Physical Address
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Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The first song I liked
When I saw Night Boat to Cairo and Madness on Top of the Pops when I was 11, something happened to me on a molecular level. There was something about the way he moved.
The first single I bought
I Don’t Like Mondays by Boomtown Rats, from Swales Music in Haverfordwest, a 15-mile bus ride from the small fishing village in west Wales where I lived when I was eight.
I know all the words to this song
Someone played the song Oil in the car, and surprisingly I could sing all the songs – not the best ones, but obscure ones like There Are Worse Things I Could Do.
The perfect song to play at a party
Cross The Tracks (We Better Go Back) by Maceo and the Macks has an amazing groove and is three minutes of fun.
I can’t listen to that song anymore
Any version of Moon River because my dad played it at this party we had for him the day he died – the lyrics are about how death awaits you.
The song I make at karaoke
A few Christmases ago, we got everyone a karaoke machine, and I sang Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers with my wife. I love the duet.
The best song to have sex with
Something short and simple, like Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths, which is only two minutes. Or the national anthem.
The song that changed my life
My father once drove me to the Alps to teach me how to ski. We had a cassette, with Pavarotti’s arias on one side, and Bob Dylan’s greatest hits on the other. I fell in love with It Ain’t Me Babe. Dylan is like Picasso. They make several lines and suddenly you can see the whole picture.
A song that makes me cry
I believe in You by Talk Talk. There is something magical about how the chorus fades as the song changes. It has made me cry many times.
The song that wakes me up in the morning
Suzanne by Nina Simone never fails to inspire me. I love how he took a Leonard Cohen song and delivered it loud.
The song I would like to be played at my funeral
I want everyone to dance in the aisles as the coffin is lowered to One Step Beyond by Madness. Then I make everyone cry with Drop, Drop, Slow Tears by Orlando Gibbons.
David The Gray Nightjar album is out now. He tours the UK and Ireland from 10 June to 26 July; he starts in London.
