Music
Songbook
Join us as we celebrate the art of songwriting
THE NEW SERIES OF SONGBOOK STARTS ON 12 NOVEMBER ON SKY ARTS 1! Artists featured in the series include Midge Ure, Ray Davies of The Kinks, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Kasabian and James Blunt. Take me to Songbook series 3 please >>
How did some of the most famous songs of our times come to be written? What was the inspiration behind them? And how do they sound when performed "unplugged" by the composer themselves?
This innovative series explores the magic of song-writing with some of today's most successful talents. An intimate interview in which they discuss their song-writing careers, the process of constructing and developing the song, and their hopes and fears once it was completed, followed by an 'unplugged' performance of the tune in question. Songbook is presented by music journalist and author of Guitar Man and Song Man, Will Hodgkinson. “The pop song is a powerful art form, simple and universal yet hugely difficult to get right,” comments Hodgkinson. “Learning from songwriting greats about how they wrote their most famous songs has been a fascinating, rewarding experience.”
Revealing their song-writing secrets in the second series were:
- Jarvis Cocker
- Albert Hammond
- Donovan
- Ian Broudie
- Bernard Sumner
- The Feeling
- Duran Duran - a two part special performance
In a thrilling one-off for this series, Duran Duran will record their Songbook performances in London in front of a live audience. Combining some of their greatest hits with new material, their ten song set will add a previously unexplored dimension to the series. Unlike the other acoustic performances being recorded, Duran Duran will play with their full band; for what promises to be an electric performance.
In the first programme Simon, Nick, Roger and John talk about the formation of Duran Duran; including how Simon Le Bon turned up for his audition carrying a book full of lyrics and wearing pink leopard skin trousers; how the purchase of their first keyboard led to the writing of Planet Earth; their early years rehearsing above the Rum Runner nightclub in Birmingham; how Nick Rhodes came up with the experimental sounds on their massive hit Rio, after Simon wrote the lyrics on the back of napkin in an American cocktail bar. Songs performed are: Planet Earth, Late Bar, The Chauffeur, Rio and Skin Trade
Programme two covers how depressed they were when their 1983 single Union of The Snake failed to enter the charts at Number One, how a chance meeting between John Taylor and Cubby Broccoli led to Duran Duran collaborating with John Barry to write the Bond theme song View To a Kill, how the tragic death of a friend of Simon Le Bon’s was the inspiration behind Ordinary World; the reunion of the full band line-up in 2001, and the creation of The Valley from their latest album, Red Carpet Massacre. Songs performed are: View To a Kill, Do You Believe in Shame, Ordinary World, Reach Up For The Sunrise and The Valley.
In the first series of Songbook, featured artists included: