Summary
Josie Long presents short documentaries about the writers and musicians whose words help us navigate the difficult moments in our lives.
From James Baldwin to Adrienne Rich, the lyrics of Jimmie Rodgers to a new poem by Axel Kacoutié.
* James Baldwin in conversation with Studs Terkel Originally broadcast in 1961 Courtesy of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive
* For george, breonna, ahmaud, and christian Produced by James T. Green Originally made for the podcast u+1f60c
* Dedications Featuring Mary Jean Chan Produced by Alia Cassam Featuring recordings of Adrienne Rich from the audio archives of the public radio show, New Letters on the Air, a production of New Letters magazine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
* The Watertank Featuring Damian Le Bas Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
* You Got Through the Day Produced by Axel Kacoutié
Production team: Andrea Rangecroft and Alia Cassam Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2020.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello, welcome to Shortcuts podcast. I'm Jacey Lung. I hope you're well, I hope you're okay. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm recording this in my bespoke audio studio, which is also known as my living room, whilst my daughter has a nap. |
| 0:19.0 | Today's episode is about how the words of others can reach out to you and find you. |
| 0:24.8 | It's about other people's voices giving consolation and fuel for people to keep going. |
| 0:31.0 | The first voice you're going to hear is that of the writer James Baldwin. |
| 0:36.3 | Most of us no matter what we say are walking in the dark, whistling in the |
| 0:40.8 | dark. If you can examine and face your life, you can discover the terms in which you're connected |
| 0:47.0 | to other lives. And they can discover, too, the terms of which they're connected to other people. |
| 0:52.5 | Art will not be important if life were not more important. |
| 0:56.2 | Now, it is true that the nature of society has to be, you know, |
| 1:00.0 | to create among its citizens an illusion of safety. |
| 1:03.5 | But it's also absolutely true that the safety is always necessarily an illusion, |
| 1:07.5 | and artists are here to disturb the peace. |
| 1:20.6 | Thank you. illusion and artists are here to disturb the peace. This is Shortcuts, Brief Encounters, True Stories, Radio Adventures, radio adventures and found sound. |
| 1:31.3 | Today, words to live by. |
| 1:39.3 | You go through the day, and that's enough. |
| 1:46.5 | What kind of beast would turn its life into words? |
| 1:50.9 | What atonement is this all about? |
| 1:53.9 | And yet, writing words like these, I'm also living. |
| 2:01.3 | This is here because of you. |
| 2:03.7 | I was able to write and live the life I wanted to live because of you. |
... |
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