Since the middle of December I have found myself at every opportunity either downloading or listening to BBC 4's Desert Island Discs podcast. Whereas before I'd put on a YouTube video, Netflix or some music on Spotify, I now find myself listening to either Roy Plomley, Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley or Kirsty Young interviewing some of my favourite people in the whole world. I think a reason why I love this programme so much is that by making a person choose only 8 songs, 8 songs out of all the hundreds of millions of songs in the world, it allows you to learn a lot about a person - sometimes more that words could ever say.
Over the past few weeks, whether I've been cooking, reading, working or dozing I've been enjoying learning more about my favourite actors, writer, politicians and musicians while also discovering a whole host of new names and voices that I am now big fans of as a result of their story and personality but let's be honest, if they pick a great tune then I don't really care who they are, I am instantly in love with them!
So far in my Dessert Island Discs archive listening I have barely scratched the surface but of what I have listened to Dustin Hoffman has been the biggest surprise and also the person with the best first disc with Ritchie Valens's La Bamba. What a song! When I say surprise I mean in terms of his personality and background. Hoffman is one of my favourite actors but I never knew of all the demonds he has been and is still living with. I feel as though the interviews on DID provide you with a much more rounded understanding of a person in comparison to other interviewing platforms such as chat shows that gives you a more superficial understanding.
Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy and Bob Harris have all had amazing song choices, as one would expect. Ranging from Hugh Laurie's magnificent choice of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927 to Bob Harris's pick of Ben E. King's Stand By Me, every podcast presents a delicious box of chocolates in terms of the music that is chosen. I have yet to come across a single song that I have not been a fan of, whether I'd heard it before or not.
A lot of classical music has been chosen by many people to take with them to the Island. Armando Iannucci, one of my favourite comedy writers of all time who wrote Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and has just finished filming the last series of Veep, chose some cracking classical pieces including the Third Movement of Bach's Patita Number Three and The Thieving Magpie Overture by Rossini. Iannucci also included a sketch from Woody Allen's 1965 stand up, 'Woody Allen and the Moose' so he could have the sound of laughter with him while on the imaginary island. Wonderful.
Not only do I get to listen to wonderful music but I also learn a lot about the people being interviewed. I'm not sure what it is but the interviewees get very honest on the show, even to the point where Dawn French was crying while explaining her reasoning for choosing Ella Fitzgerald's At Last . Emma Thompson (another great) chose a disc of her late father narrating the Magic Roundabout and Bryn Terfel chose the wonderfully haunting Myfanwy to remind him of Wales.
Listening to DID just makes me happy. Happy within myself and happy about life. It has developed into a comfort blanket of sorts which I put on to distract me from any worries I have about the world and for 34 minutes I can immerse myself in the life of somebody else while also frantically writing down names of songs and artists so that I can YouTube them later and listen to them over and over and over again. It's also got me wondering which 8 songs I would take with me. There would have to be some Bruce Springsteen in there as well as some Elvis and AC/DC, some Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters or B.B.King, the incredible voice of Jay Buchanan of Rival Sons singing Jordan would undoubtably make it to the sandy shores, some Stereophonics or Tom Jones to remind me of home. Gosh, now I understand why everyone that goes on the show says how hard it was to narrow it down to 8. I need to work on my list for a bit longer I think. Also, I haven't quite decided on a book or a luxury item!
What 8 songs would you take with you? And what book and luxury item would you choose?
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