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These are the songs that have beenlistened to, laughed to, loved to, and labored to, as well as downed tools and danced to. Covering the last seven decades, Stuart Maconie looks at the songs that have been the soundtracks forchanging times, and have just sometimes changed the way listeners feel. Beginning with Vera Lynn s "We ll Meet Again," a song that reassured a nation parted from their loved ones by the turmoil of war, and culminating with the manic energy of "Bonkers," Dizzee Rascal s anthem for the push and rush of the 21st century inner city, "The People s Songs" takes a tour ofthe UK'spop music, and asks what it means to a Briton.The story of modern Britain is told chronologically over 50 chapters, through the records that listened to and loved during the dramatic and kaleidoscopic period from World War IIto the present day. This is not a rock critique about the 50 greatest tracks ever recorded. Rather, it is a celebration of songs that tell us something about how Britons have felt about things in their lives down the eras work, war, class, leisure, race, family, drugs, sex, patriotism, and more. In times of prosperity or poverty, this is the music that inspired haircuts and dance crazes, but also protest and social change. The companion to Stuart Maconie s landmark Radio 2 series, "The People s Songs" shows the power of "cheap" pop music, one of Britain s greatest exports. These are the songs people have worked to and partied to, and grown up and grown old to from "A Whiter Shade of Pale" to "Rehab," "She Loves You" to "Star Man," and"Dedicated Follower of Fashion" to "Radio Ga Ga."