Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, was on BBC Radio 4 institution Desert Island Discs yesterday. I missed the start, and was trying to guess who it was from the account of his fairly impoverished upbringing. He then preceded record 2 with praise for Elvis, saying he was the best British singer-songwriter out there, and something about being with him - or did I understanding working with him? - since MAIT in 1977, so I thought 'oh it's Nick Lowe' (knowing nothing, excuse me Mood, about his background other than he sounds Londonish). I guess he was saying just that he'd been a fan since then! He then made a superb choice: You Little Fool. A relatively obscure song in the canon, to the average listener, but a song that sums up perfectly EC's skills. Respect to Alan Johnson! I've never been sure about him, but now I rate him much more, especially as all of his selections were great (one of my favourite Beatles songs, classics by Bowie and Neil Young, one of the best slow classical movements ever):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/des ... iscs.shtml
Alan Johnson digs Elvis
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Otis Westinghouse
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Alan Johnson digs Elvis
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
Couldn’t agree with you more Otis! It was one of the best Desert Island Disc shows I’ve ever heard - interesting person, interesting life story and good musical choices.
I've never really taken to Alan Johnson and in the Labour Party deputy leadership vote I didn’t give him any points (members had allocate the candidates 1 to 6 points - I gave 6 to Peter Hain, 5 to Hilary Benn and nothing to the others).
Hearing the programme has definately made me rate him a lot more highly. He just seemed like a really nice bloke.
I've never really taken to Alan Johnson and in the Labour Party deputy leadership vote I didn’t give him any points (members had allocate the candidates 1 to 6 points - I gave 6 to Peter Hain, 5 to Hilary Benn and nothing to the others).
Hearing the programme has definately made me rate him a lot more highly. He just seemed like a really nice bloke.
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southendsteve
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littletriggers
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Can't beat a little Mahler , for some classical suicide music !
I also thought I heard him say he was in the Easybeats that had a chart hit, plus he generally gigged around as teen-twenty something. I thought he sounded a good bloke but like most really good stewards it's keep promoting them up and out of harms way, goodness couldn't have an organised work force trying to defend pay and pensions !
I also thought I heard him say he was in the Easybeats that had a chart hit, plus he generally gigged around as teen-twenty something. I thought he sounded a good bloke but like most really good stewards it's keep promoting them up and out of harms way, goodness couldn't have an organised work force trying to defend pay and pensions !
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Alan Johnson digs Elvis
http://music.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0 ... 86,00.html
Record Doctor
Alan Johnson
The Health Secretary always dreamt of going into pop, not politics. Will Paul Mardles' prescription get his vote?
Sunday March 16, 2008
The Observer
(extract)
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, the man who finished second in last year's Labour deputy leadership contest despite leaving school without a single O-level, wishes that his life had turned out rather differently. 'I would rather be in music than politics,' he says. 'I always wanted to be a singer-songwriter - that was very important to me - but I haven't picked up a guitar since I became a minister eight years ago.' Maybe now he will and join the ranks of MP4, the band composed solely of parliamentarians. 'No,' he says, jumping up to close his office window through which can be heard a noisy demonstration outside the Foreign Office 100 yards away, 'music is too important for me to trivialise.'
There are a few acts about whom he's equally passionate (Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Joe Jackson, Stephen Stills, Ron Sexsmith, Ed Harcourt), all singer-songwriters. Apart from the Super Furry Animals, that is, whose 'Cityscape Skybaby' from their album Phantom Power Johnson chose on Desert Island Discs last year.
'I regret that,' he says, shaking his head, referring to his choice of song rather than the programme. 'I should've picked "Rings Around the World", which would've got more people into them. But they are the natural inheritors of the Beatles' crown.'
· Elvis Costello - Little Palaces
(Demon)
'The greatest songwriter of his generation gets an awful lot off his chest in this fierce and deeply emotional track [from 1986's King of America]. A song Bob Dylan could have written but could never have performed with such controlled fury.'
Record Doctor
Alan Johnson
The Health Secretary always dreamt of going into pop, not politics. Will Paul Mardles' prescription get his vote?
Sunday March 16, 2008
The Observer
(extract)
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, the man who finished second in last year's Labour deputy leadership contest despite leaving school without a single O-level, wishes that his life had turned out rather differently. 'I would rather be in music than politics,' he says. 'I always wanted to be a singer-songwriter - that was very important to me - but I haven't picked up a guitar since I became a minister eight years ago.' Maybe now he will and join the ranks of MP4, the band composed solely of parliamentarians. 'No,' he says, jumping up to close his office window through which can be heard a noisy demonstration outside the Foreign Office 100 yards away, 'music is too important for me to trivialise.'
There are a few acts about whom he's equally passionate (Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Joe Jackson, Stephen Stills, Ron Sexsmith, Ed Harcourt), all singer-songwriters. Apart from the Super Furry Animals, that is, whose 'Cityscape Skybaby' from their album Phantom Power Johnson chose on Desert Island Discs last year.
'I regret that,' he says, shaking his head, referring to his choice of song rather than the programme. 'I should've picked "Rings Around the World", which would've got more people into them. But they are the natural inheritors of the Beatles' crown.'
· Elvis Costello - Little Palaces
(Demon)
'The greatest songwriter of his generation gets an awful lot off his chest in this fierce and deeply emotional track [from 1986's King of America]. A song Bob Dylan could have written but could never have performed with such controlled fury.'
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Otis Westinghouse
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- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 3:32 pm
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Re: Alan Johnson digs Elvis
He's also a Ronfan! Damn, why didn't he play him on DID? That would have been a wonderful first.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more