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The Shift with Sam Baker

Tracey Thorn on being a woman in a bloke's world, hormones and going "statement grey" - THE SHIFT REVISITED

The Shift with Sam Baker

Sam Baker Ltd

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.8525 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This conversation with legendary musician Tracey Thorn from one of The Shift's very early seasons is one of my very favourites. Back then covid was still a thing and these chats on zoom with incredible women were my life rafts. Anyway, we're revisiting Tracey because by the time you listen to this episode, Everything But The Girl will have very tentatively put their toe back on the stage at a couple of very small gigs in London. I'm not getting my hopes up too much (as I know Tracey doesn't loooove live performing, however, Tracey if you happen to read this, I know there are thousands and thousands of fans hungry for a tour...) The orginal show notes: Like many 80s kids, I grew up with today’s guest. Tracey Thorn started early, forming The Marine Girls (once described as looking like they would “break your arm before they’d let you break their hearts”), while still at school, and Everything But The Girl, with her musical and life partner Ben Watt, whilst at university. Since then she’s released three solo albums, three critically acclaimed memoirs - and had three children.  Her fourth book - My Rock’n’Roll Friend - about her 37 year on-off friendship with Lindy Morrison (drummer of Australian band The Go-Betweens) is my favourite yet. Tracey talks success, power, the “constant slog” of making women’s voices heard and why equality is a numbers game. She also tells us why menopause made her feel like she’d gone mad, the painful-but-liberating process of ageing and what to do about your statement hair going grey (asking for a friend!). * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org, including My Rock'n'roll Friend by Tracey Thorn and the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on buymeacoffee.com. • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com • The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Production. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Hannah from the Standard Issue podcast. Join us every Wednesday for rated or dated.

0:05.3

Well, we watch a famous or sometimes infamous film to see whether or not it has stood the test of time.

0:11.7

This week, we watched The Birds, Pretty Woman, Flash Dance, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Casablanca, Rosary's Baby.

0:20.5

It's the 18s in a film, isn't it? None of thieves. Casablanca. Rosemary's baby. It's the 18s in a film, isn't it?

0:23.1

None of this makes any sense.

0:26.8

It's like putting on the comfiest pair of pajamas.

0:30.7

She's like, oh, what could that be?

0:32.7

Oh, what do you think it is?

0:33.8

It's loads of birds.

0:35.1

And they naturally live happily ever after.

0:38.0

Do they?

0:39.3

It's quite a feminist parable.

0:41.0

Terribly, terribly dated, but I did have a nice time watching it.

0:43.8

Absolutely 100% dated.

0:46.1

A triumvirate of rated.

0:47.9

A lot of results.

0:49.1

You can listen to standard issues rated or dated wherever it is you listen to your podcast.

0:54.1

And make sure you follow us to find out what we do on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

0:59.7

Spoiler alert, it's a lot.

1:08.0

Hello and welcome to The Shift, the podcast that aims to tell the no-holds-barred truth about being a woman post-40,

1:15.0

created and hosted by me, journalist and author Sam Baker.

1:18.8

Like many 80s kids, I grew up with today's guest.

...

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