HE’S been making music for well over 50 years but Graham Gouldman remains as enthusiastic as ever about sharing his songs with an audience.

Given that many of those songs he wrote for both 10CC and other high profile artists are widely regarded as classics, he’s certainly got every reason to be proud.

On Saturday, Graham will be presenting his Heart Full of Songs show at Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts Centre.

“With the show I can present the songs in an acoustic, less structured way so I can spend a bit more time telling people how the songs originated, which they always seem fascinated by,” he said.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s quite different from the 10CC shows we do and I also have the opportunity to plays songs I would not play on a 10CC show.

“With this I can do songs I wrote over five decades I’m horrified to say. I don’t know how that happened. My excuse is that I was very young when I started.”

It was as a teenager that Graham wrote Bus Stop for the Hollies and also wrote several hits for the Yardbirds including For Your Love.

Since them his catalogue of hits has seen him inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame.

In spite of all his success, Graham remains very grounded.

“There are lots of things which I credit beyond my own gift and one of them is the time I was born in,” he said. “If you could get directly through to the band and they’d say they wanted to record your song that would be the end of it.

“Now there seems to be too many chefs I think. It was a different era.”

Although the world of music has changed in many ways, one thing has remained constant.

“I think a good song is a good song in whatever era it is written,” he said. “Everything starts with the song. You can have the finest musicians in the world in the most expensive studio but if that song hasn’t got it, it doesn’t mean a thing.”

Graham is ideally qualified to comment on writing a perfect song.

“There’s a line in a song I wrote for Andrew Gold which goes ‘we wrote the whole day long chasing the perfect song’,” he said. “And that’s the thing, you can’t, it doesn’t exist. I’ll never do it but I’m enjoying trying.

“Whenever I’m working on a song, it’s the best thing that’s happened in the universe but then when it’s finished it just goes and takes its place with all the other songs out there.

“Usually with the good songs you are in no doubt about them.

“That doesn’t mean they are going to be a hit but you know they are good.It’s then a nice coincidence what you wrote and like and other people then like too.”

Graham Gouldman, Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts Centre, Saturday, September 30. Details from 01254 398319 or www.civicartscentre.co.uk