Something for everybody, 8 songs, 1 book, 1 luxury – rules are:
1. Songs/tracks should be:
(i) from early childhood
(ii) first favourite of pre-teen youth
(iii) favourite of teenage years
(iv) best experienced live
(v) best from when you fell in love
(vi) best coz it’s really meaningful
(vii) best you like now you never would have liked when younger
(viii) the one you keep when the waves wash all the others away
2. A sentence or more to explain your book and luxury choice
3. Don’t think too long about it. You won’t be held to account in years to come when someone does a similar thread and your choices have changed
4. Don’t do it at all if you don’t want to. It’s just a bit of fun.
5. Oh, and ignore all the above rules if you want to do it differently, including the song choices
6. Finally, ignore rule number 5.
Confused? I know I am
“Fell In Love”?
Iz U Gay????!!!!
Sometimes. But I tell myself it’s just a phase I’m gong through.
I am too old for drum and bass.
Just a constant noise for me.
It was just a joke. I didn’t mean anyone to actually listen to it.
After 30 seconds I was out!
Now a House medley would light my fire!
I listened to it all so you didn’t have to. D’n’B does sound a bit like a tumbledrier full of cutlery in the middle of an easy listening supper club, but it had its moments. There was a singer about 2/3 through who had an absolutely gorgeous voice.
It was all a lot smoother than the music I remember from my early 20s, but that might have been jungle. I get the two confused.
Jungle more often had voices, usually gentlemen of the Jamaican persuasion.
Much favoured by Father Fintan Stack.
My time – after Daktari and before Jungle.
Spooky, because there’s a jungle on Daktari, isn’t there? And Daktari sounds like the sort of noise you might hear on a jungle track (or not)…
(i) Jollity Farm – I was sure this was a children’s album as it sounded just like Pinky and Perky
(ii) Top of The World – Karen Carpenter, what a voice
(iii) Day of The Lords – I was a grumpy, withdrawn adolescent. Who’d have thought. I played this once in school assembly, followed by the Ying Tong Song
(iv) I Can See Clearly, covered by the Hothouse Flowers at Glastonbury – because it takes me back to a place and time, which was late June and full of Celtic music
(v) Sunshine by Gabrielle. Where my wife’s and my music tastes met
(vi) Folksong by Bongwater. OK, I’m not sure that it’s meaningful, although it’s long and text heavy. But it does manage to be playful and cynical and satirical and scatological and referential while not reverential, and it feels to me that it’s a real plea from the heart
(vii) Satisfied by Van Morrison. I love all of Common One, but I never would have thought I could like something so at ease and at peace with itself as this song – too smug, I would have said.
(viii) Pieces and Parts by Laurie Anderson. In truth, it could be anything by Laurie, even something discordant from United States I-IV – just to have her voice in my head. But for now, this has her reciting anecdotes, then bursting into glorious soaring song, all the while accompanied by her harmonious and squeaking violin. Sigh!
Book – One Straw Revolution – poetry about the living world, putting our lives in perspective with soil and nature’s slower, more powerful tempo
Luxury – a supply of sharpening stones – they seem capable of smoothing, shaping and fashioning anything
That wasn’t so hard.
Can we have a rule 7?
Should we do an honest one, or one that makes us look hip and trendy?
Spin a coin, make a choice, write the results according to that choice and let us guess whether you’re being straight as a die or twisted as a nine bob note.
I’ll use my double headed coin then.
Yup, why not:
Songs:
1. Daktari opening theme
2. Singin’ in the rain – Gene Kelly
3. Benny and the Jets – Elton John
4. Powderfinger – Neil Young
5. Maybe I’m amazed – Paul McCartney
6. Red rain – Peter Gabriel
7. Vienna – Ultravox
8. I believe in you – Talk Talk
Book: Good Enough (The Tolerance for Mediocrity in Nature and Society) by Daniel S. Milo. Because it challenges The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Also, it explores the excess, wasteful and sub-optimal “messy side” of nature, which Milo places under the label “good enough”, meaning good enough to survive and reproduce. I always felt I am completely a part of messy side.
Luxury choice: watermelon seeds. I’d like to grow watermelons on my little island. They’re delicious.
Daktari was just before my time. I think I saw a cartoon version in Look-In or a tv annual, and marveled at the exotic name – part of a strange world beyond my understanding.
Clarence, the cross I’d lie on, eh?
I like the look of the book. Nature being wasteful and messy is part of the thinking behind the Circular Economy philosophy.
Intrigued to know why you class challenging ‘The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ as a good thing. Is that a Dawkins related judgement thing, a response to newly discovered epigenetics, or something else?
Oh man, you got me cornered now. English not being my first language, I’m not sure I can do justice to my reasoning behind the writing you mention. I’ll try anyway.
I always looked at our planet as two different living and breathing organisms, both constantly developing and whole in it’s vastness – nature and human society. Society has the advantage of thinking, while nature is walking towards all kinds of obstacles without that luxury. I don’t think there is some profound meaning behind natural selection or even some linear struggle towards a goal of creating species with greater possibilities of normal existence. Natural selection is full of coincidence, forced choices and failures. It’s not the be all end all of our planet’s doings, it’s just the creative process that came so far because of planets unique circumstances. It’s a process that during time proved questionable, considering nature created Homo Sapiens, a creature with brain, who in turn is destroying it’s own creator. I’m not questioning the origin of species, but the means of natural selection worked towards creating it’s own enemy and one wonders if there were other ways this planet might have pursued if… There is always an ingrated striving for improvement in nature’s way (hah!), but returning to the first sentence, looks like there IS a predisposition of every living organism (however big or small) to be born and to die.
I don’t know if this makes any sense. I know less about Dawkins, epigenetics or circular economy. It’s just a book that I chose to read, because I knew it would make me think and consider various speculations. And I like to keep my grey cells busy.
(i) Puff the magic dragon. Just say yes please.
(ii) Young gifted and black.
(iii) Echoes by Pink Floyd
(iv) Keep on rocking in the free world. Neil with Promise of the real
(v) Sex Machine. They played it at the club we frequented.
(vi) Days, Kinks
(vii) I think my taste is similar really, same mixture.
(viii) Strawberry Fields it has to be
Book is Sherlock Holmes for comforting re-reading. Luxury is smart phone with unlimited wifi then I get all the music and books anyway plus help is on it’s way. If that’s a no no then a Hästens bed.
I got a (vii) now. I have never thought much of metal. Still don’t really. Heavy rock is fine in certain cases like Led Zep, the heavy rock of the 60s and 70s plus 90s in the form of grunge. Metal I think of as bad music I suppose. Then recently I’ve listened to Porcupine Tree because of Steven Wilson and his solo brilliance and that leads to some other acts via Spotify, for which Spotify excels and is a good thing, plus it’s easy to try out things without commitment, without it mattering. That lead me to progressive metal which makes sense and some of that is all right. It crosses over into more familiar territories, things like Meshuggah. Then I got to Tool, who I’d dismissed before when playing their latest but they’ve been around a long while. Lateralus is from 2001. They have a bit of a grunge aspect but with a colder, more fantastical, nightmarish outlook. It’s not happy ditties. The main thing is the building up of powerful noise and riffs. It’s interesting in it’s textures and the band’s playing. Now at a more advanced age I appreciate it as the soundtrack of a bleak reality, of a fucked up world, which was always fucked up in one way or another, but there was hope for progress. My life is good though and things do get better for many for the most part but the shitty, disappointing people don’t go away, they seem to get worse and I hear acknowledgement of that feeling in this music. It’s cathartic I guess, not for the lyrics so much, whatever they may say. More for the violent power of sound that is controlled and ferocious. Just the job. Then you go to other bands music and they sound a bit inadequate by comparison with Tool. Porcupine Tree from In Absentia onwards are a from of prog metal too although there is also classic rock and pretty tunes going on. That too is a more recent thing for me. I don’t have the urge to listen to much else lately. So I’ll say The Grudge by Tool for a tune that turned my head in a new direction.
(i) Can’t remember anything in particular other than Tie a Yellow Ribbon, which seemed to be on the radio all the time, and which I hated with absolute blind fury.
(ii) Prince Charming – title track of the first album I owned.
(iii) Temple of Love, the Sisters of Mercy – happy memories of nights out in too-dark clubs. Friday night was goth night.
(iv) Du Hast, Rammstein – so ferocious I thought the venue was going to fall down around us. All together now: “DU!!! DU HAST!!!”
(v) When We Were Beautiful, Bon Jovi
(vi) Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. It gets me every single time. For extra meaning, it absolutely has to be sung by an older singer who has lived life. Colm Wilkinson’s is the definitive version.
(vii) It Was a Very Good Year, Sinatra. It ages like fine wine. The usual suspects from Ol’ Blue Eyes (My Way, etc.) can’t hold a candle to it.
(viii) Vienna, Ultravox. The best song of all time, no question. The atmosphere, the mysterious (maybe meaningless?) lyrics, the solo, the video. Ultravox split before I started going to gigs, so when they reformed and toured again I couldn’t believe I was going to see them live at last. When the Vienna drumbeat started, the venue suddenly seemed to be very dusty indeed…
Book: The Lord of the Rings. Best book ever written. No argument.
Luxury: an endless supply of pens and writing paper for all the books I’d like to write if work didn’t keep getting in the way.
Same first album as me. I would probably pick Scorpios for the same reason. A magnificent piece of music.
1. Three wheels on my wagon. A BFBS request on my behalf from my mum and dad. Must have been 5 or 6.
2. Waterloo! The power of music!
3. Five Minutes by The Stranglers. The power of music!
4. The Plague by Demon. Thank you Thomas the Vance. The power of music!
5. Dr Mabuse by Propaganda. The power, force, motion, drive of music!
6. Tantalised by The Church. The power of Live music.
7. Gorecki by Lamb. I do.
8. A prayer for Owen Meany. Squeak.
I could go on.
Ha, nearly chose 1
i) Laughing Policeman (Charles Penrose)
ii) Two Little Boys (Rolf Harris)
iii) A Hard Day’s Night (Beatles)
iv) Via Chicago (Wilco)
v) I’ve Got You Under My Skin (Sinatra)
vi) Strawberry Fields Forever (Beatles)
vii) Fearless (Pink Floyd)
viii) A Design for Life (Manics) or vi actually
Book – World According to Garp (John Irving), stayed up until 4am to finish it or maybe Moby DIck so I could finally finish it
Luxury: Set of golf clubs and unlimited supple of balls to smash into ocean
Song #1 – Henry Hall-The Teddy Bears Picnic
Song #2 – The Shadows-Wonderful Land
Song #3 – Traffic-Paper Sun
Song #4 – Any good modern jazz/funk band-The Chicken (written by Maceo Parker, best known performed by Jaco Pastorius)
Song #5 – Beatles-Julia
Song #6 – Eric Bogle-The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Song #7 – Duke Ellington-Mood Indigo
Song #8 – Miles Davis-He Loved Him Madly (full version)
Book – Michael Chabon-The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. There aren’t many books I could read over and over again, but this is one.
Luxury Item – A large, solidly-constructed and well-appointed shed.
Ah – at no.7 you’ve got the Duke, and at no.8 you’ve got Miles’s tribute to the Duke.
Nice choices!
(1) Yesterday Man – Chris Andrews
(2) Name of the Game – Abba
(3) Walk Out to Winter – Aztec Camera
(4) Doug Storm – Tackhead
(5) Lover You Should’ve Come Over – Jeff Buckley
(6) Stray (live) – Roddy Frame
(7) Jigsaw Falling into Place – Radiohead
(8) Anyone – Joan as Police Woman
Book – The Complete Flashman Collection. Pure escapism with excitement aplenty and occasional mild eroticism.
Luxury – a photo archive of my family and friends. I’d miss them all.
Yesterday Man is a great shout. I don’t think I’ve heard, or even thought about, it in half a century at least but it was ubiquitous at the time, wasn’t it?
Strangely or even oddly enough I’d thought about Yesterday Man only yesterday in the afternoon. I’m not even sure why, something someone said?
It was in Stranger Things and it’s back in the charts.
Funnily enough, I was aware of Robert Wyatt’s version long before I heard the original…
Yesterday Man is my earliest musical memory and all we had was a radio when I was a baby. My mother always used to say that it was my favourite song when I was a baby whenever it came on. I use it as evidence that I was into ska/reggae long before any of my friends thought it was cool. I believe it was released the month I was born.
1. All You Need Is Love, The Beatles
I have a vivid memory of being a toddler and hanging over the back of the settee and hearing this on the radio. I didn’t like it, then, particularly and I never sought it out until much later, but whenever I do hear it I’m right back on that settee again.
2. Apache by The Shadows
The sound and the melody obviously but what the hell was that thing it was played on? A Stratocaster guitar? What a beautiful beautiful thing.
3. Rosalie by Thin Lizzy.
God, I loved the Quo when I was in my early teens. This was during the ‘Quo Live!’ era before the chirpy singalong balls happened. But. Despite that, the song I must choose from those days is Lizzy’s Rosalie. The swing, the growl I wanted to be Scott Gorham.
4. Looking Back by Dr Feelgood.
Lee Brilleaux sang this at the Newcastle Mayfair in 1987. Utterly thrilling
5. Fall At Your Feet by Crowded House
Mrs Beezer got hitched to a music snob so initial conversation about music could be a bit of an exercise in diplomacy. She was and is strictly a Chart girl. However the blessed House was a happy Venn diagram. This song can make me cry.
6. You’re My Best Friend by Don Williams
My late Dad’s favourite song. He’d sit by the record player with the album sleeve in his hand singing quietly along.
7. The Juice by Eric B
Rap passed me by until I got involved with you lot. Reading the rap threads brought me to this stone cold killer beat. Thanks.
8. Prelude a apres midi d’une faune by Debussy.
It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.
Book: Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James. It’s superbly funny but it’s the story of an awkward misfit who got lucky so many times. In that sense it reminds me of myself.
Luxury: An Omega Speedmaster Watch (sorry Moose). Why the absolute fuck not?
EDIT: Not sure why this has attached itself as a reply rather than a standalone entry. Doesn’t matter
(i) Telstar – The Tornadoes (we had a really battered single)
(ii) Street Life – Roxy Music (wanted to be as cool as Bry)
(iii) Soul Inside 12″- Soft Cell
(iv) Never Let Me Down Again – Depeche Mode
(v) Perfect Day – Various artists BBC version
(vi) Cloudbusting – Kate Bush
(vii) Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles
(viii) Enjoy the Silence – Depeche Mode
Book – full Monty Python anthology of everything they did in one book.
Luxury – I am copying Morrissey’s answer. A comfortable, freshly-made bed in a safe, dry place with the finest perpetually clean sheets, pillows and duvet.
1) The Owl and the Pussycat – Elton Hayes
2) It’s All Happening – Tommy Steele
3) Something Else – Eddie Cochran
4) Good Vibrations – Brian Wilson/Wondermints
5) Whiter Shade of Pale – Procul Harum
6) Regina Coeli K.108 – Mozart (got to be Emma Kirkby/Christopher Hogwood)
7) Every Time We Say Goodbye – Elephants Gerald
8) Regina Coeli (sorry pop music)
Book: probably a fat P G Wodehouse omnibus.
Luxury: nobody ever asks for a member of the opposite (or indeed the same) sex, do they? Failing that, a solar-powered electric piano with 88 keys.
David Dimbleby said he’d take presenter Kirsty Young along as his luxury back in 2008 (it’s against the rules, apparently).
I don’t think Ella would be very pleased with her new predictive-text name. 😄
That was what my daughter called her aged 5 or so, and that’s what she’s been in our house ever since.
It actually sounds like the name of an instrumental by a Canterbury scene band.
There are a lovely series of children’s books called Elephant and Piggy. They’re a delight to read to my kids. The elephant is called Gerald. Luckily my two girls aged 5 and 7 know Ella Fitzgerald through a series of biographies for children called Little People, Big Dreams. The Ella Fitzgerald one is one of their favourites and led them to her music so they got the Elephant Gerald joke.
On DID there is a split between those who chose their music biographically and those who pick tracks because they must have them, but don’t necessarily connect them with times in their lives. I would be firmly in the second camp and can’t make the mental gymnastics necessary to fit the songs I would choose into these categories.
There are plenty of people on DID who clearly don’t like music. Which is when you’re reminded that it’s not really the point of the programme. Difficult as that is for us folks to understand.
Do those top flight business people really like Tina turner’s The Best, or is that the see music’s greatest value as a tool for inspirational messages?
If you haven’t listened to the 9th series of John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme, I would really recommend all six episodes in sequence. It really is a masterpiece of construction and subtle slow burn comedy, but the last episode has a fantastic series of scenes involving a very reluctant Desert Island Discs guest leaving the host practically tearing their hair out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wsyb
I always allude to this but there’s a very funny bit in Tom Stoppard’s play The Real Thing the main character, a playwright (surprise surprise) vocalises his ongoing internal debate about what to chose for DiD, whether this or that record makes him sound too frivolous or too pompous or whatever. What dates it – it’s from 1982, I think – is that he considers making a “rock” choice to be quite radical, but other than that it’s just as relevant as ever. If anything choosing something classical these days is probably considered more out of the ordinary unless it’s something from a Classic FM petrol station CD.
I remember in the early 1990s some posh, big-shot research scientist choosing Street Fighting Man and I thought – “Blimey, rock music on Radio 4!”
I remember two things from The Real Thing – a speech about cricket bats and (I think) the beauty of a perfectly struck stroke as a metaphor for a perfect piece of writing – and that Desert Island Discs speech. Oh, and Felicity Kendall, obviously.
(i) The Marvelettes – Please Mr Postman
Jigging around my aunt’s dansette as a toddler is one of my earliest memories.
(ii) The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
There was no record player in the house until I was a teenager. I had to rely on the radio and the radio equalled The Beatles. This one shone through the most.
(iii) Steely Dan – Fire In The Hole
I loved Glam, Soul and Reggae all my life but, as a teenager, I sought sophistication. Steely Dan fit the bill, none more so than this B side to Do It Again.
(iv) Dr Feelgood – Roxette
By the time I was 17, I’d seen Ziggy, The Wailers, Hawkwind’s Space Ritual and more. In the unlikely setting of a university hall, with an audience sporting long hair and cheesecloth, the support act covering Jethro Tull, Dr. Feelgood blew my socks off.
(v) Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2U
It’s not the arrival, it’s the journey that counts. A song I have immortalised on my wall as a Pencilsqueezer. The painting comes too.
(vi) Sister Sledge – Lost In Music with Thinking Of You as its B side.
The finest single ever made. Love, loss, commitment, passion, desire, glamour and the sensual power of dance. Is there anything else worthwhile in life?
(vii) Bill Evans Trio – Waltz For Debby
An album of my dad’s that, to my shame I failed to appreciate until long after his death.
(viii) John Coltrane – Live At The Village Vanguard
The finest, most radical musician I’ve ever heard and this captures him at his most adventurous and magical. The original LP is unbelievable, the Master Takes even better and the Complete is enough to occupy anybody for a lifetime.
Book – Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. It’s the book I’ve read the most and the one I could read over and over again, delving into my childhood and now my grandchildren’s.
Luxury item – a deluxe set of tools complete with instructions. I’d need to learn DIY, finally.
(i) Catch A Falling Star – Perry Como.
(ii) Love Me Do – The Four Mop Tops.
(iii) Virginia Plain – Roxy Music.
(iv) Substitute – The Who.
(v) Dear Prudence – The Four Mop Tops.
(vi) Your Long Journey – Indra Rios-Moore.
(vii) –
(Viii) Dear Prudence. Love for others and for what we do in life is the most important aspect of being human. That’s an article of faith for me so Dear Prudence because it simply reminds me to not stray far from that belief and of a time in my life when I first began to truly understand how essential to contentment love is.
As for a book it could be many but I’ll choose A Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. I first read this when I was a teenager and I’ve read it many times over the passing years. It reminds me that beauty can be found close at hand and wonder is present often in the most mundane of places. Wonder and beauty are within us, all we have to do is be open to it.
For a luxury item I’d like my favourite photograph of my wife please. I don’t believe this requires any explanation.
1) Bob Dylan – Baby, Let Me Follow You Down.
2) The Tornados – Telstar
3) Love – No Matter What You Do
4) Bob Dylan – Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (live @FTH 1966)
5) Love – You Set The Scene
Book – Frank Herbert – Dune
Luxery Item(s) – half a dozen eggs
See, we were all dicking around with The Laughing Policeman, Three Wheels on my Wagon and Right Said Fred, and there you were with your Dylan. Respect.
I only remember getting into music when I was 11/12 His Bobness’s s/t LP was lying about the house.
(i) Nelly The Elephant – Mandy Miller
(ii) Twist and Shout – The Beatles
(iii) Southern Man – Neil Young
(iv) Crawfish – Streetwalkers
(v) The Killing Moon – Echo & The Bunnymen
(vi) You Did – Chuck Prophet
(vii) Don’t Say You Love Me – Free (I really hated it when younger)
(viii) Pancho and Lefty – Emmylou Harris
Luxury – Gretsch White Falcon with spare strings and a solar powered amp
Book – P.G Woodhouse Compendium
Off the top of my head (so I’ll surely want to change within an hour)……
(i) probably Two Little Boys or The Runaway Train
– can’t really remember much else from early childhood (I vaguely remember a Val Doonican song about a donkey or goat?)
(ii) Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
– the first single I bought with my own money when I was 11/12 years old (so just qualifying as pre-teen). Still think it’s one of their best tracks.
(iii) Right By Your Side – Eurythmics
– from 1983 and so when I was 16. It probably wasn’t a favourite at the time, but it’s the track that I most fondly remember from my teenage years and always reminds me of that time.
(iv) Knights Of Cydonia – Muse.
– not a massive Muse fan but have seen them live a couple of times and this is always brilliant. Usually done as an encore.
(v) Stand By Me – Ben E King
– not really from when I fell in love, but we often listened to a Sixties Soul compilation and both loved this and used for our entrance at our wedding. The sentiment still holds 26 years later…..
(vi) Two Suns In The Sunset – Pink Floyd
– From a time when I started to get politically aware, was reading Martin Amis “Einstein’s Monsters” etc etc
(vii) There Is a Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
– as a teenage Genesis / Queen / Pink Floyd / etc fan, the Smiths were a band I hated at the time. It was only later at University that I started to appreciate.
(viii) my first reaction would be anything from Hounds Of Love, but I probably don’t need to hear that to remember it, so will go with “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1-6). Need a long track if it’s the only one left…..
Book – would like the complete set of Iain Banks, but if only one then Complicity (or Crow Road)
Luxury – that’ll be a Fiio M11 Pro with fully loaded 512G SD card
Val Doonican – could be either: Delaney’s Donkey or Paddy McGinty’s Goat
Ah, PMG. A lyric of wonder to the 10-year-old me…
“All the young ladies
Who lived in Killaloo
Were all wearing bustles
Like their mothers used to do
They each wore a bolster
Beneath their petticoat
You bet your life they didn’t get that
From Paddy McGinty’s goat”
Go figure
The mere mention of Val Doonican has transported me back to a Saturday morning in London sometime in the early 90s. My special lady and I were making sweet lurve with the radio on in the background – Chris Evans on GLR if I remember correctly. Anyway, I’m sure both of us were doing our best to ignore the Val Doonican tune he decided to play; something about a special toy that a son had been given by his father. We probably would have managed to carry on regardless had the lyric “…came chugging from behind”, not reduced the two of us to a giggling mess for the next five minutes.
I’m blushing just typing this.
Radios in the background are a hazard….me and the future Mrs M did once carry on regardless when the theme to I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue came on, but I did fall into the rhythm.
Could’ve been worse – could’ve been Birds of Fire…
Can’t resist, can’t resist, can’t resist a list, a list.
1. Choice songs:
(i) from early childhood…
* Florida Fantasy by John Barry *
It was used as the theme song to some kids’ programme (Johnny Morris or something) – the programme itself is unimportant but I loved the tune and it stuck with me. It really surprised me when I later realised it was from the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy (the title is self-explanatory – it’s the bit he has a fantasy about Florida).
It’s a jaunty tune with a great arrangement. I love the final “PARP” right at the end.
(ii) first favourite of pre-teen youth
* Princes of the Universe by Queen *
The opening credits of the movie Highlander (which I loved), and the Kind of Magic album (on cassette tape) was probably my first experience of being a music fan.
(iii) favourite of teenage years
* Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield *
If I have to choose a specific “track”, I’ll say Side One.
This music just blew me away as a teenager, I’d never heard anything like it, and along with the Beatles it was probably my biggest inspiration to throw my life away to rock music. It still feels like a dividing line in my life – “before” and “after”. The insularity of it spoke to me – the idea a lone genius could create this stuff without any apparent care for image or the usual trappings of pop music.
(iv) best experienced live
* Dry the Rain by The Beta Band *
Tough one this, because on the whole I probably prefer recorded music to live music. But The Beta Band are definitely a band who didn’t click with me until I saw them live.
(v) best from when you fell in love
* In My Life by The Beatles *
Another tough one, as I’m not really the romantic type. But this was the first song at my wedding. A friend of mine sung it beautifully and I still probably prefer her recording to the original.
(vi) best coz it’s really meaningful
* Desolation Row by Bob Dylan *
But what does it actually MEAN? I couldn’t tell you, but this song puts me in a place and a mood that no other song can. The lyrics (nonsense though they probably are) (and specifically the delivery of these lyrics by that person at that time) feel like a veil being lifted on the dark complexities underpinning the world. Man.
(vii) best you like now you never would have liked when younger
* Dope on Plastic by Uptown *
I struggled with this question, because I don’t think my taste has actually changed that much since I was young – as I get older I don’t feel so much like I am discovering new music but just catching up on music I missed that I would have liked earlier if I had heard it earlier. But there was definitely a point in my late adulthood where I “got” soul/beat/hip-hop music (after previously dismissing it) and this track is probably the pick of that bunch.
(viii) the one you keep when the waves wash all the others away
* Echoes by Pink Floyd *
Maybe the mention of “waves” brought this to mind, or maybe it’s because someone else already chosen this track in previous comments… But this is a perennial favourite of mine of the kind of music you can just lose yourself in for 20 minutes or so (the best kind, in other words).
2. A sentence or more to explain your book and luxury choice…
Book – * Lord of the Rings by Tolkien * Not just a book, but a world to get lost in, stretching deep into myth.
Luxury choice – * A grand piano * I would go crazy without a musical instrument to noodle away on, and when push comes to shove a piano is probably more flexible and variable than a guitar. Although tuning it on a desert island would probably be a problem.
Florida Fantasy was the theme to Wildtrack. Matt Berry did a version on his very good Television Themes album.
Share your surprise when finding it in Midnight Cowboy too
I remember getting a covermount CD of theme films from Uncut or somesuch in the 90s. “Theme From Midnight Cowboy” – great, I love Harry Nilsson…. wait, what’s this? I’m getting a children’s BBC flashback! Not so much Pussy Cats as Wildcats?
(i) Theme from A Summer’s Place – Percy Faith – First heard this when I was about 5.
(ii) Night of Fear – The Move – First single I bought.
(iii) Get Dancing – Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes – First disco I went to played this.
(iv) New Rose – The Damned (Barbarella’s Birmingham 1977)
(v) If You Leave Me Now – Chicago (she did)
(vi) I’ll See You In My Dreams – Joe Brown – Reminds me of my mother.
(vii) Bedazzled – Dudley Moore – Wouldn’t have appreciated this when I was young.
(viii) Theme from A Summer’s Place – Percy Faith – To remind me of my childhood when life was lovely.
Book – I an Actor – Nicholas Craig. Had me laughing out loud and becoming an embarrassment on public transport.
Luxury – Wind up radio, to listen to the news and football results.
I was in Barbarella’s that night! It was as total adrenaline rush but that’s all I remember.
I can remember my mate giving me his jumper to look after. I threw it on stage at Captain Sensible. He picked it up, looked at it, laughed and threw it back to me saying “no thanks!”
1. And 2. Can’t divine childhood and pre-teen, but Captain Beaky and The Barron Knights straddle the period
3. The Who – The Real Me (I could try and argue Quadrophenia is 1 track).
First heard at 13, still playing it 40 years later.
4. John Otway – House Of The Rising Sun
Standing in a crowd shouting at the singer might seem an odd choice, but never fails to make one smile
5. Stevie Wonder – I Believe When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever
Wanted it as the first song at wedding. Mrs D over ruled it wanting to keep it just for us
6. Echo and The Bunnymen – Nothing Lasts Forever.
Achingly brilliant and supports the mantra of “this too shall pass”. See also Stiff Little Fingers – My Dark Places, cos I ain’t going back there
7. Genesis – Suppers Ready
Avoided the proggyness of Genesis for a long time, but very recently this became “what were you thinking?”
8. Hmm .. can’t split 3. Only Ones – Another Girl Another Planet, Faces – Stay With Me, Slade – How Does It Feel. But that’s cheating, so on reflection I think Slade might just edge it
Book – Book Of Two Ronnies scripts
Luxury – Rickenbacker 330.
I might actually learn to play properly, rather than just a random collection of chords
I’ve tossed the double headed coin and the results are.
(i) Captain Pugwash theme tune (just found Tom Edmundson’s autograph, he played it)
(ii) Beatles She Loves You
(iii) Beatles Why Don’t se Di it In The Road
(iv) Rory Gallagher 73 74
(v) John Martyn Small Hours
(vi) Honestly Can’t Think of one
(vii) Casta Diva from Norma
(viii) Richard and Linda Thompson I Want to see The Bright Lights Tonight
2. A sentence or more to explain your book and luxury choice Alice Through The Looking Glass. odd book when written, still odd now.
A hammock,to relax in.
(i) Sugar Sugar – The Archies
ii) Ride A White Swan – T Rex
(iii)– Picture This – Blondie
(iv) – The Man Don’t Give A Fuck – Super Furry Animals
(v)– Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
(vi– Living For The City – Stevie Wonder
(vii)– Keep The Customer Satisfied – Simon & Garfunkel
(viii) Whole Wide World – Wreckless Eric
The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman – Laurence Sterne
Gretsch 6120
I very nearly chose “..Tristram Shandy” as my DI book. It’s one that I’ve always meant to dig into.
I’ve followed the instructions, in as far as I’ve knocked this out fairly quickly – so some might change on a different day (although some would stay resolutely the same):
(i) Theme from Fireball XL-5 – very popular in our house, and we had the E.P.
(ii) ABC – Jackson 5
(iii) Silver Shoes – Wishbone Ash – borrowed There’s the Rub from a friend at school, hit me right between the eyes…
(iv) And You and I – Yes – I still maintain that I levitated off the floor when I heard this live.
(v) Helplessly Hoping – CSNY – First proper girlfriend was a hippy, into all that Laurel Canyon music – I can smell the patchouli on her Afghan coat when I hear this.
(vi) Find the River – REM – The closest M. and I had to “our song” – no-one was surprised that we played it at her funeral
(vii) Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras – from Brahm’s German Requiem – I hated religious music and choral singing when I was younger; now I can even listen to Allegri’s Miserere!
(viii) Got to be Pilgrims by VdGG – a seriously uplifting, life-affirming song…for me, anyway.
Book – Lord of The Rings – I used to read this every one or two years, I’ve slowed down a little, but there aren’t many other books I can re-read and still get so much from.
Luxury – Would my cat Barty count as a luxury? He was M’s cat really, so he would be a bit of a link to her – and it would be nice to have another heartbeat on the island…
Just in case anyone is curious:
Early childhood – I remember Ed Stewart playing Puff the Magic Dragon
First favourite of pre-teen youth – God. Um. The answer to that one lies deep in my Dad’s music collection. Probably Born to Run.
Favourite of teenage years – In a Big Country
Best experienced live – funny, we (me plus son) just back from seeing them live yesterday. Drove 6 hours to get there as well. I’ve seen Springsteen live, which was great, and Paul Simon, and RT and…well, it’s none of the ‘big’ names. We Were Promised Jetpacks are a band out of Edinburgh, who I first saw 9 years ago to the day, in a small venue called Jammin’ Java. Low ceiling, 200 people at the absolute maximum. And they played Quiet Little Voices, and blew me away. I’ve seen them every time they’ve toured nearby, and they’ve never let me down. And, bonus, such nice guys as well.
Best from when you fell in love – heh. Which time? Islands in the stream is the first song I remember Sharon and I singing together when I was cooking, and it’s a great memory.
Best coz it’s really meaningful – Be Sweet, Afghan Whigs. That album got me througfh my first separation and divorce.
Best you like now you never would have liked when younger – He stopped loving her today by George Jones,
The one you keep when the waves wash all the others away – The Whigs
Luxury – a very very good coffee machine with unending coffee.
Book – Jeez, that’s tough. Fictiopn would eventually get worn out, and so too most non-fiction. I think the complete Wodehouse might have the best lifespan.
Okay, here goes.
(i) Theme from The Flashing Blade.
(ii) Genuinely can’t remember.
(iii) ABBA – SOS
(iv) Bob Dylan & Tom Petty – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
(v) Emmylou Harris – Goodbye (it was prophetic).
(vi) Vaughan Williams – Variation on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (the Neville Marriner version).
(vii) Anything by Frank Sinatra.
(viii) Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way.
Book – Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier. I read it when I was 17, the ideal time to do so, and it has stayed with me for the whole of my life. It also sowed the seed of a lifelong love affair with France.
Luxury – my iPad and a strong Wi-Fi signal.
(i) “My Boy Lollipop” – Millie
(ii) “America” – The Nice
(iii) “I am the slime” Frank Zappa
(iv) Whole Lotta Rosie” AC/DC
(v) “I saw the light” – Todd Rundgren
(vi) “The sound of crying” – Prefab Sprout
(vii) “That’s the way of the world” – Earth , Wind, and Fire
(viii) “I saw the light” – Todd Rundgren. Love makes the world go round and makes it all worth it.
2. Book: complete works of HP Lovecraft – overblown, risible, but WHAT IF HE’S RIGHT?
luxury choice: working computer and internet link. Alternatively, a complete toolbox so I can hopefully bodge some practical solutions together.
(i) Theme from The White Horses – Jacky. This, along with the Belle & Sebastian and Flashing Blade theme toons shone in the dark, barren land that was Summer Holiday kids’ TV. Not that I actually watched the shows, which featured worse dubbing than the remix of Reggae Like It Used To Be.
(ii) Starman – David Bowie. 8 year old me was the one he had to phone. True story.
(iii) Down In The Tube Station At Midnight – The Jam. Being of an ADHD persuasion, my ‘best song ever’ can regularly change, but this is always thereabouts. The album version, with the riff and tube sounds to fade is perfect.
(iv) Alternative Ulster – Stiff Little Fingers. The band I’ve seen live most times, and the song that for the last thirty years or so has ended the set.
(v) Somehow I’ll Find My Way Home – Jon & Vangelis. We’d sing it together, until we were no longer together.
(vi) What’s The Matter Here? – 10,000 Maniacs. Even writing the title brings up tears for me. I’m sure there are other songs about child abuse, a subject particularly significant for me, but Natalie Merchant’s voice, especially towards the end, has an impact on me like no other. In Bob Mortimer’s autobiography he tells how he sneaked in and watched NM’s rehearsal run-through of Verdi Cries on The Jonathan Ross Show and was dumbstruck. I’d booked her for the show and I was there too, and I remember a cameraman whispering ‘Wow’ as the song ended.
(vii) Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd. I was 12 and I believed that Johnny Rotten T Shirt.
(viii) Down In The Tube Station At Midnight.
Book – The Master & His Emissary by Ian McGilchrist. Because it’s philosophy meets neurobiology and every sentence of its 500 plus pages is an education in art and science.
Luxury item: A toolkit and instructions. Fuck me, I’m bad at DIY, so now would be the time to get started.
(I) from early childhood – Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins and any number of other Family Favourites, many already referenced in this thread
(ii) first favourite of pre-teen youth – She Loves You by The Beatles, the very first record I owned
(iii) favourite of teenage years – Up Around the Bend by Creedence Clearwater Revival, from the very first record I ever bought, Cosmos Factory which still stands up as a record of absolute bangers.
(iv) best experienced live – Because the Night by Bruce Springsteen – or basically, anything by the greatest live performer I’ve ever seen
(v) best from when you fell in love – Baby Stop Crying by Bob Dylan – it was Our Song (I know, weird, right?)
(vi) best coz it’s really meaningful – Sweet Old World by Lucinda Williams, because as I get older more people I know have gone, and my understanding of the need to value what we have gets ever greater
(vii) best you like now you never would have liked when younger – Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue by Duke Ellington, because I just didn’t give jazz the time of day for the first five decades of my life. What an idiot.
(viii) the one you keep when the waves wash all the others away – St Dominic’s Preview by Van Morrison because it’s seen me through most of my life and it’s still there for me
Book – Middlemarch by George Eliot because all you need to know is there
Luxury – a pen and lots of paper. I mean I’ll have plenty of time to write that era defining novel and those award winning song lyrics, right?
@Freddy-Steady I was also going to pick your no.1 – we played it at my dads funeral and it had special poignancy for me remembering my childhood and the old man.
My new no.1 is another that was a favourite of his – see below.
1) King of the Road – Roger Miller
2) Shapes of Things – The Yardbirds – firts or second single I bought – still love it.
3) Strange Kind of Woman – Deep Purple
4) If it be your will – Leonard Cohen (Webb Sisters) – gave me goose pimples then, gives me goose pimples now
5) Shades of Scarlet conquering – Joni Mitchell(The love was unrequited to the extent I wanted and expected which made it more painful. It was 18 year old love and it hurt like fuck – for about 24 hours)
6) Your mother and I – Loudon Wainwright – self explanatory – Your mother and I are not getting along.
7) Silly Games – Janet Kay – love this song, would have hated it when I was a callow youth.
8) American Tune – Paul Simon – always lifts me higher.
9) Bringing it all back home – Ian Clayton – I haven’t read a better biography because I dont think there is one. Anyone who loves music and life should read this.
10) Good quality Chocolate Marzipan – preferably German because they do it best.
@stevet
That’s a nice story. I swear I can still remember leaning in to the radio and hearing my name and then the song. It’s all in my head!
Re: Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue by Duke Ellington and his famous Orchestra
What version are you requesting, Blue Boy?
I take it you’ve gone for the Newport ’56 performance, wherein Paul Gonsalves solos for about 29 choruses straight, or whatever it is? That was the performance that brought the Duke back into the limelight after the wilderness years. Back to the top table – a position he then never relinquished.
Yes, absolutely that one – it’s a staggering performance.
i) The Slow Train, Flanders and Swann
ii) Blockbuster, Sweet
iii) The Musical Box, Genesis
iv) Black Lake and the Duck, Jon Swayne of Blowzabella. Live, the dancefloor is inhaling and exhaling to the pace of a three time bourree. Exhilerating.
v) I have never fallen in love, so I am creating my own category: favourite song to sing. Cloud Factory, Bill Caddick. (Bit of waste listing this, to be honest, as I can sing it to myself anyway.)
vi) Hejira, Joni
vii) Music for 18 Musicians, Steve Reich
viii) Torsa, Lau
Bradshaw’s 1923 Railway Guide.
Assuming that access to the National Library of Scotland’s website (Explore georeferenced maps – oh joy!) is not possible, as by implication I would no longer be marooned, my luxury would be my own significant and extensive collection of Ordnance Survey maps. Between the two of these, my mind would be occupied for years.
i) I’m Down – The Beatles – I was given “Help” as 7 inch, and this was the B side which I much preferred
(ii) Crazy Horses – The Osmonds – a banging tune both then and now. The album was pretty good too
(iii) Blue Oyster Cult – On Your Feet Or On Your Knees – not their best album by far, but I played it to death
(iv) Thin Lizzy on the tour where they promoted Jailbreak – the Robertson & Gorham era
(v) We settled on Brian Ferry singing “Let’s Stick Together” as the music we entered the registry office to. We didn’t.
(vi) Frank Zappa – Uncle Remus
(vii) A tie between Johnny Cash singing Personal Jesus or the Eagles Desperado album
(viii) Just one? I mean 10 is tricky …. today it would be Chas & Dave singing That’s What I Like, but I get to replace the reference to Glen Hoddle with Mark Noble
Book – a high five to @dai and @Freddy-Steady – John Irving’s World According To Garp
Luxury – toilet paper. I mean there’s hardship and there’s deprivation.
A song from early childhood:
Teddy Bears Picnic – Henry Hall
A first favorite song of pre-teen youth:
Penny Lane – The HJHs
A favorite song of my (early) teenage years:
Virginia Plain – Roxy Music
A favorite song of my (late) teenage years:
Promised Land – Johnnie Allan
Best song I’ve experienced live:
She Does It Right – Dr. Feelgood
Best song from when I fell in love:
Love & Affection – Joan Armatrading
Best song coz it’s really meaningful:
Juliet & Mark – Kevin Coyne
Best song you like now that you would never have liked when younger:
My Old School – Steely Dan
The one you keep when the waves wash all the others away:
Promised Land – Johnnie Allan
My book choice:
A Jeeves & Wooster anthology. A collection of various stories that would keep me amused for a long time.
And my luxury choice:
A never ending supply of cigars, Bombay Sapphire, and tonic water. And an everlasting lighter.
A song from early childhood:
The Mexicans Dance In Their Hats; can’t even remember who did it, but a perennial on 2 Way Family Favourites, the childhood soundtrack to sunday lunch. (Alternative would be the Poor Little Meatball song, about it rolling away.)
A first favorite song of pre-teen youth:
Hey, Mr Tambourine Man/The Byrds: the earliest pop song I remember absolutely loving.
A favorite song of my (early) teenage years:
Man of the World/Fleetwood Mac: I imagined it told me something about myself. I was, what, 12, 13? Pretentious and precocious? Moi?
A favorite song of my (late) teenage years:
Crazy Man Michael/Fairport Convention: What can I say. Pink label perfection. (I know it wasn’t a single, but, if it was.)
Best song I’ve experienced live:
Tear Stained Letter/RT: I never lose that thrill as it cranks up, no matter how many times I have heard him play it.
Best song from when I fell in love:
How Can I Tell You/Cat Stevens: First and many later loves were, sadly, unrequited and unknown to the recipient…….
Best song coz it’s really meaningful:
Single Father/Jackie Leven: Just wonderful.
Best song you like now that you would never have liked when younger:
Sexual Healing/Marvin Gaye: I didn’t “get” soul or, indeed, any nominally black music until I was much older.
The one you keep when the waves wash all the others away:
Crazy Man Michael
My book choice:
Perfume/Patrick Susskind: Mainly as that would make me get round to reading again the book I always cite as my favourite, read 30 years ago, at least, never yet getting around to revisiting.
And my luxury choice:
I think a solar powered 640GB iPod with all my tracks on it. (Pity they never made one…..)
(i) from early childhood
Sandpipers – Guantanamera. Heard on the radio as a toddler. Still love the yearning, sad melody
(ii) first favourite of pre-teen youth
Drive In Saturday. My fave Bowie track of my fave Bowie album of this period.
(iii) favourite of teenage years
Buzzocks – What Do I Get. Heard in session on John Peel December 1977 and immediately became my favourite band. I was the right age for this. Even better when released as a single in early 1978.
(iv) best experienced live
Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah, Glastonbury, 2008. A religious experience
(v) best from when you fell in love
Beth Orton – I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine
(vi) best coz it’s really meaningful
Leonard Cohen – Heart with No Companion. The human condition described in a 3 minute country jig
(vii) best you like now you never would have liked when younger
Joni Mitchell – Woodstock. My older sister had it and the 10 year old me, who had heard the smooth Matthews Southern Comfort cover thought her voice and the arrangement was horrible
(viii) the one you keep when the waves wash all the others away
Leonard Cohen – Heart with No Companion
Book
Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg. A creative writing manual that is also a Zen treatise on life
Luxury
A typewriter – To do the creative writing exercises. I love the act of touch typing and imagine myself as the Stevie Wonder of the typewriter keyboard.
A song from early childhood:
Dick Van Dyke – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
A first favourite song of pre-teen youth:
David Bowie- Starman
A favourite song of my (early) teenage years:
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
A favorite song of my (late) teenage years:
Rosalie – Thin Lizzy
Best song I’ve experienced live:
Family Life – Blue Nile
Best song from when I fell in love:
Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
Best song coz it’s really meaningful:
Sweet Bird – Joni Mitchell
Best song you like now that you would never have liked when younger:
Jockey Full of Bourbon – Tom Waits
The one you keep when the waves wash all the others away:
There She Goes, My Beautiful World – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
My book choice:
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
And my luxury choice:
A good hifi system
8 songs, 1 book, 1 luxury:
SONGS:
(i) from early childhood
‘Catch A Falling Star’ by Perry como – my dad used to whistle and sing it to me when we walked along and I held his hand.
(ii) first favourite of pre-teen youth
‘Summer Holiday’ by Cliff plus Shads – sung with gusto by my little brother and I at the tops of our voices from the back seat of the Austin A40 on the way to Perranporth each year.
(iii) favourite of teenage years
‘Band Of Gold’ by Freda Payne – at the age of 14 my first solid gold soul anthem.
(iv) best experienced live
‘Changing Of The Guards’ by his Bobness at Blackbushe. Monumentally brilliant.
(v) best from when you (first) fell in love
‘There’s A Kind Of Hush’ by Herman’s Hermits. 12 years old and smitten badly by the lovely Jane Berry who lived close to the caravan park in Perranporth. Sigh.
(vi) best coz it’s really meaningful
‘Echoes’ from Meddle by the Floyd boys. Fantastic lyric, exploratory and truly progressive music that flows across a wonderfully developed arc.
(vii) best you like now you never would have liked when younger
‘Wichita Lineman’ from Glenn. My dad owned this but my shuttered teenage mind had it down as country music crap. I’ve grown up since then.
(viii) the eighth one (isn’t that how it works?)
‘In The Court Of The Crimson King’ by King Crimson. Rock music can be powerful and impressive without having to be overblown and full of ghastly metal guitars and screaming vocals – this delivers in spades, yet has proper darkness and light, intelligent melodic interludes and a sonic grandness that has seldom been matched since.
The one from the above that I keep when the waves wash all the others away:
The Floyd track. Always a pleasure to hear again; all 23 and a half brilliant minutes of it.
BOOK
No contest, it’s ‘The Lord Of The Rings’. Blew me away at 11, and I’ve re-read it and luxuriated in its brilliance 4 times since. Another bash on a desert island would be more than bearable.
LUXURY
An endless supply of Proper Job to make my journeys through Middle Earth in tropical sushine even more pleasurable.
There are approx. 803 variations on this list rammed with folk music, reggae, jazz and so on that I could easily substitute here. But it’s fun to just unshackle the mind and do an unfiltered, analysis-free song dump like this.
(i) from early childhood
Dancing Queen. Playing in the minibus on the way to kindergarten at about 4 years old. I knew a banger when I heard one.
(ii) first favourite of pre-teen youth
Heroes and Villains, from the Beach Boys’ 20 Golden Greats. On my dad’s giant headphones in the front room. Could not get enough of it.
(iii) favourite of teenage years
Beatles’ Dear Prudence off a taped copy of the White Album which, again, was a life changer, even if we only had sides one and two. Took my little gang a few years to discover the White Album is a double.
(iv) best experienced live
The Replacements’ I.O.U. Heard it first in the Marquee club in 1991. Heard it again on their reunion tour and, reader, I cried.
(v) best from when you (first) fell in love
(I Believe) When I Fall in Love… by Stevie. Lots of unrequited love when I was a student.
(vi) best coz it’s really meaningful
XTC’s Wrapped In Grey. To be played at my funeral. Just gorgeous. The Fossil Fools played it at Water Rats last year and, once again, tears came.
(vii) best you like now you never would have liked when younger
Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. In my advanced years 17th century music makes sense in ways it never did when I were lad.
(viii) the keeper
Wrapped in Grey.
Book: Middlesex by Jefferey Eugenides
Luxury: A Piano (and some nail clippers)
Just want to step in and say:
Wow! You guys! Absolutely wonderful to read your choices. I’m so glad you just went for it and threw yourself into making those choices – instant, but resonant, personal perspectives on your personas.
thank you, thank you – and that goes out to any others that come below
I’m surprise by some of the repeat choices, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Four counts of Lord of The Rings, which I suppose is fair enough. But a few for Pink Floyd’s Echoes, which I never knew was so popular.
Very entertaining thread @salwarpe – thanks for the original concept….