After only a cursory nod to the impending New Year, with just three songs about the end of the year, the last Capital Radio of the year turned its attention to nearly 50 people in the music world who died in 2025.
The roster included such big influences as Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, David Johansen, Todd Snider, Jerry Butler and Terry Reid. There were million-sellers and two Michigan singers with similar names, Franke and Francke.
To try to accommodate as many tributes as possible, some tracks would featured two artists (Sam Moore and Steve Cropper; Raul Malo and Flaco Jiménez, Joe Ely and Sonny Curtis) were represented in single songs.
The audio links to the archived show are above. It was split into two as a way to get the Cygnus website to accept the files — it didn’t work. The setlist follows:
Capital Radio. December 29, 2025. 1:4:45 p.m. www.cygnusradio.com
- “Capital Radio Two,” The Clash
- “A Long December,” Counting Crows
- “What a Year for a New Year,” Dan Wilson
- “New Year’s Eve,” Tom Waits
- “Sister Morphine,” Marianne Faithfull
- “Brown Sugar,” D’Angelo
- “If You Want Me To Stay,” Sly & The Family Stone
- “Our Prayer,” The Beach Boys
- “Surf’s Up,” The Beach Boys
- “Soul Man,” Sam & Dave
- “Coffey is the Color,” Roy Ayers
- “Chest Fever,” The Band
- “Making Love,” Roberta Flack
- “All in Love is Fair,” Cleo Laine
- “Gimme Little Sign,” Brenton Wood
- “Everlasting Love,” Carl Carlton
- “It’s a Love Thing,” The Whispers
- “Groovin’ is Easy [live],” Electric Flag
- “Subway Train,” New York Dolls
- “Ay Qué Rico,” Eddie Palmier
- “Whispering,” Nino Tempo & April Stevens
- “Cold is the Night,” Joe Louis Walker
- “The Harder They Come,” Jimmy Cliff
- “Bloody Well Right,” Supertramp
- “Rock and Roll, Hoochy Koo,” Rick Derringer
- “Rhapsody in the Rain,” Lou Christie
- “Little Woman,” Bobby Sherman
- “Light Flight,” Pentangle
- “Since I Fell for You,” Lenny Welch
- “A Christmas Carol,” Tom Lehrer
- “The Saddest Day of the Year,” Jill Sobule
- “Driving Home for Christmas,” Chris Rea
- “A Little Bit O’Soul,” The Music Explosion
- “Bonnie and Clyde,” Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot
- “Friday I’m in Love,” The Cure
- “Stand,” The Alarm
- “Dreaming,” Blondie
- “Darkness, Darkness,” The Youngbloods
- “Like a Force of Nature,” Todd Snider with Jason Isbell
- “All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down,” The Mavericks featuring Flaco Jiménez
- “I Fought the Law,” Joe Ely
- “For Real,” Bob Franke
- “Summer Soldier (Holler If Ya Hear Me),” Stewart Francke
- “You Baby,” The Turtles
- “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight?” Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
- “Paranoid,” Black Sabbath
- “Ready for Love / After Lights,” Mott the Hoople
- “Rich Kid Blues,” Terry Reid
- “Thorn Tree in the Garden,” Derek & The Dominos
- “Don’t Stop the Music,” Yarbrough and Peoples
Capital Radio returns Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. ET until after 4 on www.cygnusradio.com, where this and other recent shows are posted. The show can also be heard via the cygnusradio.com app, available free at iTunes or GooglePlay. Older shows are available at Substack.com/@rogercatlin.