
The Whole Nine Yards Episode 259
With Roy Stannard
On Mid Sussex Radio 103.8FM
Sunday 11th January 2026 3-5pm
www.midsussexradio.co.uk/listen
The Promise
Today’s show is built around a simple idea that’s anything but simple: the promise.
We make them lightly when we’re young, more carefully as we grow older, and sometimes with trembling hands when life has roughed us up. Promises are supposed to be for life – vows we stitch into the fabric of who we are. They hold us together, guide us forward, and remind us of the people we once said we’d be.
But when a promise breaks sometimes we do too. And yet – and this is the beautiful, crazy, hopeful part – we keep making them anyway. Because to promise is to believe in tomorrow. To believe in each other. To believe in ourselves, even when we’re not entirely sure we should.
So across the next couple of hours, the music will explore the vows we keep, the ones we lose, and the ones that change us. We’ll listen out for the promise of safety, and when that’s gone, the quiet courage of trying again.
Hour One
Beverley Craven – Promise Me (Beverley Craven 1990)
Anna Pancaldi – Promise We’ll Never Grow Old (Black Tears EP, 2015)
Broken Records – A Promise (Until the Earth Begins to Part, 2009)
Cock Robin – The Promise You Made (Cock Robin, 1985)
Ben Howard – Promise (Every Kingdom, 2011)
Big Thief – Promise Is a Pendulum (Dragon New Warm Mountain…, 2022)
Marine Girls – Promises (Beach Party, 1981)
Fiona Apple – Never Is a Promise (Tidal, 1996)
Tim Hardin – Don’t Make Promises (Tim Hardin 1966)
Tracy Chapman – The Promise (2015 Remaster) (New Beginning 1995)
Villagers – Ship of Promises (Becoming a Jackal, 2010)
The Laughing Chimes – A Promise to Keep (Whispers in the Speech Machine, 2025)
Hour Two
The Farmer’s Boys – A Promise You Can’t Keep (Get Out and Walk, 1983)
Brian Mackey – Promise Me (Promise Me, 2019)
Jess Glynne – Promise Me (Jess, 2024)
D’Influence feat. Shola Ama – This I Promise You (40 Soulful Grooves, 2002)
Jhene Aiko – Promises (Souled Out, 2014)
Naked Eyes – Promises, Promises (Burning Bridges, 1983)
Nick Kamen – I Promised Myself (Move Until We Fly, 1990)
Radiohead – I Promise (OK Computer OKNOTOK, 2017)
Icehouse – No Promises (Measure for Measure, 1986)
The Boxer Rebellion – Promises (Promises, 2013)
When in Rome – The Promise (When in Rome, 1988)
Haevn – Promise (Symphonic Version) (Promise Single, 2026)