Ft Life Of A Song

From a heavy metal hit to its use in the Abu Ghraib tortures, Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ strikes some sinister chords with Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. Credit: Elektra  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From Billy Paul’s adulterous original in 1972 to Amy Winehouse's gender-bending twist on the song 30 years later, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney gets to grips with 'Me and Mrs Jones'. Credits:Philadelphia International, 143, Island  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ludovic Hunter-Tilney reveals the Old Testament legacy in popular music: from Robbie Williams' 'Kiss me' to Perry Como's 'Song of Songs' and Kate Bush's 'The Song of Solomon'. Credits:Chrysalis, Noble And Brite, RCA Victor  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ludovic Hunter-Tilney uncovers the back story of Vanilla Ice’s hit Ice Ice Baby. Credits:Ultra, EMI  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Cheal tells the tale of the Burt Bacharach penned classic 'I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself', from the 1964 soul of Dusty Springfield to its 2001 raw-rock treatment by The White Stripes. Credits: Philips, Stiff, Elephant  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Cheal traces the journey of ‘Guantanamera’, from a 19th-century Cuban national hero to a 21st-century recycling campaign, via Celia Cruz and the peace movement of the 1960s. Credits: RCA Victor, Bravo Hit, Universal Music AB, Columbia  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Cheal tells the story of Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore’, through covers by Nina Simone, The Tamlins and Billy Mackenzie. Credits: CTI, Warner Bros., EMI  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The anarchist and anthropologist David Graeber discusses both the stupidity and secret joys of bureaucracy with the FT's Martin Sandbu and Lucy Kellaway  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Life of a Song: David Cheal follows the fortunes of Neil Diamond’s ‘I’m a Believer’, from The Monkees to Robert Wyatt to the movie 'Shrek'. Credits: Colgems, Virgin, Interscope, Sony Music  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From recordings by Memphis Minnie and Led Zeppelin to sampling by Dr Dre, Eminem and Massive Attack, David Cheal traces the various incarnations of ‘When the Levee Breaks’. Credits: Columbia, Atlantic, The Chronic Interscope  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the first of a new series, David Cheal looks at the song covered by artists from Brenda Lee to Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson to the Pet Shop Boys Credits: Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Sony BMG  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Greek culture taught the rest of us how to live ‑ and it’s not time to write off that particular debt yet, says Peter Aspden  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As two recent biopics come under fire from those depicted, the FT’s arts editor ponders what compels movie-makers to embellish ‘true stories’  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Belgian artist has been found guilty of plagiarism. But intellectual property law is a poor fit with contemporary art's mash-ups, multiples and reworkings, says the FT's arts editor  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Peter Aspden visits the basement treasure-house where recordings of Florence Nightingale, 1940s electronica and other rarities are stored alongside some equally exotic audio technology  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Politicians love to keep things simple, at least in their public pronouncements. Artists, by contrast, embrace complication, nuance and imagination – so who better to tackle slippery questions of national identity as the UK prepares for a general election?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Between 1962 and 1972, the magazine set new standards for its industry – and in doing so created the perfect collectible, says Peter Aspden  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

'Ambition', by the award-winning author Helen Simpson, is read by Christopher Villiers.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The London venue’s exhibition of Presley memorabilia is curious mix of the banal and the resplendent – and none the worse for that, says the FT’s arts writer  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In lending one of its Parthenon sculptures to Russia, the British Museum has provoked Greece and exposed the hollowness of so-called ‘cultural diplomacy’  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.