Ducan Belcher

Hi, I’m Duncan Belcher, presenter of The Power of Music on Cirencester Radio, the show that encourages you all to start a playlist of the memorable songs that form the soundtrack of your life.

One of the favourite sections of my show is ‘The Song is the Story’ where I feature a song that takes actual events and translates them into a song.

Many well-known artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have written these types of songs, but I want to highlight four British songwriters who have also written great story songs and feature regularly on my show.

September 2026 (image above Steve Knightly)

Steve Knightley, who was one of the well-known folk duo Show of Hands has written about The Wreck of the Napoli off the Devon coast in 2007 and the looting that took place. (The Napoli), The emigration of hundreds of Cornish miners when the Cornish mining industry went into decline in the 19^th century (Cousin Jack) and the act of petty criminals being transported to Australia in 1803, relating it to Modern sheep stealers (Transported).

 Welsh singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph has written great songs about Nye Bevan and the forming of the NHS in 1948 (Nye), the very Welsh connection of Hollywood star Paul Robeson during the early 20^th century (Proud Valley Boy), and the sad tale of Dic Penderyn who was wrongly hanged for his part in the Merthyr riot in 1831 (Dic Penderyn).

Ralph McTell who you probably know as the writer of the classic Streets of London has written songs about the trial and hanging of Derek Bentley in 1953 and his posthumous pardon in 1993 (Bentley & Craig), a song about the death of protest marcher Blair Peach in police custody in 1979 (Water of Dreams) and the story of the iconic album cover of Bob Dylan’s 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (West 4^th Street and Jones).

Sheffield-based Martin Simpson has written two songs about the events at Slapton Sands in Devon when, during exercises before the D-Day landings in 1944, over 700 US soldiers were killed (Dark Swift and Bright Swallow and Ken Small), and he has also written a heroic but sad tale of a North East soldier and his donkey on the beaches at Gallipoli in the First World War (Jackie and Murphy).

I have had the privilege of seeing all four artists in concert, and they always introduce these songs with a detailed explanation of the subject matter. I took this photo of Steve Knightley performing Cousin Jack at this year’s Gate to Southwell Festival.

If you have never heard these songs and want to know more about the stories, tune in to my two September shows when they will all be played. These will be broadcast at the usual times and then on Listen Again at www.cirencesterradio.co.uk, where you can also listen to all my past shows.

Music always has the power to move you, entertain you, and, in this case, educate you.

My show is broadcast at 6 pm on Monday and repeated at 8 am on Saturday

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