8 Island Tracks — I’ll Show You Mine If You’ll Show Me Yours

Let’s face it, we’ll never be famous

If you know me, you know that I love a good podcast, and one of my absolute favourites is BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. One of the longest-running radio shows ever, celebrities are asked to pick 8 discs that they’d take with them if they were cast away on a desert island. The tracks usually form the story of their lives.

Since I expect it to be a few years (quite a few!) before I get a call from the BBC to schedule my appearance on the show, I thought it would be fun to do a similar thing here on Medium. I’ve listed my 8 tracks below and I’ve tagged a few of you to write an article sharing yours if you would like to. If I’ve not tagged you, jump on anyway!

I love music of almost all genres, and I found it so hard to pick just 8 because these don’t fully represent me. These aren’t necessarily my all-time favourites, but these are a timeline and are representative of events in my life… I hope you enjoy!

Heart Of Glass — Blondie

The first single I ever bought. I loved the way Debbie Harry looked and I wanted to be her. Dancing was my hobby and I heard this track at a lesson. I guess I was maybe 7? My mum took me to the local record store — Bruce’s — to buy it for my birthday and I played it on our 1950s radiogram when I got home.

The disc was scratched and it skipped. We took it back to the store in its red plastic carrier bag “I Found It At Bruce’s” and the guy there suggested that this feature was a part of the song and that I just didn’t understand it. Bloody cheek! Even at 7 I could understand the difference between a musical effect and a defect.

Love Cats — The Cure

I guess this was the point at which I realized indie/alt was the genre for me. As a lanky, flat-chested and geeky tween with a hand-flapping issue, I recognized that I was not going to be either Debbie Harry or whatever the Scottish equivalent of Prom Queen was. I was going to be a scientist or a computer programmer.

Turns out I did both. My true place was with the type of person who had hair like a fright wig and crooked lipstick. And in my heart, it still is — although I do a pretty good imitation of vanilla mom these days, no longer flat chested. I can so clearly remember the first time I heard this, in a friend’s bedroom with a lurid 70s purple carpet.

Debaser — Pixies

Though I’d lapsed into an acquaintance with bands like Bon Jovi in my mid-teens, by my first year at university I was back to keeping company with the fright wig set. My boyfriend introduced me to the Pixies and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Unlike the Cure whose lead singer now looks like Liz Taylor in a mu-mu (sorry, Bob), the Pixies were never hot (apart from Kim Deal maybe) so it’s not at all upsetting to go see them live even now. This band has been so influential. Debaser is one of my favorites — although Gigantic wins for dancing every time.

Sons Of The Stage — World Of Twist

How to sum up the whole of British music of the late 80s and early 90s in one song? Acid House, Madchester, Britpop. It can’t be done. This is the closest I can get and I’m taking this to the island because I can listen to it over and over and not get fed up. It doesn’t make me feel emotional which is good.

And in the words of Rufus from Bill and Ted, “It’s excellent for dancing”.

Bohemian Like You — The Dandy Warhols

I’ve already written about how important this song is to me. You can read that story here:

I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor — Arctic Monkeys

I must say I was a bit discombobulated when I moved to Canada. You’d think it wouldn’t be a culture shock coming from the UK, but it was. I didn’t understand the music and now a had a kid so I felt old. It was harder to get a job than I expected and although Canadians are very polite I found it hard to make friends.

Fortunately, I still had a pair of 4” wedges and a cute pair of khaki kick-flares. I did look good on the dance floor, still. And this was the song to shake it to. Finally, a little bit of Britain I could reconnect to. Brilliant band.

Poets — The Tragically Hip

Over time, I made my peace with living in Canada. It is a wonderful country. I love the different seasons, the outdoor lifestyle, the feeling of safety, and the lack of a rigid class structure. There’s a wonderful feeling of inclusiveness here that is very carefully nurtured by schools, businesses and government.

Our lifestyle here is way better than we could have achieved in Britain. As with many Canadians, we enjoy spending weekends at cottages on the lakes. Campfires, s’mores, canoeing, tubing — and Canadian bands like Sloan, Sam Roberts, and of course the Tragically Hip are the soundtrack. Poets is a favourite of mine.

Freddie Freeloader — Miles Davis

“Sometimes I like to go home, throw on some Kenny G and take a bath.” Ok, not Kenny G — Miles Davis. Am I getting old, like Ross from Friends? I guess so. But Miles or Chet is the perfect music to relax to, at dinner, with a G&T under the stars, or on a wonderful Tuscan evening. Now, this I could listen to forever on a desert island. If I had to pick just one track to take, this would be it.

I hope you enjoyed these 8 picks. As well as those tracks I’m allowed a book and a luxury. I’d take Flora Britannica by Richard Mabey, and I’d take a big brass bed with a thick mattress, thin pillows and wonderful white cotton sheets.

It’s an impossible task. No Smiths, no Grunge, no Shoegaze, no Stone Roses.

What 8 tracks would you take to your island?

C.A. Jaymes, Scot Butwell, Sharing Words, Lee David Tyrrell, Anthony Overs, Gerald Sturgill, Or Mishal, Ulf A. Fischbeck, The Octogig, Michael L Butler, Indigo

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