Readers recommend: songs about islands – results
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http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/26/readers-recommend-songs-about-islands-results Version 0 of 1. Why are some islands enchanted? Well, I reckon I know, but certain things are best kept secret until you know me better. The Pixies, however, progress through their own Isla de Encanta without much fuss. Mama Papa, however, was new to me. I played it to my missus, my brother, my daughter and my mate in Canada, but none guessed it was by Joan Armatrading. Actually, I wouldn’t have known either – though she was born on the island of St Kitts. Blow me down. A Captain Beefheart song surfaces. Not entirely sure what he’s on about, to be honest, other than the Sheriff of Hong Kong, but hey, check out that guitar! One of my old mates, a top actor, found an old Harry Belafonte LP in a car boot sale. He taped me a copy, and I’ve loved it and Jamaica Farewell ever since. I mean, when your mammy approves … Mendelssohn? Well, classical music and myself don’t usually mix, though there are exceptions. I happen to know that the basalt columns of Fingal’s Cave (without checking any of this on Wikipedia) are from the same lava as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. How good is that? Yes, I bought the album Rogue’s Gallery, too. I’ve been to the Hebrides, eaten the fish. The cleanest waters in Europe. It’s the only place where I’ve seen young chaps queuing up to buy and eat raw oysters from trawlers at the quayside. But the price of fish is a livelihood, and I raise my cap to Richard Thompson. The first time I came across Swell Maps was on a Rough Trade sampler in the 70s called Wanna Buy a Bridge? It’s a really old joke. They were rough and ready, but lots of fun. Secret Island isn’t much different, but it puts a smile on my mush. Lee Shore. My oh my. Even my hardcore punk lunatic brother likes David Crosby. One of the great singers. Wish I could be like him … apart from being fat, and bald, and old and the moustache. Next – the Paragons! We’ve already had Belafonte, and I know it’s his song, but I just couldn’t leave it out. It’s so beautiful. And then I check out the links from the comments. Mrs W stops me and says: “Hang on, hang on. We used to have that.” So we did – Herbie Hancock that is, and it still sounds truly fine. Didn’t the issue with Heligoland fly backwards and forwards between the UK and Germany for years? I know there was a dispute, but then political decisions were made to appease each other. It must have been a gigantic mountain before the glaciers melted. Please feel free to inform me more about it. Anyway, Overseer made up a cracking tune about it. Next, down under to Tasmania (or Van Diemen’s Land, as it was known), the world’s 27th biggest island. I doubt if any of those musicians on Shirley Collins’s LP have ever landed there, but I do know it’s where the great Errol Flynn was born. Finally? Time to be Leaving St Kilda. Listen to the poem. Isla De Encanta – The Pixies Mama Papa – Joan Armatrading Sheriff Of Hong Kong – Captain Beefheart Jamaica Farewell – Harry Belafonte Fingal’s Cave – Felix Mendelssohn Mingulay Boat Song – Richard Thompson Secret Island – Swell Maps Lee Shore – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Island in the Sun – The Paragons Cantaloupe Island – Herbie Hancock Heligoland – Overseer Van Diemen’s Land – Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band Leaving St Kilda – Alasdair Roberts and Robin Robertson |