The legendary Burt Bacharach and his brilliant co-writer Daniel Tashian drop in for a conversation about their stunning new EP, Blue Umbrella, and life as songwriters in the middle of a pandemic. The pair explain how they’ve continued their collaboration remotely between Los Angeles and Nashville, and how they’ve drawn on Burt’s vast experience as an arranger to bring the songs to life.
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Grammy-winning hitmaker Nile Rodgers and legendary manager Merck Mercuriadis join Simon and Brian onstage at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall during the 2019 Meltdown festival. The pair share insights into the art and business of songwriting through their work together on the Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, and Nile takes up his guitar to demonstrate how he wrote classic hits for artists like Sister Sledge, Diana Ross and David Bowie. Nile was also the guest for episode 123 of this podcast.
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Something rather nice that happened during the first UK lockdown: the Sodajerker On Songwriting podcast was added to the British Library’s Sound and Moving Image catalogue. Search for it on their website.
Delighted (and not a little humbled) that our work will be preserved for posterity as part of such an amazing archive.
Songwriter and producer Dave Stewart drops in to discuss the new Stewart/Lindsey album Amitié, his many classic hits with Annie Lennox in Eurythmics, and his storied career in music. Dave also reflects on his collaborations with Aretha Franklin, Shakespeares Sister, and the importance of distraction in the writing process.
Download episode Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Listen to Spotify playlist© 2020 Sodajerker. Some rights reserved.
The great Rufus Wainwright returns to discuss his new album Unfollow The Rules, becoming part of the Laurel Canyon scene, and how his operas have informed his pop songcraft. Rufus was also the guest for episode 54 of this podcast.
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Prolific singer-songwriter Laura Marling discusses the writing of her beautiful new album Song For Our Daughter, collaborating with Blake Mills, Ethan Johns and Mike Lindsay, and the influence of Paul McCartney’s acoustic guitar ballads.
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Singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama joins Simon and Brian for the first fully remote episode of the show in which she describes the collaborative songwriting process behind her stunning debut album SAWAYAMA, how she was influenced by the pop of the early 2000s, and the intensely personal process of writing about family.
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Rapper, poet, novelist and playwright Kate Tempest talks about her creative process across a range of projects, detailing her approach to lyrics, prose, melody, structure and narrative. The double Mercury Music Prize nominee also reflects on her time working with legendary producer Rick Rubin, and her deep relationship with the city of London.
Download episode Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Listen to Spotify playlist© 2020 Sodajerker. Some rights reserved.
On the fourth anniversary of his passing, we’ve dug into the Sodajerker vault to find an unreleased bonus episode from a couple of years ago in which we sat down for an hour to talk about one of our all-time favourite artists – Prince!
We couldn’t resist bookending it with a Prince-inspired jam we found along with the recording. Enjoy!
Pictured are Simon and Brian attending Celebration at Paisley Park in 2017.
Big thanks to Dorian Lynskey for kindly including us in his feature on the best music podcasts in the current issue of Q Magazine (published April 7, 2020), which is out now.
The issue also includes a 25th anniversary celebration of Morning Glory by Oasis, plus features on Jason Isbell, Flohio, Ghostpoet, Kooks, Avalanches, Mark Lanegan, Princess Nokia, Jarvis Cocker and Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien.
You can visit their website to find out more about the issue.
The great Huey Lewis discusses the writing of his new album Weather, which was recorded prior to the singer losing his hearing to Ménière’s disease in 2018. In addition to telling the stories behind hits like ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’, ‘Bad Is Bad’, ‘Hip To Be Square’ and ‘Small World’, Huey also details his collaborations with mentors like Nick Lowe and Mutt Lange, and his work on the songs ‘Power Of Love’ and ‘Back In Time’ from the classic movie Back To The Future.
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With the brilliant Adam Schlesinger’s tragically premature passing, the music world has lost an uncommonly gifted songwriter who, outside of his pivotal roles in Fountains of Wayne, Ivy and Tinted Windows, could turn his hand to seemingly any kind of project – TV, film, theatre – with unfailingly well-crafted, melodic and catchy results (and had sundry awards and nominations to prove it). The diversity of his resumé and consistent quality of his work (most recently showcased on the Emmy-winning US TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) speaks volumes for his talent.
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Episode 319 – Linda PerryJune 20, 2026
Episode 318 – Sean Ono LennonMay 31, 2026
Episode 317 – Matt JohnsonMay 14, 2026
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