Desert Island Discs

Cue the rolling waves...

An old (physical) war wound has resurfaced, so I’m taking a moment away from script stuff (because I can’t concentrate properly) and I’m going to have some fun on here!

I’m a huge fan of Radio 2’s Desert Island Discs. Possibly more so than any other interview show it gets under the skin of the person in the spotlight through their musical choices. I’m always left feeling that I know that person much better than a bunch of soundbites from a press junket. Today I listened to Lauren Laverne questioning Greg Davies, and it left me with a sense of who he is as a human being rather than a comedian: What more can you ask for? People interest me, especially when it comes to understanding why they are that person.

So, to break the monotony of chronic pain, I’ve drafted my own selection of Desert Island (musical) delicacies!

DISC ONE: Such a Small Love - Scott Walker

My parents were my introduction to music: My earliest memories are listening to the likes of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Gene Pitney (my Mum’s favourite), the Monkees, Del Shannon and The Walker Brothers. Music has always made me see images in my mind, and this was where it all started. My Mum especially had a musical leaning towards the overblown and dramatic (something which I’ve continued), and this song by Scott Walker is just everything: A majestic, hypnotic lullaby.

DISC TWO: What Have I Done to Deserve This? - Pet Shop Boys

This was probably the last song me and my Mum both liked: She had her Dusty Springfield connection to her era of music, and the PSBs were mine. I remember being on holiday in Cornwall and the long drive home. But as soon as we made it home, I walked straight up to the high street in Collier Row and bought this song from Woolworths, went home and played the arse off it. It’s just classic 80’s pop. And, oddly enough, “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” became my life’s mantra… ;o)

DISC THREE: Praying for Time - George Michael

‘Listen Without Prejudice’ was the first album I ever bought without any influence from my friends or family - I had finally formed my own opinion on music! This song is, for me, lyrically the best ever written: the words are impactful and brilliantly observed. George’s vocals are at their peak, and the song still resonates after all this time.

“These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers”

Sadly, not much has changed.

DISC FOUR: Sabotage - Beastie Boys

1994: I was working as a runner on a film production, and spent most of that very hot summer on trains or waiting on tube platforms, delivering scripts all over London. ‘Ill Communication’ was my album of choice at that Post-Reservoir Dogs time, and it kept me going through what was a physically draining time (very long hours, on my feet all the time and, yes - running here and there). The job was a big leap for me, and as with all of my song choices on here, it defines that era for me - but there was also the video which accompanied the song (directed by Spike Jonze), and it still stands up today. It’s just brilliant, and if there was one career I could have happily done it would have been music video director. Music has power, images have power, and when they are combined they create a third, instinctive power.

DISC FIVE: Richard III - Supergrass

This is a song I can listen to at any time. Loved it the first time I heard it, and nothing has changed. The only way I can describe my connection to this song is it sounds like the inside of my head: This is what is going on inside my brain at any given time. Around the time this song was out I would often fall asleep at night with my headphones on, and I would frequently be in a half-awake/half-asleep condition, having my dreams influenced by the music which was still playing on my Walkman. Probably no coincidence that I was doing a lot of writing at this time, and not all of it made sense.

DISC SIX: Help the Aged - Pulp

The one overall link between my song choices is that they, on the whole, tell stories or are lyrically honest. It’s no secret that Jarvis Cocker is a great songwriter, and this is my favourite of Pulp’s. It’s also probably the last song I introduced my Dad to which he liked (we used to listen to this a lot in his car when driving around). Again, it’s another song which denotes a change in life: I was nearing my mid-20s and experiencing all the joys life brings at that age (new jobs, new relationships, relationship break-ups etc.). For me, it also marks the end of the Brit-pop era: British Indie songs had progressed beyond the celebratory and anthemic and it was evolving into something darker and different; the millennium was looming, a sense of entering a new era, and this is reflected in ‘Help the Aged’.

DISC SEVEN: How Can I Make It Ok? - Wolf Alice

My late thirties and forties were not a great time for me: A lot of who I thought I was and what my world was shifted and changed, and it took me a long time to make sense of it all. I liken it to the scene in ‘Inside Outside’ where the islands of personality crumble one by one (that was a real eye-opener: A visual depiction of what I was feeling). This song came along once I had come out of that very long dark tunnel, and it felt like the heavens were singing to me (probably due to Wolf Alice’s singer Ellie Rowsell’s angelic voice: This song is probably my all-time favourite female vocal performance ever. It’s such a brilliant showcase for what an amazing voice can achieve.)

DISC EIGHT: Seventeen Going Under - Sam Fender

It’s a classic angry-young-man song, a recollection of a life that wasn’t great, but there’s an inspiring, motivational drive to it which is an absolute blessing if you’re always dealing with rejection.

The song deals with violence, in particular boys having to be tough at the expense of their mental health. It reminds me of my late teens/early twenties, where I was trying to be something I wasn’t, doing my best to squash down my myriad of anxieties, but also being shaped by what was going on around me and having to adapt; Having to use anger as an energy - an “I’ll show you” attitude because of the surrounding negativity. I didn’t fit in at school, and being out in “The Real World” only enhanced this.

In 1992, I was working as a runner in a youth training job which treated me like a serf and paid accordingly. At times I felt less than human just because I lived in Romford and spoke with an Essex accent. There was a lot of “Ah, you have to learn to take a joke”, which I eventually did, but it never ceased to amaze me how the same people took offence when they got some back.

I remember seeing my ex-boss a year after he’d moved on to another job: I was sitting in the lobby of the BBC and he came up to me and greeted me with a firm shove of the underneath of his shoe against my upper leg, as if that was all I was good for.

I’m sure to him it was a funny way of saying hello. It’s one thing to be on the bottom rung of the ladder, but to try and keep someone there - even if it’s psychologically - well it says more about them than me. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s foot-scrape, let alone his. So, yeah, this is a real f-you song, and sometimes you need songs like these.

BOOK CHOICE: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The ideas in the book are so ahead of their time, but it’s the emotional core which resonates with me: That it’s never too late to change, and that we all deserve forgiveness - not that forgiveness is always an easy thing, sometimes more of an on-going process - and that the hardest type can be forgiving yourself. The fact that this story has influenced so much and has been copied/referenced over the years speaks to the power it has.

LUXURY ITEM: A notebook and pen (does that count as two items?). Either that or a lifetime supply of Lego. I could build a small raft from it, or make a small house to live in.

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Praying for Time - George Michael. It despairs at the world, but with a valid point that we all need more compassion.

Songs that almost made the list (and probably would on a different day!):

Suedehead - Morrissey

Being Boring - Pet Shop Boys

Stay - Lisa Loeb

Find the River - R.E.M.

Last Christmas - Wham!

Fairytale of New York - Kirsty Maccoll & the Pogues

I’m Going Home - The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack

You Give a Little Love - Paul Williams (from ‘Bugsy Malone’)

Appalachian Spring: VII Doppio Movimento by Aaron Copland

Listen to my desert island picks on Spotify!