In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are musing about a muse: Marianne Ihlen, who inspired Leonard Cohen to write many of his most famous songs, such as Bird On A Wire and So Long, Marianne. Their relationship inspired Nick Broomfield's documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, which in turn inspired Dan/Bastille's song Leonard & Marianne, which you can listen to here: https://bastille.lnk.to/Leonard

Emma and Dan are delighted to be joined in the studio by Nick himself, who explains how he first came to meet Marianne on the Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s, how he looks back on that community and that time, and how the Archbishop of Canterbury was (indirectly) responsible for his first-ever acid trip. Emma also catches up with Dan's homework, and instead of taking a deep dive into Dan's song, she takes a deep dive into the idea of muses, while Dan explains how the song evolved from a belter of a party piece to the more intimate, Billie Eilish-inspired version you can hear on the album.

You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersannd.bastillebastille.com.

Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.

Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.

Cover design by Chris Barker.

Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.

Recorded at Plosive Studios.

Mixed by Miles Wheway.

Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.

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