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 out disco by 1977. We have an excellent 1989 Brad Giffen interview with Barry Gibb as he talks about the groups desire to keep going in spite of the backlash they faced after Saturday Night Fever. It cast a long shadow on them, but they endured by writing hit songs for other artists.

Then, we have a really fun chat with Jason Mraz from 2012 and 2014. You get a real sense of who he is - an almost old school hippy vibe that’s really endearing.

Plus, some audio from the late ‘70s/early ‘80s with the great George Benson – a jazz giant who had lots of commercial success. He has some great insights as well.

And then we chat with one of Christopher’s favourite people – Ian Thomas – who has had a whole string of hit records that Canadians know and love – and some of those songs were covered by the likes of Santana, Manfred Mann and America. Ian is one of the newest inductees into the Canadian songwriters Hall Of Fame – which is coming up on Fri, Oct 17 at the Meridian Centre in Toronto. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville. It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

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!

Paul talks about how he chooses what songs to play in concert, how The Beatles would hash out songs in the studio, plus his dedication to vegetarianism and environmental causes. It’s an excellent chat with Paul and interviewer Dale Smith, a Beatles fan who is totally in his element.

Then, Tom & Christopher share some Cool Song Facts about the Beatles post breakup. This is when things were getting pretty ugly between the Fab Four. Nevertheless, there are touching moments too, like when Paul helped out George during his final weeks.

And we end things off with a tribute to the R&B vocal groups from the early days of rock and roll. Ben E. King talks about his days with The Drifters, Leon Hughes reflects on the hitmaking days of The Coasters, and in a rare audio clip, Frankie Lymon talks about his music career.

Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville. It is in the Top 20% of worldwide podcasts based on the number of listeners in the first week.

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. By 1979, when they were promoting Breakfast In America, they admitted that they hadn’t worked closely together since Crime Of The Century, which in my opinion still stands as a masterpiece.

To hear more from Supertramp, check out episode 606 when we hear from both Rick and Roger as they deal with their fracturing partnership.

Today I discovered an interview that I hadn’t previously heard. It’s from 1988 and Supertramp is still coming to terms with the departure of Roger Hodgson. But we also hear Rick’s fierce determination to carry on and to continue making music that’s meaningful to him… whether it sells millions of copies or not. In this chat, they are talking about their 1988 tour and the most recent (and final) Supertramp album, "Free As A Bird".

From February of 1988, it's Rick Davies of Supertramp in conversation with Gord James.

Rick Davies died on Sept 6, 2025 at the age of 81.