On Wednesday 23rd in The Caves, Gavin Inglis welcomed some of the cream of Edinburgh’s spoken word performers to pay homage to the master of the lyric stripped bare of its musical adornments – William Shatner. Have a listen to how they get on. Do the lyrics survive without the music? You decide…

Gavin Inglis reads ‘The Queen and the Soldier’ by Suzanne Vega

Our compere Gavin starts with a song that be believes has everything in it that a good story should have.

Alison Summers reads ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’ by Peter Sarstedt

Alison’s song was a number one in 1969 when she was at an impressionable age and this song encapsulates most of her aspirations at the time.

Kirsty Neary reads ‘Climbing Up The Walls’ by Radiohead

Kirsty’s song was probably one of the first creepy songs she heard – it came out when she was ten. It really got under her skin.

Laura Hainey reads ‘A Town Called Malice’ by The Jam

Laura has picked a song that she likes dancing to – but she’d never really properly listened to the lyrics until now.

Colin Fraser reads ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua

Colin picks a “seminal political text” from 1997 which embodies the naive optimism of the first months of the Blair administration.

Rob A. Mackenzie reads ‘Jacky’ by Jacques Brel

Rob got into Jacques Brel via Scott Walker and believes this song is better in its translated Walker version than its original.

Roland Gulliver reads ‘Political Science’ by Randy Newman

Roland chooses a song about how the world we live in is due to our whims and mercies and desires, all packed into two minutes of show tunes.

Morgan Downie reads ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

Morgan picks the song most associated with the vocal talents of William Alan Shatner.

Rosie Phenix-Walker reads ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’ by George Formby

Rosie dedicates this song to her grandparents, who recently discovered you can find a lot of classic tunes on YouTube.

Ali Maloney reads ‘Communication’ by Mario Piu

Occasionally a song changes everything. Ali reads the first masterpiece of existential literature for the digital generation.

Neil Williamson reads ‘Come Down In Time’ by Elton John and Bernie Taupin

Neil’s choice is typical of the huge amount of fun and naivety in the lyrics of Elton John’s early songs.

Judith Miller reads ‘Our Mutual Friend’ by The Divine Comedy

Judith has picked a fantastic story set to music.

Gavin Inglis (Reprise) reads ‘I’ve Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear’ by Ballboy

Gavin’s second choice of the evening is one he thinks really works without music and features a rather excellent Shatner impression towards the end.

Jane McKie reads ‘Big Ship’ by Cardiacs

Jane’s choice is wild, complex, beautiful – sometimes it makes her think of noises from a foundry filtered through a carousel.

Michael Pedersen reads ‘Effervescing Elephant’ by Syd Barrett

Michael quite likes elephants and this song features elephants.

Andrew C. Ferguson reads ‘Visions of Johanna’ by Bob Dylan

Andrew picked a song Dylan wrote while two-timing his future wife Sara with Joan Baez.

Gillian Tasker reads ‘Neverland’ by The Knife

Gillian’s choice is based on a reference to Peter Pan and for her it is like an adult version of that text.

Mark Harding reads ‘Backwater’ by Brian Eno

Mark had planned to deliver his through interpretative dance, which doesn’t quite come across without the pictures.

Sian Bevan reads ‘We Are The Champions’ by Queen

Sian realised that the lyrics to this song are quite melancholy, so she filters them through a sergeant-major called Roger.

Anita Govan reads ‘I’m The Slime’ by Frank Zappa

Anita chose her artist based on an interview she saw on YouTube with him. She’s never actually heard the song.

Andrew J. Wilson reads ‘We Call Upon The Author’ by Nick Cave

Andrew knew his song would have to be from Nick Cave, a writer he really admires.

Fiona Lindsay reads ‘Tell Me There’s A Heaven’ by Chris Rea

Fiona has learned a lot from this exercise in words without music – and this was a song that had perhaps a hitherto now unacknowledged influence on her.

Craig Senior reads ‘Midget’ by Dead Cat Bounce

Craig tends to think the right thinks for the wrong reasons. This song lets him know that there are other people who think the way he does.

YAJ reads ‘Cows With Guns’ by Dana Lyon

YAJ’s song comes from a period when there was a wave of revolution in the air.

Peggy Hughes reads ‘Copacabana’ by Barry Manilow

Peggy summons a woman from Belfast to help her read this classic yet surprisingly melancholy Barry Manilow song.

Nick-e Melville reads ‘The Queen Is Dead’ by The Smiths

Nick-e loves Morrissey’s structures and wanted to emphasise his humour, something he thinks people often forget.

Stephen Barnaby reads ‘Rasputin’ by Boney M

Stephen delivers a lecture from the collected works of Dr Bobby Farrell. This song is a sometimes overlooked yet extremely important text on Russian disco-ology. Steven uses a number of illustrations, one of which can be seen above.