I’d heard of Desert Island Discs before, but the most recent episode of No Such Thing As A Fish piqued my interest. Not so much about the programme, but about what eight tracks I would choose to bring along to my unplanned deserted island getaway. And what would be the ONE track I would bring.
I would need a belter. Something to really throw my everything into.
Something metal, to keep the evil spirits company. I was going to have a second mind-melting time signature category, but I think that can be combined with the metal.
Something sexy, to keep the evil spirits company.
Something gentle, but interesting. This will complement the sexy quite well.
A silly skatepunk song to goof around to. This will be a good one to double up for a teenage nostalgia song, too.
Now it’s starting to get difficult. Something grungy would be good, but…Ten or Siamese Dream?
Tom Waits gets his own category, but…what song? That’s tricky.
And for the final song, it has to be something folky. Something with a story. And I’m going to cheat a bit and pick three songs as one.
I am, of course, having second thoughts now that I’ve picked my songs, but this is where I landed this time. If I were to do this again at another time, with a different day behind me, I suspect I would end up with a different list.
The list ended up thusly:
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son
Meshuggah – Combustion (mind-melting and heavy as)
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Mondo Bongo
Portishead – Wandering Star (there’s a little half-second piano solo around the 2-minute mark that makes this song incredibly special for me. I don’t know why it’s so special, but that little repeated chord is something else.)
Blink 182 – M+M’s
The Smashing Pumpkins – Mayonaise
Tom Waits – Tango Till They’re Sore
The Decemberists – Crane Wife 1, 2, and 3.
I regret not including The Cranberries, but I don’t know what I’d take out. Knee-jerk reaction is to remove Blink 182 because they’re not a “good” band, but there’s an energy to the music that I wouldn’t want to part with. I think replacing the belter (Fortunate Son) with The Cranberries would be the way to go, and picking a suitably sing-y Cranberries song.
Picking a single song to keep me company until I’m rescued isn’t easy, but because this is the game, I will choose Wandering Star.
I’d love to hear what 8 songs you would choose to bring along – comment below. 🙂