Good programme, must listen to the B side - let's hope there are some questioners who don't relapse into worshipful burblings confronted by Richard!

Re Chris B's points, the earlier songs are certainly often more economical. But "Beeswing" and "Black Lightning" are modern takes on the ballad form - ballads usually contain specific detail. And these songs do work - after all they're practically traditional songs by now ("And down to Knoxville they did ride" - has some guy in the US recorded that version yet?)

Richard tells stories from a character's viewpoint, and he's not preaching from some pulpit or other. They are stories, not biographies. OK there are some polemics like "Mother Knows Best" but he wasn't having a go at women - he didn't like the situation in his home country at the time he wrote it. To misquote a famous remark (by Peter Cook?) "It's not that I'm against female Prime Ministers, just THAT female Prime Minister".

Anyway, I've sat at his feet (sometimes literally) for nearly fifty years now and will continue so to do. Amen.