Famous Lost Words

This week: Taylor Swift talks about the inspiration behind her massive pop hit "Shake It Off" - and why being honest with her fans is important to her.  And Roger Ashby joins us to talk about his trip to Nashville to interview Roy Orbison in his home - and why Roy's wife was none too pleased about the intrusion!  Roy then proceeds to explain the story of "Only The Lonely".

          This week – an all-‘80s episode!  -        The Pet Shop Boys talk about the underlying message in their music.  They also reveal whether or not Neil Tennant really got punched by Boy George! -        Tom Bailey & Joe Leeway talk about their incredible popularity in 1984, as well as their alternative vision for their music videos -        We chat with The Fixx in the mid ‘80s as they deal with success -        How Midge Ure and Ultravox tried to forge a unique path for themselves. -        And we close the show with a wildly weird interview with Haircut 100 that starts with their clean-cut image… and ends with leather jackets in the dryer?   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 15% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

This week, Paul McCartney tells Christopher all about the creation of the Beatles classic, “Eleanor Rigby”! And then we’ll welcome a special guest, broadcaster/podcaster Alan Cross, who tells us the wild story behind one of the greatest one hit wonders of all time – “Closing Time” by Semisonic.

          What is the most misunderstood song ever?  Born In The USA?  Every Breath You Take? The Macarena?  Christopher and Tom reveal their top picks. We have a wide range of artists this week!           First up is Rush – who have recently experienced an incredible renaissance in terms of popularity and respect.  Tom talks about seeing their current tour, then we’ll hear from Geddy Lee in 1984 as he and the band deal with the enormous success from the previous few years.           Glenn Frey struggled to find his footing after the dissolution of The Eagles. But in August of 1985, Glenn was in a good place – and this interview reflects his success and optimism.           Sade broke out in 1984 and went on to record some of the coolest music of that decade.  We have a short clip from her as she speaks about songwriting.         Then we close out the show with ZZ Top – just as they were about to conquer the charts with “Eliminator”.  It’s a chat with Billy Gibbons from 1983. 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 15% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

Today, we start something new! It’s called FLW Hits.  A series of shorter episodes that focus specifically on the stories behind some of the biggest hit songs ever recorded.   For this episode, we start with the most memorable riff and song of George Michael’s career as he tells us about the creation of Careless Whisper. When Christopher interviewed Tina Turner in 1989, she told him how she shaped the sound of one of her biggest hits, “The Best”.  Then we have one of the best protest songs ever as Stephen Stills explains to Tom the inspiration of the Buffalo Springfield song “For What It’s Worth”.

          Christopher and Tom kick off season 12 trying to choose the greatest musician of all time.  Names like Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Prince and Robbie Williams (?!) come up, but Christopher has a choice that doesn’t include any of the aforementioned.            Then, we feature Christopher’s 1989 interview with Paul McCartney.  It’s a great conversation as Paul comes to terms with his back catalogue and gives us the story behind some of his biggest Beatles hits.   We will also discuss Macca’s burst of creativity in recent months. Plus Cool Beatles Facts – including the real story behind John & Paul’s supposed "feud". With the recent shocking loss of singer Sass Jordan, we revisit our chat with Sass from 2018 and talk about her career and legacy.  Plus we have an excellent interview with David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears, who passed away recently at the age of 84.  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.

We lost one of the greats with the passing of Neil Sedaka. The songs, like “Calendar Girl”, “Love Will Keep Us Together”, “Oh! Carol” and “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” are so recognizable and the melodies so deceptively simple, it’s like they’ve always been with us. And if you’ve ever heard Sedaka being interviewed, you can’t miss the joy and passion that he had for the work.  For this special tribute, we have 3 sets of interview clips from one of the top songwriters of his era. Neil remembers his earliest hits with the late Andy K of 1050 CHUM in Toronto.  He also tells CHUM's Roger Ashby about the challenges he faced in his career. And we even hear from Elton John, who helped facilitate Sedaka's comeback with songs like "Bad Blood" and "Laughter In The Rain". Neil Sedaka continued to perform as recently as 2025. His legacy of songs as a writer and performer will always be with us.   

For the Season 11 finale, we present part two of our series on the ‘80s.  We continue in the alt-rock/indie/new wave vein from our last episode – where we featured the likes of U2, The Cult, Bryan Ferry, Fine Young Cannibals and more. This week, we continue with: Robert Smith of The Cure in conversation with Christopher. Robert is painfully shy and yet quite revealing and is, in Tom’s words, “downright lovable”. The B-52s, who remember their early days and the struggle to continue after the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson. Dave Gahan and Martin Gore from Depeche Mode in a short chat with Christopher. Peter Garrett and the late Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil talking about being famous in Australia and trying to win over audiences in the Canada and the U.S. Toronto’s Jane Siberry, who was recently inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, talks about her unique vision for her music – and why she carries around a “very soft bat” to ward off her fans. Christopher’s interview with Annie Lennox of Eurythmics as she talks about fashion and anti fashion. Producers note:  The promised interviews with Pet Shop Boys, The Fixx and Thompson Twins will air in Season 12.  We promise. 😉 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.

          We start by talking about “songs that are factually incorrect”, with artists like U2, Alanis, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Toto, ABBA and Pitbull being taken to task.  Christopher and Tom have a ton of fun ranting about these “egregious” errors.           Speaking of U2, we feature at 1985 interview with bassist Adam Clayton as he and his mates come to grips with the growing popularity of the band.  Adam talks about playing for screaming fans (not ideal) and comparisons between U2 and Bruce Springsteen.           The remainder of the episode includes other artists from the ‘80s.  Some highlights: Ian Astbury of The Cult talks about spending five years of his youth in Canada – and how he didn’t much care for it. Brian Ferry of Roxy Music discusses the importance of solo work Roland Gift talks about Fine Young Cannibals and his acting career Montreal’s The Box discuss marrying politics and music And we try to find at least ONE interesting moment in what could be the most boring interview in our archives… 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.

  Have you ever heard a song and thought it was by a completely different artist?  Christopher thought that a Beatles song was actually Bob Dylan, Tom thought “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress” was by CCR, and both thought that some of the early America songs were actually Neil Young.           Speaking of America, we’ll feature some clips from them from their ‘70s heyday this week.  And we’ll also talk about how one of their best songs contains some of their worst lyrics.           But before we get to that, we have some incredible interview moments with the legendary Carole King as she reflects on her early career – when she was a teen mom crafting some of the most memorable songs of the early sixties – and then to her breakout as a solo artist in the ‘70s.            And speaking of legends, we have some amazing clips of Buddy Holly in conversation with a couple of important broadcasters.  These clips are so wonderful and yet so tragic in hindsight.  And we’ll close out that segment with Buddy Holly Cool song facts.           And we end the show with a guy with one of the most successful Canadians ever, who does not lack for self confidence.  It’s Paul Anka from about 20 years ago looking back at his career.  Included in that is his love for his home country, who he doesn’t believe always treated him well.  It’s an epic interview with a classic Canadian artist.       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.