Tuesday, May 31, 2011

desert island discs



In March 2007, I blogged about having a cunning “business plan” (back in the very olden days!) for producing personalised “desert island discs” for ordinary people like you and me. Well, the BBC has finally got round to inviting the public to do just that (you’ve only got a matter of a few days to respond to Radio4’s invitation to submit your own Desert Island Discs). Somewhat pathetically, I still have a page in my filofax (dated 10 December 1988 – blimey, that’s over 30 years ago!) outlining my own selection. Please note the following: a) I’m still waiting to be asked to appear on the programme, b) my original list contained NINETEEN records, c) I’ve just submitted my own list to the BBC (the telephone will be ringing any minute…) and it only contains TWO of my original selections (Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen) and d) I found it absolutely impossible to restrict the list to EIGHT (I could actually have submitted half a dozen lists of eight records).
Anyway, for what it’s worth and in no particular order, this is my final selection (I’d be very interested in hearing about your own versions!):
1. Love Letter (Nick Cave+the Bad Seeds)
2. Cold Water (Damien Rice)
3. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
4. Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
5. I’ve Got You Under My Skin (Frank Sinatra)
6. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (June Tabor)
7. Let It Be (The Beatles)
8. Symphony no.5: 4th Movement (Gustav Mahler)
PS: Actually, this is NOT the list I submitted to the BBC! I ended up realising that my list couldn’t ignore The Beatles or Mahler – so, very reluctantly I deleted: To Be Lonely (Joan As Police Woman) and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan). How could I?!

7 comments:

bigdaddystevieB said...

My second eight records would probably be:
1. To Be Lonely (Joan As Police Woman)
2. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan).
3. Tank Park Salute (Billy Bragg)
4. Fairytale of New York (The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl)
5. True Love Waits (Radiohead)
6. Mr Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
7. I’m A Dreamer (Sandy Denny)
8. Solitude (Billy Holiday)

bigdaddystevieB said...

Ok, I made a mistake... it's over 20 years, not 30 (22 years plus)! Pathetic...

said...

1. Regret - the blue nile
2. Re:stacks - bon iver
3. Have You Forgotten? - red house painters
4. Sweet Thing - van morrison
5. vapour trail - ride
6. small hours - john martyn
7. she said, she said - the beatles
8. somewhere - tom waits

[9. bill is dead - the fall, 10. are you ready to be heartbroken - lloyd cole and the commotions, 11. little star - stina nordenstam... i coould go on forever! it's impossible to choose really isn't it?!]

just Gai said...

I was going to alert you to this but I can see you found it all by yourself. I'll get working on mine, which will no doubt contain a Leonard Cohen, alongside Sigur Ros, Handel and Annie Lennox. Such fun.

bigdaddystevieB said...

… and my third(!) lot of eight records would probably be:
1. From The Morning (Nick Drake)
2. Goodbye My Lover (James Blunt)
3. Staralfur (Sigur Ros)
4. You Had Time (Ani DiFranco)
5. The Way We Were (Barbra Streisland)
6. Stacks (Bon Iver)
7. Heroes (David Bowie)
8. Symphony no.3: Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (Henryk Gorecki).
I'd better satop there!

said...

...
12. newborn - elbow
13. intervention - the arcade fire
14. on coming from a broken home [pts 1 & 2] - gil scott heron
15. town called malice - the jam...

bigdaddystevieB said...

I've just listened to the "Your Desert Island Discs" programme and discovered that FINALLY I have appeared on the programme (REALLY! albeit anonymously). They read out my filofax comment. I'm not sure how long it will remain on i-Player but, for the time being at least, you can still hear this crucial piece of broadcasting history - and you only have to listen to the first four minutes of the programme.
Bet you can’t wait: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011ttf5.