Appendix 1 - Desert Island Discs
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
APPENDIX 1a
Desert Island Discs Top 10
Can’t Buy Me Love - The Beatles.
During the Christmas Holidays the film Hard Day’s Night was usually shown on the tele’ by the BBC. It was in black and white and there wasn’t much of a plot other than the four Beatles racing between concert halls and hotels trying to avoid screaming fans. In one scene they break out from a theatre rehearsal using the fire escape and muck around in a park to the high energy sound of Can’t Buy Me Love. In another they’re chased by a trail of blundering policemen like a scene from the old Keystone Cops.
It’s the first time I can recall appreciating the Beatles music and we managed to persuade Mum and Dad to buy us an album. We ended up with a compilation rather than a classic, but it was perfect and was almost played to death on the record player that Dad built. It’s currently still up in my loft.
Blowin’ Free - Wishbone Ash
When I was around fifteen a couple of the older lads in the swim squad steered me towards rock bands like Wishbone Ash - the album everyone was playing was at the time was Argus and I eventually added it to my, rather small LP collection. A year later I eventually plucked up the courage to ask Helen Lovett to go out with me - she was also in the County Swim Squad, had blond hair and I’d fancied her for ages. Blowin’ Free is about a girl with golden hair and I associated it to my rather naive pursuit of Helen. To be fair it wasn’t ideal circumstances for a first proper romance - we’d usually only see each other whilst training every night at the various pools around Nottingham and then we’d be rushed off home by our respective parents who had no interest in prolonging their evening and were more concerned about their teenage children getting back to their homework. A group of us were given parental pass outs in 1974 to the annual Nottingham Goose Fair and sometime during the evening I took a deep breath and asked her out.
Now what you need to know is that she was a year older than me, lived in a big house in West Bridgford, went to the (private) Girls High School, and her family owned the UK Speedo Swimwear business. She was a bit too classy for snogging on the back seat of the coach on the way back from race meets so I was left with the odd disco or cinema trip and going over to hers for an afternoon, or for a few hours after training on a Friday. Incidentally getting home from West Bridgford to Bramcote wasn’t that easy and involved a couple of buses, hanging around at the Vic Centre bus station and a final jog back home from the main Derby Road stop so I was definitely showing some commitment to the cause.
Thought I was doing okay when I was invited to join her family for a few days at their holiday home in Norfolk which included a day pottering on the Broads in their cabin cruiser. Not so - a few months later it all cooled off, the regular phone calls stopped, and she wouldn’t chat properly at training. A week or two later a friend of hers passed me a little note that politely told me ‘that was that’ and any hope of marrying my way into a family fortune was cruelly extinguished. I like to think that the real reason was her parents insisting that she focus on her O-levels and saw me as an unsuitable distraction. Last I heard was that she went into nursing, married an accountant and then got divorced - still like Blowin’ Free though.
Starman - David Bowie
Summer 1972 and I’d been invited on a summer training course at Loughborough University for swimmers with potential. There were a few of us from the Bramcote club and it required the parents and coaches to sort out a rota for transporting us the 45 minutes each way for a couple of weeks. What really impressed me was that one of the parent’s had a car radio and was actually prepared to let us listen to Radio One. For one week, at the same time each afternoon, the pick of the week was Starman - it really did it for me because I was an avid science-fiction reader at the time, had devoured all the SF classics, and could tell you a mass of trivia about stars, planets, NASA and the Apollo programme. I’d not really heard of Bowie before but his appearance shortly afterwards on TOTP was one of the more memorable - red hair, jump suit, blue guitar, arm round Mick Ronson - and it launched him to more mainstream awareness. A few months later I managed to get the Rise and Fall onto a C45 cassette and still think it’s absolutely brilliant.
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
In the fourth form we had an English teacher called Miss Garbutt - her lessons were actually something we could put up with because she’d sometimes go off-script and we’d spend time discussing song lyrics, protest movements or Shakespearean politics. Obviously a bit of a leftie but she’d bring in records and explain what she thought was the meaning behind the words. So during the term we ‘analysed’ American Pie, Blowin’ in the Wind, several CSNY and other Californian-scene songs. One time we covered The Who’s Won’t get Fooled Again which gave her chance to plant a few rebellious seeds in our heads.
Moving on a few years to House Assemblies when it was the unfortunate duty of the House Captains, once a month, to organise and run the weekly assemblies for the Upper School. Usually I’d get away with just reading out the weekly sports reports but occasionally the more reliable types ran out of topics for the five minute ‘reading/sermon”. It was supposed to be on a subject that was inspiring or enlightening so we usually chose to talk about some great feat of exploration, wartime escapades, or sporting prowess.
This particular week I decided to try and blend the theme of resistance from Won’t Get Fooled Again with the message from Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. (‘We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness ... ‘). I played the track to get their attention and then came out with, what must have been, a whole load of subversive rubbish suggesting to my fellow pupils that we shouldn’t just take it from the staff if we didn’t think it was fair. Not exactly Wedgwood Benn in full flow and luckily, as far as I know, there weren’t any teachers present to take exception. It caused a bit of a stir with a few of my more switched-on peers but within a few days it had all been forgotten by everyone but me.
Don’t Give Up - Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush
How can anyone not be moved by the words, the haunting music, and the contrast in the despairing and supportive duet.
We’re at the height of the recession - unemployment is at 12% which is double what it was in 1979 when Thatcher came to power on the famous slogan ‘Labour’s not working.’ Everywhere, apart from the slowly growing ‘success’ story in the financial world, was in trouble and you could feel the beginning of a resurgence of the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
I was okay, having managed to survive a major restructuring of the factory that saw half the workforce and staff made redundant (at least 800 people) and a big chunk of buildings and land sold off to developers. I wasn’t in management at this stage so avoided the painful tasks of selection and having to tell people they were out of a job.
On a positive note the rationalisation decision was probably correct (the alternative was a complete closure or a slow death) because it laid the foundations for a more robust, efficient operation and established a working relationship with the unions that could be built on in the future.
The people suddenly finding themselves out of work looked for support from the government to help them find alternatives to feed their families - they needn’t have bothered. It was all going to be left to the market to fix the problems according to the compassionate types in the cabinet like Keith Joseph and Nigel Lawson. At a speech to the Tory Part Conference Norman Tebbit suggested getting on your bike to find work - good policy - it’s quite a ride from Tyneside to Canary Wharf.
Along with the unemployment we saw the social effects that were becoming more manifest. Homelessness, depression and suicides all on the rise and as a society we were more aware of this than in previous generations. The media, the statisticians and the musicians had greater influence and could communicate more widely; problem was it’s not easy to fix at an individual level and charities can only do so much. Again this brings me back to my view on the role of government; help in time of hardship, a path to survival in changing economic situations and some compassion.
Easy for me to say - I was doing okay and had a job, a decent wage and had just bought my first house. This song helped me keep my feet on the ground ….. And I’ve always had thing about Kate Bush even if I never really understood what she was singing about . Enigmatic and intriguing.
Between the Wars - Billy Bragg
Extracts:
I raised a family
In times of austerity
I kept the faith and I kept voting
Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand
For theirs is a land with a wall around it
And mine is a faith in my fellow man
Theirs is a land of hope and glory
Mine is the green field and the factory floor
Build me a path from cradle to grave
And I'll give my consent to any government
That does not deny a man a living wage
I write this during election week 2019 and as Jeremy Corbyn and Labour try to sell the nation their vision for a different, socialist approach and convince us that Britain needs to change, it only reminds me even more of the themes of this song. Clearly he’s not the character and his policies are never going to persuade the middle ground.
What has happened to our tolerant, moderate nation and the dream of a government that we could trust and give consent for them to build us a path from cradle to grave? It feels like we’re less tolerant of others viewpoints - the Brexit rhetoric and associated debate has been awful and the standard of leadership leaves me despairing of when we will ever find politicians with any integrity. A large proportion of the nation appears to want to follow the Tory lead, singing ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ whilst they build a wall around our island leaving the rest of us who still have a faith in our fellow man to watch on in shame and concern. All we ask from any government is to aim to provide the opportunity to earn a living wage, provide a helping hand in times of austerity for those who are struggling, and adopt an outward looking global perspective..
I first heard the song during the mid-Eighties; the miner’s strikes were over and most of the country didn’t seem to care or notice what had been going on. My recollection is of dogmatic, old school union leadership from Arthur Scargill carelessly picking a fight that he was never going to win. He was after all up against the might of the Thatcher and her willingness to use the machinery of state, the muscle of hard- nosed business leaders and the influence of the press barons, but his pig-headed approach condemned the gullible mining communities to disaster.
The really scary thing was how the conflict was almost a non-issue amongst family and friends in the SW part of the country - Yorkshire, South Wales and the Midlands coalfields might as well have been on Mars. Sue’s parents or her brother just couldn’t get worked up about it, or if they did they grumbled about needing to put Scargill in his place and weren’t interested in looking behind the headlines as to what was really going on. It was a similar story with work colleagues and some friends; a lot of them had better, more rewarding things to be getting on with, rather than worrying about SPG police being shipped in, peoples movements being thwarted, and the destruction of a whole industry just to uphold one particular economic and political viewpoint. For sure the coal industry’s days were over but a caring, efficient government would have a policy that ensured a phased wind down with appropriate re-training, re-investment and support. Think it couldn’t be done - take a look at Germany.
This song is a lament for what we appear to have lost; some of the words echo perfectly my own socio-political dreams.
Imagine - John Lennon
Imagine there’s no Heaven - it’s easy if you try.
No hell below us, above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries - it isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
Imagine there’s no possessions - I wonder if you can
No greed or hunger - a brotherhood of man.
You may say I’m a dreamer - but I’m not the only one.
It’s nearly fifty years since Lennon wrote these words - the war in Vietnam was going seriously badly for America, the Middle East was a powder keg and Britain was in an increasingly nasty mess in Northern Ireland. Everywhere you looked there was fighting or famine.
I didn’t give the song much thought at the time. I wasn’t too bothered about global issues or the well being of my fellow man in the early seventies; far too many other local priorities to focus on.
A widening awareness steadily crept up on me through my sixth form and university years thanks to the influence of friends, teachers and lecturers combined with a broader range of reading materials and news items and the opportunity to travel a bit outside the UK. By the time I left Birmingham I was much more clued in to what was going on around me. Later that year Lennon was murdered in New York and ‘Imagine’ went straight to number one when it was immediately re-released.
The message was just as valid - America in another mess with Tehran hostages, Soviets being ruthless in Afghanistan, Muslims fighting each other in the Iran/Iraq war and Christians blowing each other up in Belfast.
You’ve only got to pause and think for moment just how different the world would be without religion, national boundaries or selfishness. (More on each of these topics elsewhere). Lennon’s message sunk in second time round and has been embedded in me ever since.
Fast forward forty years for a 2019 status report.
On the plus side
A steady reduction in the numbers of people prepared to accept religious truths
An increasing awareness that we’ve far more similarities than differences - the internet
and modern communication, global news, science and increased education can all help to allow people to see a different world from that peddled by some religious and political leaders.
Fewer famines and a slow general improvement in people’s health and living standards.
Northern Ireland slowly heading in a more peaceful and prosperous direction.
Let’s revisit in another 10 years as the pace of change seems to be picking up…. some things, like climate change, are going to come to a head and hopefully focus minds.
Just a thought - does anyone write protest songs anymore? I could rattle off dozens from the sixties, seventies and eighties but nothing springs to mind for the last twenty years. Surely there must be some out there….maybe I’m not listening to the right stuff these days.
Take Me Home Country Roads - Olivia Newton-John
What a great sing-along track. The John Denver song was a hit for ONJ in 1973 and I’m sure I’d have heard it on TOTP or sung by her on one of the Saturday evening TV shows like Morecambe and Wise or The Two Ronnies. Easy for a blonde Australian to impress a teenager and the song stuck in my mind.
Five years later and I’m studying American Frontier history as a subsidiary subject at Birmingham and learning how the settlers pursued their ideals of Manifest Destiny, pushing across the Great Divide, through the Blue ridge Mountains and up the Shenandoah River destroying in a matter of decades several millennia of Native American culture. Dean and I had signed up for something a bit different and luckily our professor, Maggie Walsh, was inspirational and I reckon I remember more of her lectures than all the other economic, accountancy and law lectures put together.
Roll on a bit to summer 1981 and Na and I are driving our white mustang out of Washington and heading in the general direction of St Louis. We inevitably would have crossed the Shenandoah and then needed to wind our way up and through the Blue Ridge Mountains - can’t actually recall but I’m sure we must have sung this song at some point (the alternative would have been Laurel and Hardy’s ‘Trail of the Lonesome Pine’).
It’s a pretty big gap to the next time this song touched me - in 2010 and 2011 the group of families we’d been skiing with each year since the millennium decided to try somewhere different from our normal destinations in France and so headed to Austria for a change. The village of Ischgl was perfect and the skiing less commercial with far fewer school groups and pushy queue-jumping French. The après-ski is a well documented highlight of the Austrian ski scene. By late afternoon people finish on the slopes, drop-off their ski kit and head for the bars for a few beers and a sing-along.
The bars are overflowing and noisy and good fun for an hour or so before heading back to the chalet or apartment for a shower and dinner. The kids in the group, all now into their mid or late teens, thought it was brilliant being allowed to squeeze into a bar, maybe drink a beer and generally join in with the Brits, Germans, Aussies, Scandinavians etc all getting steadily intoxicated and all singing to the karaoke classics that the DJ was pumping out. We used to go to a bar called Der Kuhstall (The Cowshed) and you could guarantee that this song would feature.
Second year we went I think we passed a watershed moment - the adults couldn’t face heading back into the village after the evening meal; the elder ‘kids’ couldn’t wait and we booted them out for a few hours on their own.
Rockin’ all over the World - Status Quo
There’s always been something about Status Quo. It’s simple rock and roll, simple words, simple riffs and guaranteed to make you tap your feet or want to get up and bop (prior to being thirty something that is, or out of sight of any younger generation).
During the early seventies the latest Quo singles were coming regularly off the conveyor belt and were quickly captured on a cassette - you could usually rely on Robbo to actually buy the record. Whilst at the time I saw my listening tastes maturing into the more ‘ sophisticated’ side of rock (if that’s what you can call Deep Purple, ELP, Floyd etc) I still felt lifted whenever Quo came on the radio or the DJ needed to get the lads on the dance floor.
They drifted off my radar until one Saturday lunchtime in July 1985 . I was at a BBQ with a group of friends at Jeremy Arnold’s place in Fishponds and the plan was we’d spend the rest of the day watching the Live Aid concert from Wembley whilst steadily munching our way through a pile of burgers. (BBQ’s weren’t too fancy in those days - no marinades, no kebabs, no veggie options - just cheap rolls and plenty of sauce).
Almost missed the start as I was late picking Sue up from home and so we arrived almost bang on 12.00 as Charles and Di finished the Opening and just in time to see Quo walk onto the stage and kick it all off with ‘Rockin’ all over the World.’ Suddenly you could get a feeling that this was going to be big; the crowd was huge, the line-up incredible (amazingly only 15 minutes or so for each act), the sun was shining and it was evolving in front of us: it was going to be a great day and the beers had barely been opened.
I can’t remember exactly when the reality-check happened but it was quite early on. Between acts the BBC screened the Michael Buerk report from Ethiopia that referred to the ‘famine of biblical proportions’ - hardly any words just the soundtrack of ‘Drive’ by The Cars.
Lump in your throat, tears in the eye and half-eaten burger in your hand, transfixed and appalled and, even though we’d seen the bulletin the previous Autumn, and several times in the hectic run up to the Band Aid single, it had receded in the memory. Didn’t need to wait for Geldof’s memorable exhortation a bit later in the afternoon 'people are dying now - just give us the money now.’ There was a queue for the phone in the hall.
Apparently 1.9 billion peopled watched Live Aid and they’d slung it together in just a matter of weeks. I’m not sure anything will match it or capture that global family feeling quite the same again. Maybe our current crop of leaders should be reminded of what ordinary people can achieve for a worthwhile goal; perhaps it needs some similar disaster to capture that spirit of a summer’s day 35 years ago. How about a climate apparently on the verge of plummeting out of control?
Next stop for Quo was twenty years later when I took Stuart to see them at the Colston Hall - they were brilliant, he loved it and I was still younger than most of the audience!
Time of your Life - Green Day
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
So take the photographs and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right
I hope you had the time of your life
I came to appreciate Green Day late. Stuart’s guitar teacher gave him this song to learn in 2004 and I’d never come across it before. For a few weeks it was all that we heard from his bedroom as he tried to practice it but I liked the message that I took from it of trying to enjoy the present and capture the memories in your mind. Shortly afterwards the American Idiot album came out and Green Day became the house band of the year.
In June 2014 I organised a big team event for my team at work - the Three Peaks involved trying to get twenty hill walking novices (including four Italians, three Poles, a Brazilian and a Ukrainian) up and down Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdon in a weekend. Several training walks, lots of doubt and tears, crazy logistics and weeks of encouragement.
Each minibus was given a little pack of ‘don’t give up’ quotes from various historical or sporting figures and a playlist of suitably motivational tracks. This song was one of them. Fortunately the event was a success and the individuals were absolutely knocked out by what they were capable of achieving. The photos were set to a soundtrack and this one kicks it off.
‘Heart of it All’ by Capercaillie was another favourite of this event with it’s beautifully sung references to British mountains and wildlife.
Amazingly most of them requested we got together annually for some sort of event and even though most of us have now left the business I ended up having to put something suitably challenging each year.
And a few others that have cropped up elsewhere
Peaceful Easy Feeling - The Eagles A Girl’ Chapter
OAP Sightings - Gaffa ‘Sixth Form’ Chapter
One Day Like This - Elbow ‘One Summer' Chapter
Perfect - Fairground Attraction ‘The Girl’ Chapter
Field of Gold - Sting
Walk with Me - Show of Hands ‘The Girl’ Chapter
My Silver Lining - First Aid Kit ‘Threepenny Bit to Ironman’ Chapter
Local Hero theme and Shangri La - Mark Knofpler
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Of course there are dozens and dozens more songs from across the decades. Too many to list. Most on instant recall from the depths of my sub conscious at the slightest trigger; the opening few bars is usually enough.. So many linked to moments, emotions, and events. And I’m fortunate; the bands, the artists, the gigs, the energy all coming to their absolute peak during the formative time of my life.
So here’s another 80 to make up my top 100 bands and artists (apologies to all those I’ve inadvertently forgotten) with a first choice song plus a couple of back-ups. In the interests of popularity I’ve chosen ones that most will know although the list also reflects my superficial appreciation of a music scene that I’ve barely scratched the surface of since 1990
These are for me and there’s a story or memory associated with each of them. Maybe they should be on the play-list for when the curtain finally comes down.
Appendix 1b
Playlist
Rules – one song plus two subs per band/singer
Talking Heads And She Was Road to Nowhere, Once in a Lifetime
Blondie Call Me Atomic, Sunday Girl
Bowie Suffragette City Heroes, Golden Years
Elvis Costello Pump It Up Red Shoes, Alison
Fleetwood Mac Don’t Stop Rhiannon, Go Your own Way
Joe Jackson I’m the Man Is she really…, One more Time
Selector Too Much Pressure Message to Rudy, Missing Words
The Specials Too Much too Young Ghost Town, You’re Wondering Now
Simon & Garfunkel America Homeward Bound, Mrs Robinson
CSNY Southern Cross Wooden Ships, Chicago
Neil Young Harvest Moon Old Man, Heart of Gold
ELP Hoedown Lucky Man, Karn Evil 9
Yes Yours is no Disgrace Starship Trooper, Revealing Science
Deep Purple Fireball Pictures of Home, Child in Time
Wishbone Ash Time Was Leaf & Stream, Ballard of the Beacon
Coldplay Yellow Paradise, Fix You
Capercaillie Four Strong Walls At the Heart of It All
B52s Love Shack
Katarina & Waves Walking on Sunshine Going Down to Liverpool
Jimmy Cliff I Can See Clearly Now
Marvin Gaye Heard it Through the Grapevine
Carole King You got a friend
Beatles Impossible to choose.
Rolling Stones Honk Tonk Woman Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Wild Horses
The Seekers World of our Own Carnival is Over, I’ll Never Find another You
Jeff’n Airplane Somebody to Love White Rabbit, Have you seen the stars?
The Doors Break on Through Take it as it Comes, Light My Fire
U2 Still Haven’t Found With or Without You, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Simple Minds Don’t You Belfast Child, Mandela Day
Elton John Crocodile Rock Nikita, Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart
Allman Bros Ramblin’ Man Jessica
Dire Straits Down to the Waterline Walk of Life, Water of Love
Faces Stay with me That’s All You Need, Maybe I’m Amazed
Rod Stewart Mandolin Wind Wear it Well, Maggie May
Kaiser Chiefs I Predict a Riot Ruby
Lynyrd Skynyrd Free bird Sweet Home Alabama
Oasis Wonderwall Don’t Look Back in Anger
The Pogues Dirty Old Town Navigator, Fairy Tale
Sting Every Breath Russian, Roxanne
Simply Red Holding Back the Years
Santana Black Magic Woman
T Rex I Love to Boogie Ride a White Swan, Telegram Sam
Slade Cum on Feel the Noize Born to be Wild, Tak’ me Bak ‘Ome
Bob Marley Jammin’ One Love, Buffalo Soldier
Kirsty McCall Days They Don’t Know, There’s a Guy Works…
Billy Bragg A New England Whose side are you on, There is Power in a Union
Led Zep Black Dog Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love
Plant/Krauss Please Read the Letter Gone Gone Gone
Leonard Cohen Marianne Suzanne, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye
Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb Time, Wish You Were Here
Bad Company Feel Like Makin’ love Seagull, Can’t get Enough
Ian Drury Sweet Gene Vincent Rhythm Stick, What a Waste
Queen Keep Yourself Alive Seven Seas, We Will Rock You
Katie Tunstall Suddenly I See Other Side of the World
Rose Royce Car Wash Wishing on a Star
Tina Turner River Deep Mountain High Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits
Green Day Boulevard of Broken Dreams Wake Me Up
Mark Knofpler Shang-Ri-La Philadelphia, Going Home
The Stranglers Golden Brown No More Heroes, Walk on By
The Who My Generation I’m Free, 5:15
Clapton Lay Down Sally Crossroads, Wonderful Tonight
Bob Dylan Shelter from the Storm Blowin’ in the Wind, Sara
Roxy Music Do the Strand Street Life
Ward Thomas Push for the Stride Carry You Home
The Eagles Peaceful Easy Feeling Boys of Summer, Hotel California
Stevie Wonder Higher Ground Livin’ for the City, Superstition
The Monkees I’m a Believer Last Train to Clarksville
Van Morrison Brown-eyed Girl Moondance, Bright Side of the Road
Neil Diamond Sweet Caroline Cracklin’ Rosie, Beautiful Noise
Buzzcocks Ever Fallen in Love?
Sex Pistols Pretty Vacant Anarchy in the UK
Amy Winehouse Back to Black Valerie
Sade Smooth Operator
Free Alright Now
Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child of Mine
Iron Maiden Run to the Hills
Beach Boys Surfin’ USA California Girls, I Get Around
Hazel O’Conner Will You
Tanita Tikaram Good Tradition
Toyah Willcox Thunder in the Mountains
Prince Purple Rain -
The Crickets That’ll Be the Day
Al Stewart Flying Sorcery On the Border, Road to Moscow
Dave Dee, Dozy Xanadu