The Actor's Candid Playlist: Starting with Childhood Loves to Peculiar Aversions
The initial song I fell in love with
My most primal memory is entering a room at nursery school where they were playing Yellow Submarine by the Fab Four. I was mesmerized by the sound effects, and Lennon bellowing: “Full speed ahead!” When it got to the chorus, I remember thinking: “This must be music!”
The very first single I bought
When I was eight years old, I won a competition at school to choose a new vinyl to play at the small dance we had on Friday afternoons. My instructor took me to Woolworths, and I picked out Come Back My Love by the group Darts. The first record I bought with my own pocket money was Mull of Kintyre by Wings from a record shop in Colne. It was No 1 at the time, and I chose it when my dad noted that it was by one of the Beatles.
The tune I do at sing-along
I frankly do not enjoy karaoke and avoid it at all costs. But under duress, I’d choose Summer Wind by Ol' Blue Eyes.
The song I strangely recite all the words to
I just realised that I know pretty much the entire lyrical content to The Boy in the Bubble, You Can Call Me Al, and every song on Graceland by the legendary songwriter.
The perfect track to blast at a soirée
It hinges on the point of the party you are at. At the start it would most likely be I Heard It Through the Grapevine by the soul legend. As the party deepens, I’d work through the Artist, the Stones and Bowie, and when it hits its peak, Phat Planet by the electronic act, Born Slippy .NUXX by the techno pioneers, and Ascension by the virtual band, which is an absolute banger.
The track I can never listen to
I inexplicably detest Mr Brightside by the Las Vegas band.
The best track to have sex to
Come Together by the Beatles.
The album that transformed me
When I was 12 and starting to study the six-string, I’d only listen to 1950s rock ’n’roll, and was fixated on The King, the rock pioneer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. Then my childminder introduced me to Let There Be Rock by AC/DC. It was still rock’n’roll, but it was high voltage rock ’n’roll. As soon as he placed the record on the record player, I was hooked.
The tune that gets me up in the AM
What’d I Say parts 1 & 2 by Ray Charles.
The piece that gets me emotional
Virtually any music makes me touched. Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Elvis and the Fab Four all stir my emotions because of the harmony and pure beauty of the vocals. But The Ocean by Richard Hawley gets me going every time.
The track I’d like to be played at my final send-off
Elvis. If I’m given a cremation, I’ll have Burning Love. If I’m buried, I’ll have Way Down.
