BBC Coventry and Warwickshire sing a song about a road

By James Cridland for media.info
Posted 3 September 2014, 6.10pm bst

The Coventry Telegraph is reporting that BBC C&W presenter Shane O'Connor is one of the stars recording a new song in praise of the Coventry ring road.

The ring road celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and according to a doubtless scientific poll run by the station and the local paper, it transpired that locals quite like it.

The "supergroup" recording the record includes two members of The Specials ("Ghost Town"), as well as other local bands. The report says that Ghost Town was inspired by Coventry, which is possibly a fact you may not have known.

The song is a cover of "Let's Go Round Again" by the Average White Band. Rejected were "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads, "Road to Hell" by Chris Rea, and that song by It's Immaterial that mentioned the M62 a lot.

The track was recorded in Leamington's Woodbine Studios, the only studios in the world named after a cigarette brand. If you ignore the Silk Cut studios in Hanley, and the not entirely believable Marlboro White Menthol studios in Hull.

You are probably thinking this story is entirely made up now, but it isn't: here is the track itself and they've just filmed a video starring BBC C&W listeners.

Here's a much more serious report about it in the Coventry Telegraph.

(In all seriousness, the whole reason why I think it is a little silly is the genius of this: a proper local story, involving listeners and local celebrities. And the track isn't bad, either. The station, and the newspaper, should be congratulated.)