This week, much to Christopher’s chagrin, we do a deep dive into Yacht Rock!  We’ll hear from Toto, Steely Dan, Doobie Bros, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, Boz Scaggs, Seals & Crofts, Little River Band, Orleans and… Earth, Wind & Fire?  (That last one leads to a spirited disagreement between Tom & Christopher)

          Among the highlights of this episode:

-        Michael McDonald explains the evolution of the Doobie Brothers’ sound

-        Christopher Cross talks about his debut album, which contained several Yacht Rock classics.

-        Steve Porcaro explains how a group of session players and friends morphed into Toto

-        Kenny Loggins remembers working with Stevie Nicks on “Whenever I Call You Friend”

-        Al Stewart deconstructs the story behind his biggest hit, “Year Of The Cat”

-        Boz Scaggs breaks down “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown”

-        We also hear from the most reluctant group in the Yacht Rock pantheon, Steely Dan, including a bonus cut from the Dan’s only foray into advertising jingles. (We assure you it’s a weird one!)

-        Plus, interview clips from Little River Band, Orleans, Marc Jordan, Seals & Crofts and more.  It’s an episode chock full of artists who are Yachty by nature!

 

  Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

First up, Christopher and Tom talk about artists who have come back when many people had bet against them – from Tina Turner to The Rolling Stones to Miley Cyrus to The Chicks.

          In light of the recent Oasis reunion, we have some incredible clips of both Liam and Noel Gallagher from almost 25 years ago, years before their split and decades before their reunion.  It’s a great, and often very funny, collection of comments and insight from the brothers.

          Plus, we talk to our good friend Bill Welychka, whose interviews with Liam and Noel are what we’re highlighting this week.  And Bill has some great insights into the brothers.

          Speaking of brothers, The Kinks were fueled by the Davies brothers, Ray and Dave – and they, like the Gallaghers, created incredible music while also feuding bitterly with each other.  This chat is from 1979, as the Kinks were promoting the Low Budget, which was somewhat of comeback for them.  And Christopher is going to love what he has to say about songwriting.

          Then we feature a brief couple of clips with a woman who had two very different hits in the ‘70s.  Yvonne Elliman was featured on the Jesus Christ Superstar album in the early ‘70s and then on the Saturday Night Fever album a few years later.  The story of Yvonne’s big break is a great one… and she tells it well.  We’ll also hear how she walked away from a deal that could have meant millions of dollars in the long run – and how she dealt with that.

          And we wrap up the show with Cool Song Facts… in which we find out what huge Stones song got the thumbs down by Mick and Keith… thank god they were outvoted.

  Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

          Did you know that the original name of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was “Starlight” or “Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd was going to be called “Eclipse”.  Christopher and Tom start the show with a chat about the original titles of great albums – from the very good… to the very dumb.

          With the recent announcement of the new Rush tour with a new drummer, we thought we’d present a really great collection of clips from the Famous Lost Words archives.  They are mostly with Geddy Lee and Neil Peart in the early ‘80s talking about the first nine Rush albums.  Plus, we have a bonus clip of Christopher in conversation with Geddy in 1987 – today’s show is a must for any Rush fan.

And we’ll close out the show with a tribute to KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley.  After Ace’s passing, Tom reached out to Brent Jensen of the podcast No Sleep Til Sudbury, who was as much of an Ace Frehley fan as Tom is.  We’ll talk about Ace’s enormous influence on other rock stars and fans – and we’ll listen to three clips of Ace from the archives.  This segment was a real labour of love for Brent and Tom – a couple of devoted KISS fans going way back. 

          We start the episode with a chat about artists that drastically changed their sound over the years – from the Beatles to Cher to Alanis to Herbie Hancock to Bob Dylan to Fleetwood Mac to Beyonce.

Speaking of artists that changed their sound, how about the Bee Gees?  They started out as a folky pop band and changed their sound to R&B in the mid ‘70s to out and out disco by 1977.  We have an excellent 1989 Brad Giffen interview with Barry Gibb as he talks about the groups desire to keep going in spite of the backlash they faced after Saturday Night Fever.  It cast a long shadow on them, but they endured by writing hit songs for other artists.

          Then, we have a really fun chat with Jason Mraz from 2012 and 2014.  You get a real sense of who he is - an almost old school hippy vibe that’s really endearing.

          Plus, some audio from the late ‘70s/early ‘80s with the great George Benson – a jazz giant who had lots of commercial success.  He has some great insights as well.

          And then we chat with one of Christopher’s favourite people – Ian Thomas – who has had a whole string of hit records that Canadians know and love – and some of those songs were covered by the likes of Santana, Manfred Mann and America.  Ian is one of the newest inductees into the Canadian songwriters Hall Of Fame – which is coming up on Fri, Oct 17 at the Meridian Centre in Toronto.  Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

  Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

We kick off Season 11 with the question: “what have we learned so far?”  Our listeners chimed in with their comments and Christopher and Tom expound on lessons both sublime and absurd.

          Then, we get to the good stuff, with an incredible lost 1993 interview with Paul McCartney that was only discovered in the Famous Lost Words archives a few weeks ago!

          Paul talks about how he chooses what songs to play in concert, how The Beatles would hash out songs in the studio, plus his dedication to vegetarianism and environmental causes.  It’s an excellent chat with Paul and interviewer Dale Smith, a Beatles fan who is totally in his element.

          Then, Tom & Christopher share some Cool Song Facts about the Beatles post breakup.  This is when things were getting pretty ugly between the Fab Four.  Nevertheless, there are touching moments too, like when Paul helped out George during his final weeks. 

          And we end things off with a tribute to the R&B vocal groups from the early days of rock and roll.  Ben E. King talks about his days with The Drifters, Leon Hughes reflects on the hitmaking days of The Coasters, and in a rare audio clip, Frankie Lymon talks about his music career. 

 

  Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

When we heard about the death of Supertramp founder Rick Davies a few hours ago, we wanted to pay tribute to him. Rick and the rest of the group were no strangers to us.  Since Canada was very instrumental in the story of Supertramp from the mid ‘70s on, they visited our CHUM-FM Toronto studios often. 

   As a Supertramp fan, I am intrigued by the dueling personalities of Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson.  By 1979, when they were promoting Breakfast In America, they admitted that they hadn’t worked closely together since Crime Of The Century, which in my opinion still stands as a masterpiece.

To hear more from Supertramp, check out episode 606 when we hear from both Rick and Roger as they deal with their fracturing partnership. 

Today I discovered an interview that I hadn’t previously heard. It’s from 1988 and Supertramp is still coming to terms with the departure of Roger Hodgson. But we also hear Rick’s fierce determination to carry on and to continue making music that’s meaningful to him… whether it sells millions of copies or not.  In this chat, they are talking about their 1988 tour and the most recent (and final) Supertramp album, "Free As A Bird".

 From February of 1988, it's Rick Davies of Supertramp in conversation with Gord James.

Rick Davies died on Sept 6, 2025 at the age of 81.

Ozzy Osbourne has passed away at the age of 76, mere days after his "Back To The Beginning" concert on July 5.

We revisit this segment from our first season, which featured an interview with Ozzy from the early '80s.  He's in great spirits.  Hope you enjoy it.  

Connie Francis has passed away at the age of 87.

Here from the archives is an extraordinary interview with Connie and broadcaster Brian Thomas from 1985.  (Recorded at CHUM-FM in Toronto)

Connie talks about her big break (on American Bandstand) and the incredible personal battles she dealt with in her life.  A true survivor.

 

It’s a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Live Aid!

Live Aid was grand in scope and ambition. It was largely the brainchild of an unlikely hero, Bob Geldof, the Irish singer who fronted The Boomtown Rats, and who had helped assemble the all-star cast of Band Aid. Watched by 1.5 billion people, Live Aid eventually raised $127 US million for famine relief in Africa.

But beyond that, Live Aid was also a cultural touchstone that showed the power of pop music and the determination of millions of people to make a difference in the world.

 

Hours before the event took place, Christopher Ward had a chat with organizer Bob Geldof, who, in his intense way, told of the importance of Live Aid.  He disputes the cultural significance in favour of the pragmatic view of delivering much needed aid to African famine relief.  It’s an extraordinary interview with a man who is firing on all cylinders, almost to the breaking point. 

 

And of course, we also talk about the music, including:

• Although Geldof didn’t want them in the lineup, Freddie Mercury and the band provided the most memorable 22 minutes of the day, perhaps the best ever performance in music history. 
• U2 – We have the full story of why they played only two songs that day… and how it became a major moment on their road to superstardom.
• David Bowie’s set was also memorable. But he almost didn’t play that day.  And it was all because of a CBC report on the famine.  We have the full story.
• Duran Duran. Simon LeBon made a considerable gaffe during one of their songs.  He considers it the most embarrassing moment of his career.
• Led Zeppelin - why Jimmy Page blamed Phil Collins for Zeppelin’s less than perfect performance.

 

There were also a number of artists who chose not to perform that day, including Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Prince, Culture Club and Huey Lewis.  At least two of those acts regretted that decision. 

 

And we talk about the importance of Live Aid as a cultural milestone. 

  Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.  It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

In light of the passing of Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, we feature some extraordinary audio of Brian from the mid '60s.  Wilson is exuberant as he talks about listening to the radio and dissecting his favourite songs.  He also explains why he decided to retire from touring with the Beach Boys in the mid '60s.

We will also hear highlights from Christopher's late '80s interview with Carl Wilson, who pulls no punches when he speaks of Eugene Landy, Brian's guru who held an inordinate amount of control and power over Brian's life and career.

In a 1995 interview, Mike Love talks about Brian's prowess in the studio, particularly his creation of the "pocket symphony", "Good Vibrations".

We also discuss Brian's struggle with mental health and his comeback years later.