Songstripper

What a cracking guest to open season two of Songstripper!

David Arnold scored five Bond films, the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony and countless other Hollywood blockbusters as well as having pop success with Bond title songs recorded by the band Garbage and the late Chris Cornell of Soundgarden.  

Tim and Phil were lucky enough to chat in person with David in December 2020 before the latest UK lockdown. He even pushed Tim off the piano to illustrate his scoring style and how he mixes sweeping orchestras with cutting edge dance music technology. 

We concentrate his wit and wisdom on ‘The World Is Not Enough’ with lyrics, by the maestro of lyricists Don Black, and how the unusual collaboration with Garbage came together whilst working across continents. 

Tim and Phil ask the question "how did a six form student working in a video rental store in Luton come to dominate Hollywood?"

Tim and Phil welcome their first Norwegian songwriting guest to Songstripper in this Christmas bonus episode.

Not only is Mads Hauge the stereotypical tall, blonde, Viking he’s thankfully also a multi-instrumentalist, a RECORD producer but, more importantly for Songstripper, a writer of both music and lyrics of hit songs.

Mads talks us through his Pixie Lott’s bangers 'Mama Do' , 'Boys and Girls' and 'Cry Me Out'. 

He also shares some behind the scenes info of the prime time TV show 'The Voice' where he is in charge of all music production. 

Sit back and listen as one of the most talented and conscientious people to ever work in the modern music biz reveals all,  stepping out from behind the red velvet Songstripper curtain.

A very special guest for the finale of season one of the Songstripper podcast as Tim and Phil welcome American songsmithstress Shelly Peiken. 

Shelly has written with great success in all pop genres. Different decades, different artists, same result: hit songs for Brandy, Christina Aguelera, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, Celine Dion and Keith Urban.

On this episode Tim and Phil tease Shelly’s stellar mind about her number one smash of ’97, the anthemic ‘Bitch’, performed by Meredith Brooks. 

We follow the song's journey from Shelly’s inspired opening lyric, ‘I hate the world today’, to Meredith’s worldwide hit recording - a self produced demo that morphed into a smash.

Shelly is also a performer, an advocate for songwriter’s rights, a blogger, and the author of a bestselling book about the dark arts of the songwriter-for-hire ‘Confessions of a Serial Songwriter’. 

This episode was recorded remotely with Shelly in Los Angeles and Tim and Phil paying attention and asking questions in North London. 

Please join us for more song gossip on season two of Songstripper... coming soon.

Tim and Phil chat with Martin Brammer about his conceptual approach to songwriting, his forthright opinions on everything, and surviving and thriving in the music business for four decades. From starting out as the singer and songwriter in 80s blue-eyes soul band Kane Gang, to writing for James Morrison, Tina Turner, James Bay and Beverley Knight, his career also includes managing artists, founding his own label and involvement in the politics of the UK music industry.

On this episode we delve into Martin’s deep and thoughtful songwriting brain to shine some Brammer light on his biggest hit, 'Lifted', by Lighthouse Family. 

Originally an artist in the UK duo ‘Eg and Alice’, Francis ‘Eg’ White has found continuing success as London’s top songwriter for hire. 

He has written melody and lyrics for Adele, Lana Del Ray, Florence and The Machine, Natalie Imbruglia, Sam Smith and James ‘Jim’ Morrison. 

One of his co-writers has said ‘you have to work hard to keep up with Eg’. A multi-instrumentalist, a producer, a Grammy nominee, a two time winner for ‘best song’ at the UK equivalent award show ‘The Ivors’, he’s been stoking the dreams of the songwriting machine for nearly three decades. 

On this episode of SongStripper Tim and Phil concentrate Eg’s lively and sparkling mind on the writing of, what is probably, his most loved song to date, Adele’s ‘Chasing Pavements’. 

On this episode Tim and Phil chat about a huge hit that has remained on radio playlists since its release twenty two years ago.  In fact Tim chats with co-host Phil Thornalley, one of the writers, along with Anne Preven and Scott Cutler, of ‘Torn’, a song that was recorded five times before it became an international hit for Natalie Imbruglia. 

This Songstripper episode was the very first Tim and Phil recorded to trial their podcast skills before ‘lockdown’ became one of the defining words of 2020. 

A songstripper special! - Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams' co- writer, offers his songwriting wisdom and shares anecdotes about his long career. From ‘Run To You’ (a hit many artists rejected) to his battle with broadway (and eventual victory) with the musical ‘Pretty Woman’. 

Tim and I concentrate Jim’s mind on one song with a lesson in narrative writing, a whole life’s struggle packed into a three minute pop song.

For the kids who wanna’ rock - it’s ’Summer of 69’.

On this episode we welcome a writer who wrote a song of such epic positivity; an enduring feel-good head-rush about falling in love.

We’re talking about ‘walking’. ‘walking on sunshine’.

Tim and Phil chat with the songwriter and guitarist Kimberley Rew about his phenomenal three chord wonder - a copyright that earns one million dollars a year. 

Kim’s song broke his band Katrina and The Waves with their recording and it’s infectious Motown swinging rhythm and compelling vocal from Katrina Leskanich. 

Due to the current crisis we’ve recorded this episode remotely, in lockdown, with Kim in Cambridge, Tim in Finchley and Phil in Suffolk. 

The song is listed at number nine in the Billboard chart of ‘most over used songs in films’, at number one is Jimi Hendrix’s cover of Dylan’s ‘all along the watchtower’. Not bad company!

On this episode we welcome a guest songwriter who wrote and sang a massive worldwide HIT that lit up the eighties pop charts and is still being played to this day.

Tim and Phil chat with Clark Datchler, writer and singer of the eighties standard ‘Shattered Dreams’ - shattering the charts from the UK to USA.  We talk about the clever musical modulations and the twists and turns it took to produce this breakthrough hit for his band Johnny Hates Jazz

We also gas about his part in the success of Hollywood director David Fincher(!) and how he almost wrote with Take That. 

Due to the current crisis we’ve been lucky enough to record this episode remotely in lockdown with Clark speaking from Surrey, Tim in north London and Phil in Suffolk.

Songwriter, arranger, producer TV theme tune-smith and impresario, Tony Hatch has done it all including writing one of THE iconic hits of the ‘60s, Petula Clark’s Downtown. In this episode of SongStripper Phil and Tim talk to Tony about how the song came about and life lessons from 60 years in the music industry. 

Songstripper is a new podcast by Tim Jackson and Phil Thornalley.  Established songwriters and producers themselves, each episode they chat with a songwriting legend about one of their evergreen hits. One massive song that they not only wrote but also played on and produced. 

They strip away the legend of the song with their guest and take a look behind the curtain at how it was born. The inspiration, the clever title, the lyrics and melody, the magical arrangement, who played what where and why; exposing those intimate details, sometimes long forgotten, of what genius or luck came together to create such a memorable song and, ultimately, a hit record.  Sit back, relax and enjoy.  Drum roll please.... 

In the first episode Phil and Tim talk with legendary songwriter Graham Gouldman about the classic 10cc hit “I’m Mandy Fly Me”.  They delve into his early work as a teenage hit writer for bands such as the Yardbirds and get a fascinating glimpse into how 10cc went about writing and recording their progressive pop masterpieces. We hope you enjoy the show and don’t forget to subscribe from wherever you get your podcasts.