The Saturday List #213 - Ten songs that changed the way I think

Soundman

I've been in Portugal for the week. As I always do, I took a couple of books to read on the plane. Soundman by Glyn Johns (Music producer and Engineer) and a Bowie book by Paul Morley. I love reading on flights and as it was raining for much of the week, I had plenty of opportunities in the apartment to read both. It got me thinking about music and its place in my life. Music has without doubt shaped me and made me a better, calmer person.
 But which songs were the most important in changing the way I think? Here is my list and here's why


1.  Song for our Ancestors - The Steve Miller Band. How can a calm, quiet instrumental track change the way you think? Seemingly a ridiculous question but this is the first piece of music that ever made me put off the lights, light a candle, lay back and just enjoy the tranquillity of a beautiful piece of music. When some time out is needed, this is very much my go to track.

2.    Betrayal Takes Two - Richard Hell and The Voidoids. Perhaps the most grown up piece of music to emerge from the punk era. I had always thought of betrayal in the Christian sense, of Judas Iscariot and thirty pieces of silver. This song is about betrayal in a relationship. It is about how we change and our feelings change, and how sometimes not holding on to the past and things which we are only attached to for sentimental reasons is not positive. As a musician if ever I find the right singer, I’d love to record this as I feel it should sound. I love the Voidoids version, but I think there is a monster lurking within the song, waiting to be unleashed.

3.   You can’t put your arm around a memory - Johnny Thunders. There are a few versions of this knocking around, but the one from his solo acoustic album is the best. It almost destroys me listening to it. The title is self explanatory. There is the pathos of Thunders drug induced death, but there is so much more. The song has got me through various relationship break ups, deaths of loved ones and friends. The message of the song is just to let go, however painful that might be.

4.    Gloria - By Patti Smith. She opens the song with the stark line ‘Jesus Died for Somebody’s sins but not mine’. As someone born and raised a Roman Catholic, this was shocking beyond belief when I first heard it as a fifteen year old. I was intrigued, but then I realised Patti Smith was saying she was taking responsibility for her actions. Maybe if a few more religious haters faced up to the fact that their sins belong to them, the world would be a better place.

5.    God Save The Queen - The Sex Pistols. Another song that shook me hearing it as a 14 year old. The country was having a love in with the Monarchy in 1977, for Her Majesties Silver Jubilee.  How could anyone have the impertinence to have a number one record with a anti monarchy song in the week of her jubilee? But if you looked at the institutions of state, many were morally bankrupt at the time. The Police were institutionally racists, the courts were convicting all sorts of people on flimsy and highly dodgy charges. British citizens were being interned without trial in Northern Ireland. Much as we love her majesty, her state was behaving in an appalling way and someone had to hold the mirror up.

6.    I feel like I’m fixing to die - Country Joe and The Fish. This song is to me the best anti war song ever. Written in protest at the Vietnam War, you can change the lyrics to replace Vietnam with just about any post WWII conflict. It help reshape the way I thought about war, which had been shaped by comics and John Wayne films. It was an inspiration for the song Action Shock, that my band The False Dots play as our set finale.

7.    Too much Too young - The Specials. A song about teenage pregnancy and relationship responsibilities. Thought provoking and to the point. I love The Specials and everything they stand for. Many of their songs are thought provoking, but this one, to me stands out.

8.    Germ Free Adolescence - X Ray Specs. There are many things about Poly Styrene that I loved, I believe that it is a sad truth her talent could only flourish in the punk era. This song was  a truly bizarre piece of work on the subject of teenage obsessive behaviour. Although not something I had a problem with, I read an interview with Poly where she stated that we shouldn’t mock people for their differences and oddities. It was a wake up call for someone at a very macho Catholic Boys school.

9.    Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding. I can remember hearing this song on the Jukebox of The Railway pub in West Hampstead. I immediately checked out what it was and played it five times. It is a song about dislocation and loneliness, but not in a bad way. It  is a very thoughtful song and it takes me to quiet times and places.  My only criticism is that it isn’t ten minutes long. It has a calming effect on me unlike any other song. One I always play on the jukebox if I’ve had a bad day.

10.   Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones. Until the advent of punk, my taste in music was largely informed by my elder sisters record collection. The album I played most was Sticky Fingers. Initially Brown Sugar was my favourite track, but the more I listened, the more intrigued I was by Moonlight Mile. I would ponder for hours over the meaning, until that point, I’d never really listened to music to analyse it. From that point on if I was listening to something at home it had not only to be musically exciting but had to excite my brain. I think my deeper interest in music was born listening to this number.