the Beach Boys, to Tina Turner, and more. It's intended to be an insight into how these amazing songs work, from a songwriter's perspective, as well as a personal interpretation of what they might have to say to us. Winner of Bronze in 'Best Arts & Culture Podcast' at the British Podcast Awards 2021.
Episodes
11 episodes
#10 - River Deep — Mountain High / Ike & Tina Turner
How does a record make us feel like we're in a vast space, one that we've never experienced, one that may not exist? In this episode, the last of the series, I look at the Phil Spector production, 'River Deep — Mountain High', performed in 1966...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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24:11
#9 - The Makings of You / Curtis Mayfield
Since I first started listening to pop music, I've wondered about what's really going on in songs about love. Something seems to haunt expressions of romantic affection or loss, something that often seems to go beyond the strict meaning of the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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27:30
#8 - Walkin' After Midnight & Crazy / Patsy Cline
When Patsy Cline first heard Willie Nelson's demo version of 'Crazy', she didn't like it, thinking it sounded too vulnerable and heartbroken. Talked into it by her husband and her producer, she would make a record that seemed to capture somethi...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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24:46
#7 - Cigarettes and Coffee / Otis Redding
What does a chorus do in a pop song? Among our most basic assumptions about what will happen in a pop song is the expectation that it will lead us towards the fulfilment and clarity of a chorus, so it’s always interesting when a song chooses no...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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26:21
#6 - Jealous Guy / John Lennon
The history of rock music is in large part a history of men writing condescending and degrading songs about women, so it's interesting when a songwriter like John Lennon - with a track record of some of rock's most notoriously misogynistic lyri...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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20:38
#5 - Son of a Preacher Man / Dusty Springfield
The story of Billy-Rae, the preacher's son, and the singer of 'Son of a Preacher Man', stealing away from their parents to discover love in the back yard is contained in one of the most familiar and enduringly popular songs of the 1960s. The sc...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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23:10
#4 - God Only Knows / The Beach Boys
The story of the Beach Boys starting out as preppy Californian surf-popsters to become Rock n Roll Hall of Famers responsible for 'Greatest Albums Ever' list perennial 'Pet Sounds' is a familiar one. This narrative tends to overlook the current...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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23:46
#3 - You're All I Need to Get By / Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
The classic Motown duet, 'You're All I Need to Get By', seems to be about commitment - about a love which has recently been embarked on and which stretches ahead into the future - has come, perhaps surprisingly, to resonate with those mourning ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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23:32
#2 - One Fine Day / The Chiffons
The 1960s girl group genre might seem an odd place to find tragedy, particularly when it's wrapped in such apparently joyful music as The Chiffons' 'One Fine Day'. Legendary songwriting partners Gerry Goffin and Carole King manage the difficult...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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20:08
#1 - Bring It On Home to Me / Sam Cooke
How does a song make us feel like we want to go home? that we miss someone who has left us at a home that now feels nothing but empty? that they may never come home, though we'll never stop hoping? In this first episode, I look at Sam Cooke's s...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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23:21