Recently I was invited into Radio Leeds to do a One on One programme with presenter Liz Green. This involved an hour’s in depth interview, talking about my life and work and choosing a number of pieces of music that had special importance or significance for me at particular times. A little like Desert Island Discs. I could only pick 10 and that was so difficult but I winnowed it down and I’ve listed them below – without the associated memories. What would your ten tunes be?
(On another very vaguely related note, I am sometimes asked if I write to music. The answer is a resounding NEVER! I would have to work hard to block out the sound if there was music playing, even if it was instrumental. And it would interfere with me writing dialogue which I frequently speak aloud, playing all the parts myself.)
1. Getting to Know You (The King and I: Deborah Kerr/Marni Nixon)
2. My Boy Lollipop – Millie
3. Twist and Shout – Beatles
4. Ride A White Swan – T Rex
5. Sitting on the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding
6. No Woman No Cry – Bob Marley and the Wailers
7. White Man at Hammersmith Palais – The Clash
8. The Wedding – Abdullah Ibrahim
9. Warm and Tender Love – Percy Sledge
10. My Baby Just Cares For Me – Nina Simone
What an interesting list of music! That interview must have been fun to do. (I suspect I shall have My Boy Lollipop in my head all day now.)
A friend and I tried to come up with our top 10 tracks a while back and I couldn’t get it below 20. And although Roxy Music and Van Morrison were there, I wasn’t able to decide which of their songs I prefer.
I can’t write to music either, although I envy people who do. Maybe it’s because a long time ago I used to be put into a room on my own and not allowed out until I’d finished my homework.
Yes, it is hard to choose – and ten isn’t nearly enough. The nearest explanation I have to why I can’t write to music is that when I’m writing I’m in my head living a story and when I listen to music I am in my head living a story – and I can’t be in two worlds at the same time!