SongLink Scores a Hit at London Songwriters Week

SONGLINK SCORES A HIT AT LONDON SONGWRITERS WEEK

L-R: Glen Matlock, Chris Difford, Jim Diamond, David Stark

On the eve of today's Ivor Novello Awards, three iconic British songwriters gathered at London's Gibson Studio yesterday to play and talk about their hits at a London Songwriters Week event hosted by SongLink editor David Stark. "Stories Behind The Songs" featured Chris Difford (Squeeze), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Scottish legend Jim Diamond playing "in the round" Nashville-style and telling the stories behind some of their biggest successes, playing acoustic versions of the hits An audience of young up-and-coming songwriters eager to get into the business was treated to an outstanding masterclass in songwriting and performance, with some revealing and often hilarious anecdotes about the songs provided by their creators.

The 90-minute "chat'n'strum" set included Chris Difford playing Squeeze classics "Take Me I'm Yours," "Cool For Cats" and solo hit "Cowboys Are My Weakness", while Glen Matlock sang a dynamite version of "Pretty Vacant" as well as "Ambition", recorded by Iggy Pop. Jim Diamond played 80's hit "I Won't Let You Down", recorded by his band Phd who have recently re-formed, plus solo hit "Hi Ho Silver" before closing the show in tear-jerking style with "Should Have Known Better." The event was part of the second annual London Songwriters Week which coincides with the Ivor Novello Awards - at last year's Ivors Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook won the award for "Outstanding Song Collection" for their work with Squeeze.