Shipbuilding Radio 2 Monday

[sheeptotheslaughter]

Apologies if this is posted elsewhere.

But I have just heard on the Radio next Monday night on Radio 2.Annie Nightingale is hosting a programme about the impact of Shipbuilding and the Falklands war.

[Judge Holden]

Many thanks - will be listening.

[Paul B]

Thanks, will make sure to catch, could be very interesting.

[Top balcony]

Here's a bit of detail from the BBC site :

Is It Worth It?

Monday, 22:00 on BBC Radio 2
SYNOPSIS
30 years on from the Falklands conflict, Annie Nightingale considers the impact of the war through the song Shipbuilding.
With music by Clive Langer and lyrics by Elvis Costello, the song captures perfectly the contradictions of war where shipyard job were created for some whilst sending men and women off to fight, and in some cases die, in those self same ships.
With original contributions from musicians Elvis Costello, Pat Kane, David Gray and Clive Langer. Journalist Paul Morley. Tynecastle shipyard workers Ian Rae and Dennis MacCoy. War veteran Andy Eakins and war widow Barbara MacAulay.

Looks good to me...

Colin Top Balcony

[johnfoyle]

This link should, eventually, have a 'play again' link -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kgl1z

[johnfoyle]

Nicely done show. Annie sounded a bit rough but that was appropriate to the subject. Elvis' contributions - about 15 minutes in and in the last few minutes - were reprises of his past comments , Australian media, asking Chet Baker in a club etc. There were some new, to me, details about Elvis' maternal grandfather ; he was, Elvis says, a prisoner of war during the Great War (1914-18) and a gas mains tester in the second World war. There's also a reference to his , I presume, paternal Great Grandfather 'being killed in the Birkenhead dockyard'. The comments were , it seems, recorded recently. Elvis says there had to be trumpet on the PTC version because of Elvis' Dad and Grandad being trumpet players ; there is a wobble - understandable - in his voice as he says that he ( Elvis) should have played it and that was his 'biggest failure'.

About half of the show is given over to interviews with shipyard workers and relatives of someone who died in the conflict. It doesn't seem that they were asked about the song itself which was disappointing. Maybe they were and just didn't know it and that would have been to complicated to include in the narrative.

[fred darden]

did he mean ross? didn't know elvis did horns.

[martinfoyle]

Here's a mp3 of the show

http://www.mediafire.com/?rxpaw79lv9shj8d

[The imposter]

Much appreciated Martin! Thank you!

[Paul B]

Thanks a lot Martin. And nicely tagged for iTunes - much appreciated.

[The imposter]

Elvis says there had to be trumpet on the PTC version because of Elvis' Dad and Grandad being trumpet players ; there is a wobble - understandable - in his voice as he says that he ( Elvis) should have played it and that was his 'biggest failure'.

did he mean ross? didn't know elvis did horns.

If I'd taken up the trumpet as I should have done
Then I wouldn't be always losing sleep
While I'm trying to make this rhyme

"For The Stars"- Elvis Costello

[docinwestchester]

If I'd taken up the trumpet as I should have done
Then I wouldn't be always losing sleep
While I'm trying to make this rhyme

"For The Stars"- Elvis Costello

GREAT reference! I never noticed that, although admittedly not my #1 EC album.

[paul f]

While it was an interesting programme, I thought it missed the point. “Is it worth it?” in the context of the song means: is being able to live a little more comfortably worth the (morally dubious) building of ships in which more working class young people go off to risk their lives? It’s not Falklands specific in that sense – it’s just that the coincidence of recently closed shipyards being reopened in 1982 made the issue even starker than usual. But the only time the programmes asked “is it worth it?” it was questioning whether retaking the Falklands by force was worth it, which is a different issue entirely. And they didn’t waste much time debating it either. One person said it was because Argentina became a democracy as a result (which might be considered akin to missing a pool shot by a good 6 inches only to see the ball go into a different pocket off 3 cushions) and the widow of one of the British dead thought it was worth it because of how grateful the Falklanders were. Both valid opinions, but only part of the story.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/ ... sfeed=true

Radio review

Is It Worth It?

An analysis and exploration of Elvis Costello and Clive Langer's exquisite song Shipbuilding showcased its timeless power

Elisabeth Mahoney
Thursday 28 June 2012

It takes a big song to fill an hour's programming dedicated to it but Shipbuilding – written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer, and sung by Robert Wyatt – easily justified Is It Worth It? (Radio 2). An exemplary music documentary, this explored both the track's social and political context, and the teensiest details of its making.

I loved hearing how Langer played the melody to Costello in his car outside a party at Nick Lowe's house ("I had a Golf, it had a good stereo in it – I was la-la-laing it in a Robert Wyatt style"). After hearing that, Costello penned the lyrics while on tour in Australia and called Langer. "I've written the best lyric I've ever written," Costello told him. "I've written the best tune I've ever written," Langer replied. They were on to something: a song so absolutely of its time, but also timeless and always a directly emotional, powerful listen.

The programme, presented by Annie Nightingale, drew a picture of its time really well, with input from a Falklands widow, men who worked on Tyneside shipyards and a war veteran who served there. Paul Morley and Pat Kane described the political and cultural scene ("the lingering aftershock of punk"), while David Gray analysed the song's meaning ("can't we do something else, something brighter and more beautiful than war-making and bullying?"). Costello spoke about how his family history had been shaped by war and the shipyards, and was as forthright as ever. "In British history," he said, "they nearly always get a working-class boy to do the killing."

[verbal gymnastics]

That last line reminded me of line in Money go round by The Style Council

"kill for peace, freedom and truth
But they're too old to go so they send the youth".