Famous Lost Words

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 his first appearance on Saturday Ni...

          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.

          Also this week&hel...

 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 highligh...

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&rsq...

          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.

   &...

          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 ou...

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!

  ...

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.&nbs...

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 t...

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 ...

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 with a cross-country sing-along to r...

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 season 10, we have quite a collection ...

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 legendary Canadian producer Bob Ez...

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 – and since Christopher is the original...

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 excitement – and the freshness...

This week, part three of our celebration of ‘70s rock!

Our previous two episodes consisted of interviews that, for the most part, had not been heard on our show before.  But we realized that there were also a number of artists that people were asking about… like Aerosmith, Heart, April Wine… and to the chagrin of Christopher and the joy of Tom… KISS!

What we’re going to do is take highli...

          We start this episode with Tom telling the story of how he almost got fired from his job – and how it almost meant the end of Famous Lost Words before it even started!

Then we continue with our series on ‘70s Rock.  Last week we featured Boston, The Doobie Brothers, Jethro Tull, BTO and others. 

This week, more from that era, including a great series of interview clips with Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, with the ...