Dudley Island Discs

A few weeks backs, when lockdown started, I asked the extended Hudson mob in Leith to give me their Desert Island Discs – the 8 songs that right now they couldn’t live without, including their absolute favourite. I said then that I’d do something with them and then largely forgot about it until Susie mentioned it the other night.

Overall, you picked 65 songs from 61 artists. I’ll send you all a CD and/or Spotify list of the 9 absolute favourites plus the two most popular songs. Below, I’ve added some blurb as well as links to some of the songs you chose.

Amanda wins hippest Hudson!

There are 57 years between your earliest and latest songs. The oldest song is “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes from July 1963. It’s the only song on this list that was written by an actual murderer (Phil Spector), although I have long-standing suspicions about both Paul Simon and Chris Rea.

The latest was released, incredibly, just 8 weeks ago – Harry Styles’ (actually really good!) “Falling” came out on 7^th March 2020, meaning that Amanda is by far the hippest of us all.  Styles is also the youngest artist on the list – at 26 years old a full 60 years younger than Frankie Valli.

“Falling” is the only one from this decade: the 1960s has 10, the 1970s have 11, the 1980s and 1990s both have 15, and the noughties 10. The 2010s had a mere 3: the Windrush Two were responsible for two of those, and Susie the other.

Margot is a jinx…

76% of those artists were male and a mere 13% female (we had 7 mixed-gender bands).  87% of the artists chosen are still alive and kicking, including the oldest – Frankie Valli, who was born in 1934, and Kris Kristofferson who appeared two years later.

But here’s an extraordinary thing!

Three of the artists (5%) have died since I asked you for your submissions!  Bill Withers shuffled off on 30^th March, the lead singer of The Statler Brothers followed on 20^th April 2020, and then Millie Small (who sang “My Boy Lollipop”) on 5^th May.

All three of them were chosen by Margot, who must never be allowed to put a list together ever again. At the very least Elton John, The Beach Boys and Runrig should be checking in with their doctors.

Bobby Love

The most common word in all the song titles was ‘back’. Amazingly, ‘Love’ only appears twice – both from Windrush – which is just as much as the word ‘Bobby’ – which came from Windrush too.

Fact: Glasgow > Edinburgh

27 of the artists come from the United States, 20 from England, 7 from Scotland, two from Northern Ireland and one each from Canada, Iceland, Ireland, Italy and Jamaica.

In terms of cities, London is best represented with 13 artists, followed by 8 from New York. I am almost embarrassed to point out that Glasgow has four bands represented here, beating Memphis, Detroit and the entire state of California. A mere one (1) for Leith and/or Edinburgh (through Susie’s pal Dean Owens). Before you start complaining, The Proclaimers are from Auchtermuchty. If you push it, I’ll point to the fact that Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits was born and went to primary school in Glasgow.

The individual lists

Below, I’ve set out everyone’s lists, in the order received.

Margot:

Margot was the first to respond, just before her voodoo tricks on at least one Statler Brother and poor Millie Small took effect.

Her first choice was “Sloop John B” which features the amazing Hal Blaine on drums. In fact, he appears on four of the 70 songs: on another of Margot’s choices, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as well as “Be My Baby”, and “God Only Knows”.

She also picked “Me And Bobby McGhee” by Kris Kristofferson, the only artist on the list with a degree from Oxford University. Interestingly, this song was also recorded by The Statler Bros (dead, see above) and by Kenny Rogers (died in late March of this year). Margot’s reign of terror continues…

Susie:

I was at a funeral last year where they played the “Morning Has Broken” melody, but the words were in Gaelic. Someone told me afterwards that it’s actually a traditional song called Bunessan, named after the village in Mull. As it was written sometime in the 1780s, it’s almost certainly the oldest tune on the list.

Speaking of which, Susie also had Runrig on her list (as did Margot), whose first album was called “Play Gaelic”.  The chosen song “Loch Lomond” was later plagiarised for Rod Stewart’s 1980s dirge “Rhythm Of My Heart” – thankfully, Susie picked his much better Maggie May. Rod The Mod also appears on another of her songs: he sings backing vocals on “Hi Ho Silver Lining”, Jeff Beck’s 1967 hit.

I didn’t know this but Ian Hunter from Mott The Hoople was brought up in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire – so maybe Scotland can claim a tenuous link to another of these songs: “All The Way From Memphis”. And, while we’re on tenuous links, we should note that “Graceland” (by Paul Simon) is of course in Memphis.

Susie’s final choice, fittingly for the time we’re living through, is the upbeat “It Could Be Worse” by Leith’s own Dean Owens.

Kirsty:

With five of the 8 songs on her list from artists of BAME backgrounds, Kirsty is the most right-on or has the blackest soul of us all.

Amazingly for an exercise like this, when she chose Freda Payne’s “Band Of Gold” and Rick James’ “Superfreak” she picked the only Motown songs on the list. Others recorded songs there but none of the ones you lot chose were released on that label or its subsidiaries…

Rick James and Lauryn Hill have something else (beyond Kirsty’s list) in common: both have done jail time. Watching his video again, who’d have guessed that old Rick was a wrong ‘un?

Interestingly, there’s another Bill Withers angle here. Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” has him as of its co-writers because it samples his “Grandma’s Hands”.

As her husband, I can’t help but shake my head at the irony of Kirsty choosing “Insomnia” – she’s evidently trolling me with that one.

Jimmy:

Jimmy’s took the most effort to collect, mainly because The Corrymeela Singers’ “Pollen Of Peace” is the only song from the 61 that had no digital footprint at all – not on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer or YouTube…until now. I tracked down a copy of the original vinyl LP from 1980 in a record shop in Cornwall (it still has the original paper insert featuring a photo of a Ms Susan Hudson) and put it online here.

A great selection all round but I must admit to being surprised at seeing “Jump” by The Pointer Sisters there. It reminded me of that Simpsons episode where Homer reveals his favourite song of all time is “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls.

Kieran:

Some great songs here, and with a big Bruce Springsteen flavour. Not only does his “Bobby Jean” turn up, but it’s notable that The Boss has covered both Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher” and Arcade Fire’s “Keep The Car Running” in recent concerts.

Kieran chose a different Proclaimers song (“There’s A Touch”) from Susie, Kirsty, Jimmy and Paddy – who all picked “Sunshine On Leith”.

As far as I know, Sturgill Simpson (whose lovely old skool country song “The Promise” Kieran chose) is the only person on the list who has contracted and survived COVID19.

And here’s a top tip: do not explore what an arab strap actually is.

Donna:

December has lots of ups and downs but, for me, its one constant is an opportunity to rehearse my favourite music argument. Every year there will be a debate about what the best Christmas song of all time is, and the talking heads will say “Oh, it’s definitely “Fairytale of New York”.

Bollocks. It’s actually one of the best songs of all time full stop, at any time of year. It’s perfect.

It’s slow and fast; ragged and sweet; stupid and wise. The line ‘I could have been someone’ could begin any great novel. And the way Kirsty MacColl harmonises the words “Galway Bay” surprises me every single time.

Donna chose Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons “December 1963” (which Frankie Valli didn’t actually sing: I hadn’t realised that until watching that video), and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”. Joel’s biggest hit here in the UK was “Uptown Girl” which he said was inspired by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons’ doo-wop style. You might remember that the star of the Uptown Girl video was Christie Brinkley, whose real name is actually Hudson….

I didn’t know much about the Backstreet Boy’s song “Drowning” but here’s a thing: the woman who wrote it, Linda Thompson, was Elvis Presley’s girlfriend just before he died and then she married Bruce Jenner (now known as the TV personality Caitlyn Jenner). I bet her autobiography is a hoot.

Amanda:

Amanda’s choices were unusual in that there was no overlap with anyone else: all unique artists and songs.  She also had the most recent set of tunes: nothing before the 80s, all the way up to the big lockdown itself.

I was going to comment that it’s maybe the most upbeat set of songs too: “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, “Raise Your Glass”, ”Sunchyme”… even “Cosmic Girl” are all buoyant, optimistic numbers.

But then I remembered that the OMD song “Enola Gay” – although a jaunty wee synth effort – references the single most destructive act of war in history.

Paddy:

Paddy had obviously given this a lot of thought: he has very deliberately curated the longest playlist of any of us, with a running time of 47 mins (by contrast, his sister has a mere 27 mins before she would have to press repeat).

One of his longest choices is “All My Friends” by LCD Soundsystem. He recommended that to me many years ago and, on that basis and due to an iPod cock-up during one of the Edinburgh Half Marathons, I had to listen to it on repeat at least 13 times in a row. It does have the lovely line ‘and with a face like a dad..’ which he will now know all about.

Along with Donna and me, Paddy also picked “Be My Baby” giving it joint billing with Sunshine On Leith which was also picked three times. Paddy voted for that one too.

“Be My Baby” brings us neatly round to The Beach Boys again, with “God Only Knows” one of Paddy’s choices. Brian Wilson has always said that “Be My Baby” – its sound, its arrangement, its feel – was the inspiration for everything he did later. “It started playing … All of a sudden it got into this part—”be my, be my baby”—and I said “What is—that?! Whoa whoa!… My God! … Wait a minute! … No way!” I was flipping out. Balls-out totally freaked out when I heard. … In a way it wasn’t like having your mind blown, it was like having your mind revamped”.

He’s right. Imagine what it must have been like to be sitting in front of the TV and seeing/hearing this for the first time.

When Rolling Stone magazine did its ‘Greatest Songs Of All Time’ list in 2005, “God Only Knows” came in at 25, “Be My Baby” at 22. None of our other choices were higher.

I wasn’t aware of this Sigur Ros song Ara Batur until Paddy’s list came through. I now think it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard.

David:

I’ve blabbed on about two of my favourites already, both of which I share with Donna.

And I had to go for at least one Rolling Stones song. In the end I went for “Gimme Shelter” whose end of days, apocalyptic tone seemed appropriate at the beginning of lockdown. But those sketchy, scratchy little riffs that start that masterpiece have thrilled me for nearly 40 years: it’s the first song on Let It Bleed, one of the very few LPs my dad had in the house when I was growing up.

The only band I’ve seen more than the Stones are my beloved Teenage Fanclub. Their “Ain’t That Enough” is as good as any, and celebrates the sun coming up, which seems fair enough at the moment.  My Blue Nile choice is also about the weather. “Tinseltown In The Rain”  is on the face of it just about the pissing rain in Glasgow, and how weirdly beautiful that can be. I’ve always thought that Frank Sinatra should have covered this.

I’ll mention just two more. The first is a song I’d never even heard until January of this year, when it was thrown at me for Italian homework. “L’appuntamento” by Ornella Vanoni feels quite summer-y, with that bossa nova thing going on (it’s based on a Brazilian tune). But the lyrics, about a woman waiting on her lover coming back, are quite sad:

“Amore, fai presto, io non resisto. Se tu non arrivi, non esisto, non esisto, non esisto…” – I think that means: “Love, be quick, I can’t stand waiting/ and if you don’t arrive…I don’t exist, I don’t exist, I don’t exist…”

And finally.

 

Ladies & Gentlemen.

 

Be upstanding for the Queen.

Writing and singing the Blues as well as she did Soul or Gospel…”Good To Me As I Am To You”.