This programme contains some strong language
APPLAUSE
Welcome to this wonderful room.
Welcome to this wonderful place.
And welcome to Manic Street Preachers.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Into the impossible heart of the sun
# Might be a place where I could belong
# Society used to be my worst enemy
# Now I want to build a small one for you
# And me
# The decline and fall
# Divide and dissolve
# The dry stone walls
# A beauty that calls
# The decline and fall
# A beauty that calls
# I know our time has come and gone
# At least we blazed a trail and shone
# These tiny molecules governed by rules
# Little atoms that only
# Leave clues
# The decline and fall
# Divide and dissolve
# The dry stone walls
# A beauty that calls
# The decline and fall
# A beauty that calls
# So much for calculations
# So much for standing tall
# So much for implications
# So much for the decline and fall
# Divide and dissolve
# The dry stone walls
# A beauty that calls
# The decline and fall
# A beauty that calls. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
How wonderful to have this superb band in this room.
Thank you, Manic Street Preachers,
with Decline And Fall from their upcoming album Critical Thinking.
I shall be chatting to them later.
Who are our guests? Are you ready to meet our amazing guests tonight?
CHEERING
Everyone is a winner.
From Brixton, Nia Smith.
APPLAUSE
From New York, Jerron Paxton.
APPLAUSE
From Denmark, MO.
APPLAUSE
But now, performing for the first time ever on British television,
it is the legendary to Cymande.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Sometimes I wonder
# If it's all been in vain
# It seems nothing matters
# Everybody chasing fame
# With no message
# For the young to hold on to
# You take what you can
# And God help the man who will try to stop you
# Is it real
# What they feel?
# What's the deal
# When you're chasing an empty dream?
# The young generation
# Trying hard to be understood
# Respect your bodies
# Try to do what your mama would
# Everyone
# Is looking to make a buck
# With no ambition
# Wanting money to come by luck
# Is it real
# What they feel?
# What's the deal
# Oh
# When you're chasing an empty dream?
# Maybe tomorrow
# The words of yesterday
# And the message they carry
# May help them find their way
# Oh
# Maybe tomorrow
# Looking back on yesterday
# And the message they carry
# May help them find their way
# Sometimes I think about
# The sacrifices that were made
# Are long forgotten
# Yeah
# In the material world of today
# Is it real
# What they feel?
# What's the deal
# Oh
# When you're chasing an empty dream?
# Is it real
# What they feel?
# What's the deal
# Oh-oh-oh
# When you're chasing an empty dream? #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Cymande!
Chasing An Empty Dream from their upcoming album Renascence.
Beautifully played, everybody.
That's Adrian. I used to go to school with him. Hello, Adrian.
Let's have a round of applause for Adrian.
APPLAUSE
Don't embarrass him!
So we'll be talking to them later about their extraordinary world
and how everybody's sampled them.
What a story, but we'll hear about that later.
But now let's chat to two extraordinary people
who helped to open the show for us.
Let's welcome James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire
from Manic Street Preachers.
APPLAUSE
Greetings, gentlemen.
Marvellous to have you here. Great to see you both.
So you opened with Decline And Fall
from your upcoming album, Critical Thinking.
Yes.
What was the inspiration for that song?
Musically, there is a sample in there.
Which I kind of... Which I believe you created.
It was the drum machine from Cool For Cats, the Squeeze song.
Well, there you are! We've cleared the sample. Oh, thank you.
We owe you some money! Yeah, you will get the money!
I'll do it for a bit less for cash!
I've got some upstairs!
But Nicky gave me the lyric and I did an acoustic version.
I've always loved that song
and I've always loved the breakdown in the middle where it goes...
# Duh-duh-duh-duh. #
Which is your part, I believe.
I think that Glenn's synthesiser and then there's...
That's right, yeah. A bit of scat in there.
And I just used that as the rhythm for the acoustic and the vocal,
and kind of had the lyric off Nick.
But it's a great riff, as always.
You've been touring with Suede. Yes.
And how's that? Do you have a big frenzy after the shows?
Before the shows?!
No, no frenzies at all.
We're 55.
We are older gentleman, Jools.
And to be honest, we do have a kinship with them.
We have some kind of outsider kinship with them.
And we did back in the '90s and we still do have now.
I wouldn't say that either of us are party animals at all.
But it just feels so comfortable to tour with them.
And we do push each other as well.
You watch Suede, and you watch Brett, every night
and he's a very feral frontman.
So, you know, if you're going on second
and you watch him, that pushes you.
I mean, he's an amazing frontman, as are you. And is it right...?
It must be a great show because, is it right,
that, some nights, they go on first and some nights you go on first?
Yeah. I mean, we did the whole of America,
we've done Asia, we've done the UK.
There hasn't been a crossed word.
We alternate the headlining slots.
Sometimes it's good to go on first anyway, you know.
You're in bed earlier for a start!
LAUGHTER That's the spirit! Rock and roll!
Alongside the touring,
I understand that you've been having a clear out
of your attic and you found...
You've come up, like we all would, with some gold.
Some gold.
Well, my art O-Level project.
It was a portrait of Scritti Politti.
Simple Minds, Waterfront era.
But there were like...
I'd saved up around about 50
kind of Manic Street Preachers classic T-shirts from 1990 to 1995
and, if you go online now,
those kinds of T-shirts go for a grand a pop.
So I was up there expecting to find them
and my mum and dad had given them all away, every one of them.
They kept 15 roles of carpet with gravy and cider on!
You don't think your mum and dad
were actually the people who put them on eBay?
LAUGHTER
Actually, what do you do?
If you've got to clear stuff out, how do you do it?
Well, my wife is a librarian
so she went through all mine
and filed it and vacs packed it.
She was like super organised and...
Sent them back to the library!
I'm the kind of archivist of the band sort of thing,
so I've got everything in a lock-up, sort of mint.
Right, there you go.
And if you go to the studio,
Sean keeps about 30 snare drums there.
That's what drummers do. Lovely.
Underestimated that is. Yeah, I think so.
A collection of snare drums would be a lovely thing.
Also, you are a wonderful visual artist, Nicky.
In fact, I've got one of your pictures.
You've got an exhibition on in West Wales at the moment.
I have, in Narberth Museum, yeah.
It's just my deep-rooted obsession
and fascination with Polaroids and turning that into art.
They are great. It's just a real thrill for me.
I have to say, they really are... I think they're really great art.
Quite a lot of musicians do explore with the visual arts as well.
Do the two collide at some point for you? They do for me.
I think, you know, my two real...
I'm less interested in amps and guitars
than I am in lyrics and cameras.
You know, they are...
That's not to say I disrespect the bass.
But the visual arts and words are what come first with me really.
James, do you have another thing that you would do?
Well, after finding my O-Level art exams in the attic,
I understand why I didn't become a visual artist!
Erm... No, I kind of...
At the moment, I'm trying to learn different languages. Really?
Yes. Which one? I'm trying French at the moment.
That's great. I'm trying to keep my brain alive, Jools.
But I tell you what, if only somebody had said...
If somebody had said to me, the young me,
I would have said, "Learn French, learn German."
It's the most useful thing you can ever do. Yes. Yes, and also...
And you have got a French wife. Half French, yes.
What? She doesn't understand a word you've said yet! It's high time.
How long have you been married for, not speaking a word?!
If I want this kind of telling off, I'll go home, OK?
LAUGHTER
What are you going to be playing for us next?
It's a track called Hiding In Plain Sight,
which we've never really played before.
Which I sing on, so it's quite a daunting task.
Right, well, we're looking forward to it very much.
Thank you very much James and Nicky from the Manic Street Preachers.
APPLAUSE
Thank you so much. Great to see you. Great to see.
Lovely to see you. So...
Now, lovely to see them again.
And we welcome back this next artist to the show,
who first came on in 2016.
She now returns with a brand-new song.
She's from Denmark. We welcome MO.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Caught up in a feeling that I can't fight
# Oh, you know I like you
# Yeah, you're all right
# But I don't know what you're thinking
# Breaking into my life
# Cos I can't let, can't let you take over my mind
# Who said that?
# Who said I was going to love you
# Until the end of time, until the end of time?
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# Who said that?
# Who said I was going to love you
# Until the end of time, until the end of time?
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# You know I don't need you to buy me a diamond
# Diamond
# If I ever need it, I'll get it myself
# I'll get it myself
# Got to love a tryer
# Maybe some day I might
# But for now I can't let, can't let you take over my mind
# Who said that?
# Who said I was going to love you
# Until the end of time, until the end of time?
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# Who said that?
# Who said I was going to love you
# Until the end of time, until the end of time?
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# Who, who?
# Who said that?
# Who, who?
# Feel a change inside of me
# Here I am singing R'n'B to you
# Been trying to keep it away
# But I know I've got to close my eyes
# Don't be shy to be an ancient fool
# Maybe we'll make it through
# Who said I was going to love you
# I got other things to do as well
# Who said that?
# Who said I was going to love you
# Until the end of time, until the end of time?
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# Who said that?
# Who said I was going to love you
# Until the end of time, until the end of time?
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# Who, who?
# Who said that?
# Who, who?
# Who said that?
# Who, who? #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thanks, MO.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, I welcome, at the piano, the two original members
of the great funk band, Cymande.
And they have an extraordinary story to tell, so let's discover it.
We welcome Patrick and Steve.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Welcome to the show.
So this is...
I think this is the first time for the band
performing on British television as a band.
You've got an incredible story,
which was told in the documentary film
Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande.
But how does the story begin?
We met in Balham, south-west London.
Lived in the same street after coming to the United Kingdom.
Became friends, firm friends.
Three years later, we started to play music together.
And what sort of year was that?
HE MUMBLES
"1953"?
HE MUMBLES
I know that year!
Erm...
But the thing is that you started an amazing group, amazing music.
But lots of people were sampling you, weren't they?
Yeah. Yeah. We were being sampled a lot.
I think the first sample I heard was by De La Soul, I think it was.
And then there was Fugees. And you know, it was...
During the '80s and '90s,
there was a lot of sampling of the band that went on.
Were you still together as a band
when all this sampling was happening?
No. We stopped...
We came off the road briefly, 50 years briefly, in 1975.
We took a short break, we went to do other things
and it picked up during that period of time
that we had come off the road.
And of course, it was a lot of the big artists in America
that were sampling your music.
What was your response?
Well, we thought it was great, actually. At least, I did.
I thought it was fantastic that the music was being sampled.
Late, yes, because as you know we had quite big success in the States.
Erm...
So when the sampling started here in the UK as well,
you know, it was great.
It was kind of vindication, in a way,
for, you know, all the time that we'd put into the music
and what we'd done with the band.
It turns out everybody loved it.
But it's interesting the fact the Americans
were latching on to it more than they were here.
Why do you think that was that they loved your sound?
That's a very good question.
Original, unique, different.
Because it's a combination of jazz, funk, soul music.
And you don't normally get that mixed up together in one band.
So I think they liked that. Yeah.
But I think we also have to recognise
John Schroeder's part in that.
Because he had a lot of confidence and faith in what the band could do,
although he didn't get any reward here,
immediate reward, here in the UK.
Our first producer... Yeah. Yeah. ..was John.
Which song are you going to play at the end of the show for us?
The song we will do is called Bra
and it's probably the most sampled of our tracks.
Yeah.
I think because of the bassline, the fantastic bassline that he has.
Best funk song. Exactly.
Well, we'll look forward to hearing that at the end of the show.
In fact I think it's Sugarhill Gang, De La Soul,
you know, they've all sampled this one.
Fugees as well. Yeah.
No, that was Dove.
That was Dove, was it? That was Dove.
Well, it's great to have the originators here
of that great music.
And congratulations on its... You never know...
When you make something, you never know what its
future is going to be, do you?
Well, I hope that's right for the next album
because it's just about to come out.
We're looking forward to that. Will you be touring? Can we see you live?
Next year. Next year. February. We start off in the States.
The band still sounds so great so we'll look forward to seeing you.
Thank you for joining us. Steve and Patrick, thank you so much.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So, now, on another subject.
Let's just move on to something else.
The early blues, jazz and ragtime music of America
are the roots of really all popular music that we hear today.
Now, this next artist, in my opinion,
is one of the greatest exponents of that original style
in the world living today.
Please welcome Jerron Paxton.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Oh, look here, baby, what have I done
# That caused you to treat me so?
# You the cause of me to weep and you the cause of me to moan
# You the cause of me to lose my home
# Mm
# Mm-mm-mm-mm
# Oh, I wonder what's going to become of me
# Sometimes I wish I had not been born
# Or died when I was young
# I never would have seen your red rosy cheeks, baby
# Or heard your lying tongue
# You done told me more lies than the stars in the skies
# And you'll never get to heaven when you die, I swear
# You'll never get to heaven when you die
# Mm
# Lordy lord
# Oh, I wonder what's going to become of me
# Mm
# Well, I feel like jumping
# God knows, I do
# From the tree top to the ground
# The one say she love me and then had my child
# Say she don't want me around
# Oh Lordy me, oh Lordy my
# What's going to become of me?
# I'm about 900 miles from my wife and my child
# Wondering what's going to become of me
# Lordy, Lord, Lord
# Mm, have mercy
# Mm
# Oh, what's going to become of me?
# Well, you might as well go get you a hard-shooting pistol
# Come blow out my brains
# I'd rather be dead and in my grave
# Than to be in all this trouble I'm in
# I've been a hobo, I've been a bum
# If you get some cornbread, save me some
# Cos I ain't never been so hungry in my life, I swear
# I ain't never been so hungry in my life
# Lordy, Lordy, Lord
# Mm
# Have mercy
# Lord, what's going to become of me?
# Well, that graveyard you see over yonders hill
# Is a terrible old lonesome place
# They lay you down flat on your back
# Then they throw dirt in your face
# I done been to the east, they done brought me to the west
# I done been this whole wide world around
# There's only one place I have not been
# But might be there before the sun goes down
# Lordy, Lordy, Lord
# Mm
# Have mercy
# Lordy, Lordy, Lord
# I wonder what's going to become of me. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Jerron.
Jerron Paxton. How marvellous.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
We'll be discussing this
and playing a little bit more at the piano later in the show,
which we are looking forward to very much indeed.
Thank you, Jerron Paxton.
Next, a new artist with an incredible voice
who has supported the likes of Tems, Mahalia and SZA.
Performing Personal from her upcoming EP, Give Up The Fear,
please welcome Nia Smith.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Mm-mm
# Mm-mm-mm-mm
# Yeah
# You want to talk, but when I stand, you ain't ready for me
# Yeah
# You run your mouth, but you ain't down to go a round with me
# Yeah
# Fuck your pity party when it's all make-believe
# Yeah, yeah
# Sit yourself back down, don't you kiss your teeth
# It's all love until there's no love
# You don't got what I need
# It's all love until there's no love
# Move yourself from me
# Don't take it personal
# I won't take shit from you
# Don't take it personal
# Cos I won't take shit from you
# If I step out know it's cos I'm big mad
# You ain't got a hold on me
# If I step out, don't mean you're the big man,
# You never had a hold on me
# Don't take it personal
# Mm-mm-mm
# Yeah
# Company's too dead, I got to set it straight
# Yeah
# You stay running with that bag when I know it's fake
# I think it's better you leave me alone
# Or I'll say something I don't mean at all
# It's all love until there's no love
# You don't got what I need
# It's all love until there's no love
# Move yourself from me
# Don't take it personal
# I won't take shit from you
# Don't take it personal
# Cos I won't take shit from you
# If I step out know it's cos I'm big mad,
# You ain't got a hold on me
# If I step out, don't mean you're the big man
# You never had a hold on me
# Don't take it personal
# Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm
# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
# Don't take it personal
# Yeah, yeah, yeah
# No
# Yeah
# Mm-mm-mm. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Keep the curtains drawn all day
# The mirror is a trap that fails
# Saw a portrait of myself
# Made a promise to be kept
# Yes, the process sure is long
# But the time is very short
# Leave the traces far behind
# For the future ones to find
# Love's an added hate displayed
# Keep the curtains drawn all day
# The mirror is a trap that saves
# Or a debt that makes you pay
# See you hiding in plain sight
# And I want to be in love
# With the man I used to be
# In a decade I felt free
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
# Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
# And as I walk the soft parade
# See you standing in the rain
# Yes, I knew this thing would end
# I did not know where or when
# As I walk the soft parade
# Will you please take me back
# To the beach where I once ran
# With my toes dipped in the sand
# Love's an added hate displayed
# Keep the curtains drawn all day
# The mirror is a trap that saves
# Or a debt that makes you pay
# See you hiding in plain sight
# And I want to be in love
# With the man I used to be
# In a decade I felt free
# Love's an added hate displayed
# Keep the curtains drawn all day
# Love's an added hate displayed
# Keep the curtains drawn all day
# Love's an added hate displayed
# Keep the curtains drawn all day
# Love's an added hate displayed
# Keep the curtains drawn all day. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Wonderful to have them back. Manic Street Preachers. Thank you.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, you heard him slightly earlier on this show
with his amazing...
He's got a fantastic feel for this early music.
I'm now delighted to welcome, at the piano, Jerron Paxton.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Good to see you, buddy. Good to see you.
We've been having a lovely time this afternoon
because you really have a wonderful feel
and an understanding of this early music.
It's very... Where does that come from?
I think it comes from my family.
You know, I grew up hearing my grandmother
singing pretty little songs
when she'd work around the house.
And her mother was across the street,
so I bet before living memory of Big Mama
her mother would sing little things to me that just settled into you.
And then growing up, you hear the same things and they get recycled.
I hear just as much of the blues
as I do in Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye
than I do people like Lemon Jefferson and Son House.
Lemon Jefferson, how would you describe Lemon Jefferson's music?
Lemon Jefferson, he was kind of all over the place, you know.
Playing for a room full of Texans,
so he could play this lovely sparse music, but play it pretty loud.
You know, like that bad luck blues.
APPLAUSE
You know?!
And also, people should know, you're an amazing piano player.
I mean, really amazing. You can do all the stride pianists, ragtime,
and it all melds into one love for you, doesn't it?
All music is music, you know.
I don't care where it comes from, especially folk music.
Music that comes out of the ground.
It doesn't matter if you're from England, or Japan,
or Senegal, or Mississippi,
all that music that comes up out of the ground
is natural in a beautiful way
and I find this way of connecting to all the natural musics of the world.
You played a great blues song earlier.
I knew it by Arthur Crudup,
but you've got an earlier version, haven't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What's this one?
It's called The Night Time Is The Right Time by Mr Leroy Carr.
And has it ever been recorded? It has, but not by him.
Right, there we are.
Well, it is going to be by us now. There you go. We're there.
# Laying down in the evening
# Just can't take my rest
# Well, my mind gets to rambling
# Like them wild horses in the West
# Well, the night time is the right time
# To be with the one you love
# I got stones in my passway
# The road seems dark at night
# Got pains in my heart
# Taking my appetite
# The night time is the right time
# To be with the one you love... #
Show them how you play that piano, Big Daddy.
# Well, there's peaches on the table now
# And apples on the shelves
# You know that I'm tired of
# Sleeping by myself
# Well, the night time is the right time
# To be with the one you love
# Well, me and my baby
# Laying face-to-face... #
We'd better not talk about that too much!
# Well, we're doing our darndest now
# To increase our race
# Well, the night time is the right time
# To be with the one you love
# Don't you all sit up here
# Acting like no fool
# You all ought to be laying down now
# Listening to Jerron and Jools
# Well, the night time is the right time
# To be with the one you love
# With the one you love. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Awesome! Awesome!
My new best friend!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Jerron Paxton.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
So, thank you to all of my guests.
It's been a marvellous room full of marvellousness all around.
Thank you to all of the audience up there.
Thank you to all of the camera crew.
Thank you to everybody at home.
Next January, this band have a new album out,
but now we're going to hear their much sampled hit, Bra.
This, of course, is Cymande.
Thank you. Good evening.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Time has been lost in trying
# While we have been left outside
# Looking at passion dying
# While emotions grow strong in time
# But it's all right
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right
# We can still go on
# You know it's all right
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right
# We can still go on
# Now, they might have said we're lying
# But no matter how hard we try
# Those who have watched us crying
# They can figure our love has died
# But it's all right
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right
# Yeah
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right
# We can still go on
# Now, time has been lost for trying
# While we have been left outside, yeah
# Looking at passion dying
# While emotions grow strong in time
# But it's all right
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right
# We can still go on
# You know it's all right
# Yeah, we can still go on
# Yes, it's all right
# We can still go on
# I said it's all right. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Until the end of time, until the end of time
# Boy, who said you're the only one for me?
# Who, who?
# Who said that?
# Who, who?
# Who said you're the only one for me?
# Who, who?
# Who said that?
# Who, who? #