Famous Lost Words

          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...

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,...

          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 Chris...

Season 12 of Famous Lost Words is just days away.  We’re back with the likes of Elton John, Chicago, Rick James, Pearl Jam, and The Tragically Hip. We start things off with Christopher’s epic 1989 conversation with Paul McCartney, one of the most in depth interviews you’ll ever hear.  Plus we have a wildly entertaining visit with the irrepressible Lionel Richie as he sh...

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 mi...

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 T...

          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 f...

  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 feat...

First up this week is an excellent 1982 chat with John Mellencamp, back when he was known as John Cougar – in conversation with Rick Ringer.  John can be a bit tough on interviewers, but he seems really comfortable with Rick and it makes for a fun chat.  It’s just as John was starting to take off with songs like Hurts So Good and Jack & Dianne.  And he was fresh off...

          The music industry has a history of not being fair to its artists.  Christopher and Tom begin this episode by talking about artists who did not get the credit they deserved.  Little known names like Martha Wash, Frank Sampedro and Rory Dodd get a brief, but well-deserved moment in the spotlight.       &n...

 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)       &n...

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...

          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...

          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...

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 ar...

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...

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 A...

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...

A few days ago, Tom finally got to speak with Canadian guitar legend Rik Emmett of Triumph.  Rik was a bucket list guest for Tom, who could hardly contain himself! There’s a very special reason why Rik was talking to us.            On  Monday, May 5, 2025   Coalition for Music Education  will celebrate  Music Monday &...

This episode of Famous Lost Words is dedicated to legendary Canadian broadcaster John Donabie, who passed away a few days ago.  John’s interviews have been prominently featured on Famous Lost Words and he also joined us on a couple of occasions to share his incredible stories.  And great broadcaster and a wonderful man, John Donabie will be missed. For this, the last episode of sea...

This week, a real cross section of artists, which speaks to the depth and diversity of our interview archive.            First up is Pink Floyd.  We have a short but interesting chat with David Gilmour from 1984 and he promotes his solo work, but also wrestles with the past and future of Pink Floyd.  Then we have an awesome 1979 chat with...

2024 marked the 40th anniversary of MuchMusic – which, for our non-Canadian listeners, was essentially Canada’s version of MTV.  And while MTV had a profound impact on the music industry, MuchMusic arguably had a massive impact on Canadian culture .           So, we’re going to spend a bit of time talking about MuchMusic – a...

Today, we’re celebrating what would have been the 90th birthday of Elvis Presley.  There’s been a lot written and said about The King over the years, but in this episode, we’re going to let Elvis do a lot of the talking.  We have some amazing audio from the early years.  Most of these clips are from the mid to late ‘50s – and they capture a lot of the e...