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Sara Cox sits in for Chris Evans and kicks off Radio 2's Elvis v the Beatles countdown of the Top 50 best-selling songs in the UK. Plus Strictly Mum Dancing.

Sara Cox kicks off a Bank Holiday special Elvis Vs The Beatles countdown of the Top 50 best-selling songs in the UK and there's a return of Strictly Mum Dancing! The countdown concludes a weekend of Radio 2's marking of the 50th anniversary of a momentous meeting between Elvis Presley and the young pretenders of pop, The Beatles!

2 hours, 59 minutes

Last on

Mon 31 Aug 2015 06:30
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2

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Music Played

  • Stacy Lattisaw

    Jump To The Beat

    • Let Me Be Your Angel.
    • BBR.
    • 009.

  • Ward Thomas

    Guest List

    • (CD Single).
    • WTW Music.
    • 001.

  • Bobby Brown

    Two Can Play That Game

    • Now 30 (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • James Brown

    Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

    • Originals 2 (Various Artists).
    • Columbia.

  • Jamiroquai

    Little L

    • (CD Single).
    • Sony.

  • Steely Dan

    Reelin' In The Years

    • A Decade Of Steely Dan.
    • MCA.

  • Billy Idol

    White Wedding

    • Rip It Up (Various Artists).
    • EMI.

  • Leona Lewis

    I Am

    • (CD Single).
    • Island.

  • Jennifer Paige

    Crush

    • Woman (Various Artists).
    • Polygram Tv/Sony Tv.

  • Vanilla Ice

    Ice Ice Baby

    • Vanilla Ice - To The Extreme.
    • Sbk.

  • Duran Duran

    Pressure Off (feat. Janelle Monáe & Nile Rodgers)

  • Badly Drawn Boy

    All Possibilities

    • (CD Single).
    • Twisted Nerve.

  • Steve Miller Band

    Fly Like An Eagle

    • The Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-78.
    • Capitol Records.

  • Carly Rae Jepsen

    Call Me Maybe

    • (CD Single).
    • Interscope.

  • Elvis Presley

    Suspicion

    • Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    Drive My Car

    • 1962-1966.
    • Apple.
    • 1.

  • Elvis Presley

    The Promised Land

    • Elvis 75.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

    • The White Album.
    • Parlophone.
    • 4.

  • Elvis Presley

    I Just Can't Help Believing

    • Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

  • Elvis Presley

    Love Letters

    • Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    Eight Days A Week

  • Elvis Presley

    There Goes My Everything

    • The King.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    Revolution

    • 1967-1970.
    • Apple.
    • 8.

  • Elvis Presley

    Blue Suede Shoes

    • Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

    • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
    • Parlophone.
    • 1.

  • Elvis Presley

    The Girl of My Best Friend

    • Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    All My Loving

    • 1962-1966.
    • Apple.
    • 3.

  • Elvis Presley

    If I Can Dream

    • Presley - The All Time Greatest Hits.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    And I Love Her

    • 1962-1966.
    • Apple.
    • 5.

  • Elvis Presley

    Until It's Time For You To Go

    • Elvis 75.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

    • 1962-1966.
    • Apple.
    • 2.

  • Elvis Presley

    My Way

    • The King.
    • RCA.

  • The Beatles

    When I'm Sixty-Four

    • Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
    • Apple.
    • 9.

  • Elvis Presley

    It Won't Seem Like Christmas Without You

    • IF EVERY DAY WAS LIKE CHRISTMAS.
    • Sony BMG.

  • The Beatles

    The Long and Winding Road

    • The Beatles - 1.
    • Apple.
    • 027.

Pause For Thought

Pause For Thought

From Rev Ruth Scott, Anglican Vicar in Richmond:

Elvis and the Beatles share the dubious honour of having had their music destroyed by Christian groups in the States who disapproved of them. As a seeker after truth, Elvis embraced ways of thinking and being which didn’t sit easily with his fundamentalist, evangelical upbringing. He explored many Eastern as well as Western religions and philosophies. Like Elvis, the Beatles also engaged, albeit for 3 of them a limited time, with Eastern spirituality, moving away from their own Catholic or Protestant roots. John Lennon fuelled controversy further when he suggested the Beatles were ‘more popular than Jesus’ - not that Jesus was ever interested in the popularity stakes. Disapproval of the musicians resulted in their records being burned, threats being made against them, and radio stations refusing to play their songs. Then as now, it seems, humans find it hard to live together with sometimes incompatible ways of seeing, being and believing. A more extreme example can be seen today in the Middle East where ISIS is destroying people, and places like ancient Palmyra, that don’t fit what its adherents believe to be acceptable. And here in the West our inhumane treatment of refugees highlights our own struggle to make room for those we think are ‘not like us’. My favourite Beatles track, ‘Come Together’, encourages folk to unite despite their conflicting differences. Yet in the words of an Elvis hit, this may be an ‘impossible dream’. Given that many of us, like him, fail even to hold together personal inner conflicts of identity, getting things right nationally and internationally is perhaps beyond us. But that isn’t a reason not to work at it. As Elvis sang in the final verse of ‘The Impossible Dream’: And the world would be better for this/That one man scorned and covered with scars/Still strove with his last ounce of courage/To reach the unreachable star.

Broadcast

  • Mon 31 Aug 2015 06:30
    Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2

Farewell Chris Evans: The best bits from his last shows at Radio 2

After eight years of hosting the Breakfast Show, Chris Evans leaves Radio 2.

500 Words

Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 2's story-writing competition for kids.