RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY
Desert Island Discs
Reader's Choice

Simple idea, based on the long running BBC Radio 4 series. Each week on the show, a famous person discusses their life and selects a few songs they would take to a Desert Island. They can also take a book and a luxury item. Thought it would be fun to ask visitors to the web site what 10 songs they would take to a Desert Island. You cannot take a McTell song, but one of your luxury items is a whole McTell album!!! If you want to send me your selection, please do. It is really interesting to see what other stuff you guys like!!!!
Andy

Jeff Reynolds David Baxter Paul Jenkins
Joan Baxter Tim Jones Andy Langran
John Taylor John Thomson Jenny Melmoth
John Beresford Susan Essex

 

Mike Cohen

Jeff Reynolds


MY TOP 10
1. Sweet Little Mystery - John Martyn
2. You Love Your Broken Heart - Greg Trooper
3. Cars & Girls - Prefab Sprout
4. Home Is Where The Heart Is -
Clive Gregson & Christine Collister
5. Wisheries - John Gorka
6. Better - Any Trouble
7. Pulling Mussels From A Shell - Squeeze
8. Northern Sky - Nick Drake
9. The Fading Of Light - Martyn Joseph
10. Solid Air - John Martyn

MY BOOK
Lady Chatterley's Lover

MY LUXURY ITEM
My acoustic guitar (with a spare set of strings and an assortment of plectrums)

MY RALPH ALBUM
"Ralph, Albert & Sydney"

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David Baxter

 
MY TOP 10
1. Skyline pigeon - Elton John
2. We may never pass this way again - Seals & Croft 
3. How come the sun - Tom Paxton 
4. You raise me up - Westlife 
5. The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel 
6. Candle in the wind - Elton John 
7. Against all odds - Phill Collins 
8. Everything I own - Bread 
9. Desperado - The Eagles 
10. There were roses - Cara Dillon

MY BOOK
Kane & Abel

MY LUXURY ITEM
The Wife ( Joan)

MY RALPH ALBUM
"Ralph, Albert & Sydney"

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JOAN BAXTER


MY TOP 10
1. Little Children - Billy J Kramer 
2. Imagine - John Lennon 
3. In The Ghetto - Elvis 
4. Trilogy - Emerson Lake And Palmer 
5. Against All Odds - Phil Collins 
6. Wherever I Lay My Hat - Paul Young 
7. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen 
8. Mandolin Wind - Rod Stewart 
9. Father and Son - Cat Stevens 
10. Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum

MY BOOK
Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H. Lawrence

MY LUXURY ITEM
a wind up cd player to play the above

MY RALPH ALBUM
"Boy with a note"
 

PS Left out my all time fav song - 
It's not what you do but who you are - by Ken Woolass.

I own one of the few copies in the world and it will not be trusted to a desert island but locked in a bank vault for safe keeping for future generations to enjoy.
Let us know your selections.

PAUL JENKINS

MY TOP 10
1. "Tangled Up in Blue" Bob Dylan
2. "Mr. Tambourine Man" Bob Dylan
3. "I Should Have Known Better" The Beatles
4. "Widdicombe Fair" Show of Hands
5. "Hello in There" John Prine
6. "Pastures of Plenty" Woody Guthrie
7. "Free Born Man of the Traveling People" Liam Clancy
8. "Oft in the Stilly Night" Richard Dyer-Bennet
9. "Sweet Old World" Lucinda Williams
10. "I Wanna Marry You" Bruce Springsteen

MY BOOK
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

MY LUXURY ITEM
DVD of favorite Monty Python skits (and DVD player!)

MY RALPH ALBUM
From Clare to Here (American best of McTell cd)

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TIM JONES

MY TOP TEN
1. Sunny Afternoon - Kinks
2. Swept Away - Mary Chapin Carpenter
3. These Days in an Open Book - Nanci Griffith
4. Crime in the City - Neil Young
5. Peace Will Come - Tom Paxton
6. Imagine - John Lennon
7. Rosemary's Sister- Huw and Tony Williams
8. Hey Jude - Beatles
9. Voices in the Sky - Moody Blues
10. Shine on You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

MY BOOK
The complete "Dark Tower Series" by Stephen King 
(instead of bible or Shakespeare)

MY LUXURY ITEM
A luxury sun lounger

MY McTELL ALBUM
"Sand in Your Shoes"

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ANDY LANGRAN

MY TOP 10
1. Piano Concerto from 'Works' Vol One - Keith Emerson
2. Crossroads [listen] - Don McLean
3. Changing Opinion - Philip Glass
4. Toy Factory Fire [listen] - Don McGlashan
5. I Courted a Sailor [Live in Regents Park] - Kate Rusby
6. Wash Away [reprise] - Joe Purdy
7. Revival - Robin Mark
8. Utshani Obulele - Johnny Clegg
9. The Blizzard - Judy Collins
10. The Foreigner [Live in Boston] - Cat Stevens

MY BOOK
Nick Hornby Anthology

MY LUXURY ITEM
An MP3 Player containing my audio recordings of all the episodes of
Porridge and Christmas specials.

MY McTELL ALBUM
"Ralph, Albert & Sydney"

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JOHN THOMSON

MY TOP TEN
1. 'Mary Queen of Scots' Dougie Maclean
2. 'Happiness' Alison Krauss
3. 'Some People Cry' Huw & Tony Williams
4. 'Just around the corner' Kieran Goss
5. 'Wuthering Heights' Kate Bush
6. 'Home thoughts from abroad' Clifford T Ward
7. 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' Crash Test Dummies
8. 'Sailing to Philadelphia' Mark Knopfler/James Taylor
9. 'Right Down The Line' Gerry Rafferty
10. 'Mhairu' Gallagher & Lyle

MY BOOK
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

MY LUXURY ITEM
My
red Yamaha APX7c signed by Ralph - I couldn't be without it.

MY McTELL ALBUM
The Boy with a Note - surely Ralph's most under rated album!

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JOHN TAYLOR

MY TOP TEN
1. Summer before the war Huw and Tony Williams
2. May your God go with you--Nick Jackson
3. Deep in the darkest night Writer Rick kemp Sung by Maddy Prior
4. Rhymes and Reasons - John Denver
5. Monologue - Capstick Comes Home by Tony Capstick
6. Writing Home - Miv Cameron Band
7. King Cotton - Fivepenny Piece
8. Plaiir d'Amour - Nana Mouskouri
9. Hungry Years - Neil Sedaka
10. Colours of my life - Judith Durham The Seekers

MY BOOK
How to become a champion by Percy Wells Cerutty, Athletics Coach

MY LUXURY ITEM
Has to be the guitar (carried by my wife... if thats not cheating .. )

MY McTELL ALBUM
Bridge of sighs The title track is very special

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JENNY MELMOTH

MY TOP TEN
1. Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens
My favourite hymn from my first little school where I was very happy, but I don¹t think it sounded as good as this when we sang it!

2. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Peggy Lee
I love the words, the sadness of it, and the smokiness of her voice. Guess it reminds me too of Family Favourites and the aroma of my mother cooking Sunday lunch while I did homework at the kitchen table.

3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds The Beatles
What did we do before them? So many Beatles tunes I could have chosen, but I love these quirky words plus the images used in 'Yellow Submarine¹ as the song played.

4. Bad Moon Rising Credence Clearwater
Harry, my then teenage son introduced me to Credence. I find it impossible to sit still while this is playing. It would set me dancing on the beach in the moonlight but I would try not to look over my shoulder lest the words came true !

5. When You Let Your Long Hair Down: Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton is a lovely man. I saw him in concert a year or two ago and he restored something of my regard for Americans. This beautiful love song just gives me goose bumps.

6. Take this Longing (from my tongue) Leonard Cohen
Very sexy. I enjoy the challenge of Cohen¹s lyrics and find his voice (unlike that of His Bobness) oddly soothing. You can rarely predict the matching rhyme in a Cohen song ! I was introduced to his work by a group of writing friends and have good memories of that time.

7. Empty Chairs and Empty Tables from 'Les Miserables'
I had to have a song to mark, conflict and the futility of war. There were several contenders, including a creaky old recording of 'No Man's Land' with an unidentified singer, incredibly moving, then ŒWaltzing Mathilda Œ from the Pogues and Mike Harding's 'Accrington Pals'. but I think this song does the business. I love live theatre and have seen Les Mis three times, so on the positive side it is a reminder of the wealth of theatre we have in this country of ours that we are all too good at slagging off.

8. Africa from the soundtrack of 'Cry Freedom'
You cannot help but have tremendous respect and be moved by the whole story of South Africa and the marvellous Mandela. I was relieved to have it confirmed by a black friend recently, something I had long suspected - that black people seem to have a natural ability to sing in glorious harmony - never better shown than on this track.

9. Sei Mir Gegrusst by Franz Schubert
sung by Dietrich Fischer Dieskau
Don't ask me why, my French is reasonable and I have a little Italian but I love the sound of gently spoken German, though my own is very limited. (I'm having another go, back in a beginner's class!) Moreover, there is something about sung German I find irresistible - add this to Schubert¹s beautiful tunes and I am a gonner, particularly sung by Dieskau.

10. Elle est princesse
Aria from Sijetais Roi by Adolf Adam
sung by Joseph Calleja
I discovered opera when I was 17. A much more musical school friend suggested a visit to Sadlers Wells and I was hooked. Then, my first date with my husband Graham was to Covent Garden to see the much acclaimed Moses and Aaron by Schonberg . This was hard on the ear but spectacular, with much sacrificial tomato ketchup so that the man in front fainted loudly in the aisle !

Graham and I now share a love of opera (preferably with tunes ) and I may even have been to more operas than I have McTell concerts. I usually moan about the tenor - so often disappointing, but about eight years ago at the Wexford Festival I had my breath taken away. What a moment when the nineteen year old Maltese singer Joseph Calleja electrified his audience with 'The Flower Song' from Carmen. Two years later he was back singing the lead in Sijetais Roi. He has since made it big; Covent Garden , Vienna State Opera. Graham and I feel we helped to discover him.

MY LUXURY ITEM
my cat Mille
(NB correct spelling)

MY BOOK
The full edition of the Oxford English Dictionary

MY McTELL ALBUM
not till tomorrow

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SUSAN ESSEX

MY TOP TEN

1. Doris Day Que Sera,Sera 
reminds me of my Mum singing in the kitchen when I was a little girl and Doris has a beautiful voice and had quite a sad life – hubby spent all her money – so lots of food for thought!
 

2. John Williams – Concerto for Lute and Violins in D Major by Vivaldi?? 
Gorgeous piece of music –fantastic guitar playing and reminds me of driving my kids to school when they were little – if ever I put a John Williams tape on (yes I am that old!) they’d always want to here this one – they called it the noisy one.
 

3. Mary Black –Song for Ireland 
needs no explanation –what a voice –what a song
 

4. Bob Dylan – Positively 4th Street 
hard choosing a Bob – was tempted to go for one of his beautiful slow ones, Love Minus Zero ,but as most of my choices tend to be slow could do with a bit of ‘beat’. Also it reminds me of how awful people can be and would make being on a desert island seem like fun!
 

5. Richard Shindell –Reunion Hill 
fantastic ‘history’ song –second only to Red & Gold –but cleverly written from the woman’s point of view

6. Nancy Griffith – Trouble in the Fields
could have chosen anything of Nancy’s –I think she is a fantastic songwriter – first discovered her singing From Clare to Here and was hooked

7. Christie Moore – Nancy Spain 
saw him in concert last night –I swear he was singing this song to me! And keeping the ‘Nancy’ theme it would remind me of my ferrets one of whom is called Nancy!!!!

8. Simon and Garfunkle – Bleecker Street 
how to choose one of theirs? Spent my teenage hood listening to them –swear I know every song by heart.

9. Juliet Turner & Brian Kennedy - I hope that I don’t fall in love with you 
love both these artists so a way of getting them in one!

10. Something from Christopher Gluck's opera called Orphée and Eurydice
Beethoven ... no Mozart ... no Chopin .... no Gluck .... do I really have to choose –can’t we have a special classical collection?  OK if I have to: 
Gluck (possibly Christopher?) wrote an Opera called Orphée and Eurydice and I want the one that translates in English to ‘What is life to me without you’. Sorry for lack of info here but would need to get my old records out to find it and this has already taken too much of my time!! 

MY BOOK
Silas Marner by George Eliot

MY LUXURY ITEM
my favourite guitar

MY McTELL ALBUM
Ralph, Albert & Sydney

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MIKE COHEN

MY TOP TEN
1. Waterloo Sunset -The Kinks
I am a Londoner and this song has romantic connotations of a London evening and the weekend fast coming.

2. Local Hero-Mark Knopfler
I have Geordie connections and we still visit Northumberland despite the fact most of the family are long gone or moved away. I love Mark Knopfler's music guitar playing.

3. Till There Was You- The Beatles
My Dad came home from work one night and gave us "With The Beatles" on vinyl. I know this album so well and love the arrangement on this song especially the acoustic guitar middle eight

4. Love Hurts -The Everly Brothers
Hard to pick an Everly song but there has to be one. This is a beautiful and sentimental song. I like schmaltz.

5. Baby It's You- Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe
A song Burt Bacharach co-wrote. Elvis Costello is such a versatile musician and his voice is exquisite on this track. There is a great middle eight guitar solo which could be Elvis or Nick-not sure.

6. Handle Me With Care- Travelling Wilburys
We lived in Hong Kong in the late 80's and this track reminds me of those times. I loved this scratch band. Was given a Wilbury collection and DVD this year. The band play and sing so beautifully together. Even Bob seems to be having a ball.

7. The Picture- Loudon Wainwright III
The passing of time so beautifully captured by a genius

8. Real Emotional- Girl Randy Newman
I met Michaela in 1983 which was about the time I was listening to Trouble in Paradise. Randy could have written this song about her.

9. Cousin Jack- Show of Hands
First saw these guys in 1993 supporting RMT. Their music has been part of our lives ever since. We moved west in 1997. In my opinion this is Steve Knightley's best song my favourite..

10. When Annie Took Me Home- Tom Paxton
I learned to finger pick a guitar listening to the album by Tom, New Songs For Old Friends. I love it and this song is beautiful. Recently got a CD copy burned from vinyl and it is getting a lot of play.

MY BOOK
The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini


MY LUXURY ITEM
My Gibson J45 plus capo plus a few harmonicas-if not spotted.

MY McTELL ALBUM
Hardest choice of all. The Journey might cover all eventualities, I love Blue Skies Black Heroes but only one original McTell song. Have to plump for………Sand in Your Shoes.

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JOHN BERESFORD

MY TOP TEN

1. A Gregorian Chanteuse. "O Ierusalem" from "A Feather on the Breath of God" by Hildegard of Bingen, sung by Emma Kirkby with Gothic Voices. To sing is to pray twice.

2. A Mediaeval Minstrel. "Sumer Is Icumen In" from "Minstel Songs and Dances for a Medieval Banquet", performed by St George's Canzona. "...the minstrels of old knew well enough that unless their songs and dances pleased and entertained, there would indeed be no supper!"

3. A Pearl from Purcell. Suite No 8 from Henry Purcell's "A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet", played by Martin Souter on the 1700 Tisseran harpsichord in the Bate Collection, Oxford.

4. A Bach Cantata. "Unser Mund sei voll Lachens" from Sir John Elliot Gardiner's Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. Oh go on, I'll bring the box set.

5. A Mozart Mass. Coronation Mass in C, complete with Epistle Sonata, by The Academy of Ancient Music on period instruments, with Emma Kirkby and the Winchester Cathedral Choir. Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax.

6. A Beethoven Symphony. It has to be Number 7. Wagner famously described it as 'the apotheosis of the dance'. My, his English was better than mine!

7. An Elgarian Elegance. I heard Elgar's "The Apostles" in the Sheldonian in my daughter Ruth's first term at Oxford. Ruth was among the violins. I was in the gods.

8. An English Daydream. "Dancing at Whitsun" from the "Anthems in Eden" suite of English folk songs that Dolly Collins compiled for her sister Shirley.

9. A Copper Bottom. Bob Copper's poem "The Old Songs" sung by Peter Bellamy on the album that became his epitaph - "Songs an' Rummy Conjurin' Tricks".

10. A Folk-Rock Relic. "Tam Lin" by the Fairport Convention 1969 line-up at Cropredy 2007, courtesy the Mike Harding show on BBC Radio 2. I just had to get a Child Ballad in somewhere.

MY BOOK
"The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Nights", John Steinbeck's "secret" book that he translated into modern English from the Winchester manuscript of Thomas Mallory's "Le Morte D'Arthur". And so began my journey into the Matter of Britain.
+
Shakespeare - we'll need a performance edition.
+
The Bible - New Jerusalem version, please, in black leather.

MY LUXURY ITEM
A supply of strings for each of the guitars others are bringing - it promises to be some beach party.

MY McTELL ITEM
You Well Meaning Brought Me Here. I remember the Free Trade Hall in 1971... all together now, "Wo - ma - a -a -a - a - a - an, la la la, la la la la".

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