Soul Music

By BBC Radio 4

What's Soul Music about?

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact

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I Believe in Father Christmas

12.24.2022

Some people say it's a protest song about the commercialisation of Christmas. Others that it's anti-religious. I Believe In Father Christmas is about neither, although lyricist Peter Sinfield concedes that it does include a touch of cynicism but says ultimately ...

Soul Music episodes:

12.24.2022 I Believe in Father Christmas Some people say it's a protest song about the commercialisation of Christmas. Others that it's anti-religious. I Believe In Father Christmas is about neither, although lyricist Peter Sinfield concedes that it does include a touch of cynicism but says ultimately ...
12.17.2022 Nessun Dorma 'None shall sleep'. Jon Christos watched the Italia 90 World Cup with his Dad and says that the live performance of 'Nessun Dorma' by Pavarotti at the tournament was the only time he ever saw his Dad cry. Beatrice Venezia ...
12.10.2022 Killing Me Softly with His Song "Strumming my pain with his fingers... Singing my life with his words..." Killing Me Softly with His Song is a song about the pleasure and embarrassment of being seen. The feeling that someone has reached into your deepest, most private ...
12.03.2022 Into My Arms by Nick Cave "I don't believe in an interventionist God" has to be one of the most original opening lines to a song. It's one that resonates with the people in this programme who take comfort from Nick Cave's love song. Els from ...
11.26.2022 Chervona Kalyna Powerful stories linked to this beautiful and stirring Ukrainian folk song which inspired Pink Floyd to reform so they could release their own version, 'Hey Hey Rise Up', alongside Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox. Chervona Kalyna is a clarion call with ...
06.18.2022 Bruch's Violin Concerto A Violin Concerto in G minor, Opus 26, became the best-known work of the German composer Max Bruch. Originally written in 1866 it went through many revisions before finally being completed in 1867. It was performed extensively but having sold ...
06.11.2022 Ne Me Quitte Pas Ne Me Quitte Pas is a song about begging someone not to go; of promising the world to them, if they'll only stay. From Haiti to New York, Provence to Glasgow... in versions by Nina Simone, Dusty Springfield and Scott ...
05.30.2022 Purple Rain "I never meant to cause you any sorrow, I never meant to cause you any pain..." True stories of what Prince's epic ballad means to different people around the world, from the very first jam in 1983 to the global ...
05.28.2022 Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton Candi Staton and others celebrate this 1970's disco classic which delivers an optimistic message. Written by David Crawford and released in 1976 this is the kind of song that feels like a carefree celebration, something to lose yourself in on ...
12.18.2021 A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten In 1942, Benjamin Britten boarded the M.S. Axel Johnson, a Swedish cargo vessel, to make the journey home to England after three years in America. During the voyage, the ship stopped at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Britten came across a ...
12.11.2021 U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For More gospel than rock, this 1987 hit has inspired great change in people's lives and created memories for music lovers across the world. Brendan McManus was a corporate high flyer with an inexplicable sense that his life needed to change ...
12.04.2021 Song To The Siren "Long afloat in shipless oceans": So begins Song To The Siren whose lyrics were inspired by Homer's Odyssey and the story of the Sirens who lured unwitting sailors to their deaths on the rocks. There is something so ancient and ...
11.27.2021 Unfinished Sympathy Personal stories inspired by Massive Attack's breakthrough single. Featuring the vocals of Shara Nelson, the track together with its iconic video would help catapult this band from Bristol onto the global stage. Stories include the photographer Giles Duley whose work ...
11.20.2021 Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific Ezio Pinza was the first person to sing Some Enchanted Evening when South Pacific opened on Broadway in 1949. His granddaughter, Sarah Goodyear, recounts his extraordinary life story: from international opera singer, to political prisoner, then a star of musical ...
11.13.2021 Ain't No Mountain High Enough Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell made Ain't No Mountain High Enough a hit for Motown in 1967. Diana Ross followed suit in 1970 as a solo artist with her version of the song. It has a place in people's hearts ...
08.04.2021 Take Me Home, Country Roads "Country roads, take me home To the place I belong" Written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert with and for their friend John Denver, the song went on to be covered by Ray Charles, Toots and the Maytals, Olivia Newton ...
07.28.2021 The Parting Glass "So fill to me the parting glass... Goodnight and joy be to you all." A popular toast at the end of an evening or a heartfelt farewell to a departed or deceased person? The Parting Glass has become synonymous with ...
07.21.2021 We've Only Just Begun The Carpenters - brother and sister duo Richard and Karen - were one of the most popular groups of the 1970s. His outstanding compositions and her stunning vocals created several massive hits including We've Only Just Begun. Originally written as ...
07.14.2021 Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat This disco classic tells a powerful story: that of a young, gay man leaving his homophobic small town for the freedom of the big city. Released in 1984, Smalltown Boy continues to resonate and has become an anthem for the ...
02.12.2021 Sunshine on Leith "While I'm worth my room on this earth......" Sunshine on Leith was released in 1988 but didn't become the big hit The Proclaimers had hoped for. However it has endured and become an anthem of love and a celebration of ...
01.09.2021 Life on Mars? Life on Mars was released on David Bowie's Hunky Dory album in 1971. Two years later it came out as a single in its own right. Famous for its exploration of disillusionment and alienation, there is no one single definitive ...
12.29.2020 Once In A Lifetime Talking Heads emerged out of the post punk scene of the late 1970s. Once In A Lifetime is the iconic single taken from their album Remain In Light. With its looped synthesizer and Afrobeat inspired by Fela Kuti it seemed ...
12.22.2020 I Wonder as I Wander As Christmas approaches, Soul Music leads you through Advent with the Appalachian carol "I Wonder as I Wander". Written by American folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles, its origins come from a song fragment collected in 1933. Mysterious, inspiring, this ...
12.08.2020 Lean On Me by Bill Withers An enduring classic which delivers a message of support and friendship. Never more so than in 2020 when it's been the musical backdrop to the Covid crisis in the UK, and at Black Lives Matter protests in the US. Taking ...
08.10.2020 I Will Survive "At first I was afraid, I was petrified"... From a breakup to a shipwreck, emotional true stories of what Gloria Gaynor's iconic disco anthem I Will Survive means to different people around the world. A woman sets out to become ...
07.22.2020 Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte by Maurice Ravel Ravel's beautiful Pavane For A Dead Princess touches many people. While it is not actually about a dead princess it does evoke a sense loss. For Carla van Raay it symbolises the loss of innocence she experienced after sexual abuse ...
07.15.2020 Feeling Good The surprising history behind a track made famous by Nina Simone. Feeling Good was written for a now obscure musical and originally performed by Cy Grant, the first black man to appear regularly on British TV. Cy Grant's daughter, Samantha ...
01.22.2020 Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay was written while Otis Redding was reflecting on his life on Sausalito Bay in California in the summer of 1967. Its upbeat, laidback melody belies the loneliness of the lyrics. Just a few ...
01.15.2020 Days “It’s a goodbye song, but it’s also an inspirational song, It could also mean a new beginning" - Ray Davies Written by Ray Davies and released by the Kinks in 1968 'Days' had a very different sound to the rest ...
01.08.2020 Toto's Africa Released in 1982, Toto's soft-rock anthem has become an unlikely viral smash-hit. Africa is a song that has changed lives, helped to raise thousands of pounds for charity and provided an unexpected musical cornerstone in a critically acclaimed play. Ralf ...
12.25.2019 Coventry Carol Performed as part of the mystery plays, the 'Coventry Carol' is from the Pageant of the Shearman and Taylors and tells the story of the Slaughter of The Innocents. A copy of the manuscript survived a fire in Birmingham Library ...
12.18.2019 We Are Family We Are Family written by Nile Rodgers and performed by the Sledge Sisters Kathy, Kim, Debbie and Joni was released in 1978 at the height of disco's popularity. Kim Sledge says it has become the anthem for diverse groups of ...
12.11.2019 The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel People who connect directly with the lyrics and have a deep personal connection to Simon & Garfunkel's masterpiece 'The Boxer' discuss what it means to them. Seamus McDonagh is a former boxer. He describes the tumultuous time he had during ...
07.31.2019 Farewell to Stromness Personal stories about Farewell to Stromness, by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Written in 1980 as a protest against uranium mining in Orkney, the music has touched and changed people's lives. The Orkney landscape which inspired Max's music is described by ...
07.24.2019 Wind of Change “I follow the Moskva, down to Gorky Park… listening to the wind of change.” The German rock band Scorpions’ lead singer Klaus Meine was inspired to write Wind of Change at a rock festival in Moscow in the summer of ...
07.17.2019 Streets of London by Ralph McTell Ralph McTell and others discuss a song that was written for a heroin addict, became an anthem against homelessness, and transcended the folk genre to become an enduring classic. Ralph McTell says he’s thought constantly about the “blip in my ...
07.10.2019 Back to Black Amy Winehouse died in July 2011 aged just 27. 'Back to Black' - the title track of her second and final album - is a torch song to tragic love, addiction and loss. People who loved her and her music ...
01.23.2019 Let the River Run The story of how a song from a classic 1980s movie became an inspirational anthem for a 21st-century generation. Carly Simon’s ‘Let the River Run’ was originally conceived as the title track for the 1988 movie ‘Working Girl. It went ...
01.17.2019 Smile Charlie Chaplin wrote the music for 'Smile' in 1935 for the film 'Modern Times', but the lyrics were only added nearly 30 years later. Chris Philips tells the story of how his grandfather was inspired to write the words when ...
01.09.2019 Schubert’s B-Flat Piano Sonata D960 The B-Flat Piano Sonata D960, which Schubert completed two months before his death, in 1828, is a vast and complex work. It’s the last of a triptych of piano sonatas that Schubert wrote, possibly in response to the death of ...
12.26.2018 Shine On You Crazy Diamond Shine On You Crazy Diamond discussed by voices including David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Understood to have been written about Syd Barrett, their former band member, it’s both a tribute, and a call for him to ‘shine on’ despite suffering ...
12.19.2018 River Soul Music with stories of the lasting impact of Joni Mitchell's song 'River', from her iconic 1971 album Blue. A song about the breakdown of a relationship and of a longing to be elsewhere that has become a melancholy Christmas ...
05.02.2018 True Colors "Your true colors...are beautiful, like a rainbow..." Billy Steinberg's lyrics were originally inspired by his mother but his song writing partner Tom Kelly recognised it's universal appeal and with a slight re-write, it became the song that Cyndi Lauper made ...
04.25.2018 God Only Knows "God only knows what I'd be without you" For artist Kim Lynch God Only Knows is a song that she has carried with her from the moment her father played it to her mother back in their 1960's London home ...
04.18.2018 Prelude a l'Apres Midi d'un Faune by Debussy Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun speaks to artists of different kinds. Jamaican poet Ishion Hutchinson recalls hearing it through an open window in Kingston Jamaica and being mesmerised by its beauty, but not knowing what it ...
04.11.2018 A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum Why has Procol Harum's surreal track ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ remained enduringly popular for over 50 years? Soul Music hears the stories and memories of those who love it. Released in May 1967, it was the group's first single. ...
04.04.2018 Songs of the Civil Rights Movement Actor Clarke Peters narrates this special edition to mark 50 years since the assassination of the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King on April 4th 1968. "If in doubt, pray and sing" an activist recalls how music was used as part ...
02.12.2018 Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part Three Cerys Matthews delves into the archives to put together a specially curated mixtape of her favourite stories from across 25 series of the BBC Radio 4's Soul Music. Each episode of Soul Music takes a different piece of music - ...
02.12.2018 Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part Two Cerys Matthews delves into the archives to put together a specially curated mixtape of her favourite stories from across 25 series of the BBC Radio 4's Soul Music. Each episode of Soul Music takes a different piece of music - ...
02.12.2018 Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part One Cerys Matthews delves into the archives to put together a specially curated mixtape of her favourite stories from across 25 series of the BBC Radio 4's Soul Music. Each episode of Soul Music takes a different piece of music - ...

Older episodes

Soul Music

What's Soul Music about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Soul Music episodes:

I Believe in Father Christmas

Nessun Dorma

Killing Me Softly with His Song

Into My Arms by Nick Cave

Chervona Kalyna

Bruch's Violin Concerto

Ne Me Quitte Pas

Purple Rain

Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton

A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten

U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Song To The Siren

Unfinished Sympathy

Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Take Me Home, Country Roads

The Parting Glass

We've Only Just Begun

Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat

Sunshine on Leith

Life on Mars?

Once In A Lifetime

I Wonder as I Wander

Lean On Me by Bill Withers

I Will Survive

Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte by Maurice Ravel

Feeling Good

Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay

Days

Toto's Africa

Coventry Carol

We Are Family

The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel

Farewell to Stromness

Wind of Change

Streets of London by Ralph McTell

Back to Black

Let the River Run

Smile

Schubert’s B-Flat Piano Sonata D960

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

River

True Colors

God Only Knows

Prelude a l'Apres Midi d'un Faune by Debussy

A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum

Songs of the Civil Rights Movement

Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part Three

Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part Two

Cerys Matthews' Soul Music Mixtape - Part One