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Neil Young, Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger and more on their musical roots

John Wilson talks to musicians including Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, Emeli Sand茅 and Pete Townshend about their first musical influences.

John Wilson talks to musicians including Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, Emeli Sand茅, Jonny Greenwood and Pete Townshend about their first musical influences.

Neil Young reveals why he recently recorded a version of God Save The Queen, the anthem he sang regularly during his Canadian childhood.

Paul McCartney discusses how songs by the great American tunesmiths of the 1930s, which he heard in his childhood home, influenced his own approach to writing.

Pete Townshend contrasts his love of abrasive rock and roll with the music performed by his father, who played the saxophone in a dance band.

Soul singer Bobby Womack remembers how he also rebelled against his father, who wanted his sons to perform only gospel music, rather than anything more secular.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards reflect on their early shared love of raw American blues records.

And Neil Diamond, Emeli Sand茅 and Jonny Greenwood, from the band Radiohead, recall the early musical encounters which shaped their subsequent careers.

Producer John Goudie.

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30 minutes

Broadcast

  • Boxing Day 2012 19:15

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