The Song I Wish I'd Written: Dave Grohl, CMAT, Beck and more on tracks they'd like to have penned

This week 6 Music is celebrating poetry, songwriting and lyricism, and looks back at some of the songs interviewees wish that they had written themselves.

Craig Charles heads up 6 Music’s Way With Words, a special day of programming on National Poetry Day (1st October), with reflections all week in the build up.

Across the week, there's discussion of lyrics, poetry and writing processes from Gurriers, Questlove, Jill Scott, Elvis Costello, Rupi Kaur, Joe Talbot (Idles), and more, plus John Cooper Clarke and Mike Garry are going up against each other in a Fight Club. A poet himself, Craig will be sharing a new poem and video on National Poetry Day dedicated to Liverpool.

In celebration, we are taking a look back at some of the best moments from Huw Stephens' regular 'Song I Wish I'd Written' feature, where he asks artists to highlight a track that they feel epitomises the craft of songwriting. Listen all week to Huw's show for new guests sharing the songs that inspire them, and read on for stories from Dave Grohl, Beck, CMAT, and more.

"This one goes out to the one I love"

Dave: I was a huge R.E.M. fan when I was young, from their first record on. And I was listening to this song and I'm like, “Wait - there's only five lyrics in this whole song.”

It's like: “This one goes out to the one I love. This one goes out to the one I left behind. A simple prop to occupy my time. This one goes out to the one I love.” That's all the song says.

And it's such a beautiful [song], it's an anthem. And the simplicity of that, it's really only like five chords or something like that. I wish I could write something that simple and have it turn out to be something so beautiful.

"Lonely as hell, feet on the ground
What I want is on my mind"

CMAT: I don't think any record has really floored me as much as Cameron’s solo record in a very long time. And specifically this song, which is the breakout song.

The thing I wish I had the ability to do was write a love song. First of all, in general, I've never written a love song and I'm really working on it because I think I should be able to. But another aspect of it is how nuanced and specific this love song is.

And it's not entirely sweet, it's not entirely saccharine, he really does a very good job of illustrating the pain and the difficulty that falling in love very deeply can bring into your life and i think he did it so skillfully and the production and and all the musical elements of it are obviously fantastic, but I specifically think that lyrically he really nails it. So yeah, incredibly jealous of that man's songwriting abilities.

"God only knows what I'd be without you"

Beck: I think this is one of the greatest songs ever written. You know, all the great songwriters have at least one, but this maybe sits near the top.

It's like the perfect secular religious song, you know? It has a religious feeling to it. It has a transcendent feeling about it, but it is a kind of strange love song - like, it says “I may not always love you”, which is kind of a perverse thing to confess at the beginning of this heartfelt song for the ages.

I think it’s harmonically very sophisticated but it just goes down smooth, and catchy and memorable. A good song levitates - defies gravity - and if you have the wrong lyrics it'll bring that melody down like lead balloons, it won't soar, you know.

"All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms"

Kelly: I was lucky enough to support them on a tour around America and Mexico and see what joy that song brought to people every night, you know, from its iconic synth lines to its lyrics. I just will never forget.

Obviously the lyrics - “All I've ever wanted is here in my arms” I think is a beautiful lyric. It reminds us of how the small and intimate moments can be everything. I think a lot of the time we're looking outside of ourselves for pleasure, enjoyment, validation, sometimes a sort of void that can never be filled. But to have that feeling of having everything here in your arms in a specific moment, surely is one of the best experiences about being human.

"I come from a long line
Of high and low and in between
Same as you"

Adrienne: It really brings me to this place where I'm like, how? How? Like, he's channeling something so rooted and it makes sense, but not like intellectually or logically but I know it makes so much sense in my body and in my heart.

But then there's so much so many layers to his words that you can listen thousands of times and never figure it out, they're like puzzles and riddles but they're also messages that shine through just so clearly and there's just so much gorgeous imagery mixed with symbolism mixed with metaphor mixed with literal stuff and it's just all of it so gracefully done.

"I had no doubt in my mind
And it's been you, woman
Right down the line"

Joe: A good song makes you feel cooler as you're doing kind of mundane things. It's a song I wish I'd written because it’s just so cool. When I was younger my dad listened to a lot of 70s music, it was on a playlist of his - he would play it regularly and so it sort of seeped into my formative years.

It bred this interest in the way he sings, and the way he expresses his introspective life through his music, so that's always been something I’ve been very inspired by.