Memory Tapes - September 2017
A Playlist for Mamu
27th Sept
Today’s Memory Taper is Olga Casablancas (originally from Poland) who’s paying tribute to her much-loved mum.
“Maybe some people will be surprised why I’m sending you this Memory Tape but music was everything for both of us. Since I remember we were always listening to stuff, on vinyl (until I broke the needle), on tapes, on CDs and then by sending each other links, and back to the vinyl.
Sometimes we rebelled together - listening too loud, too late in the evening to all favourite guitar riffs, whilst screaming out the lyrics.
We had so many of our favourites. She absolutely loved London and said that the UK was always making the best music in the world - with only few exceptions like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nat King Cole, Santana or Frank Sinatra. I’m Polish so obviously we had our favourite old bands like Myslovitz or T.Love etc but our love for UK music was really strong.
We are Rolling Stones kind of girls. My mum was absolutely in love with Keith Richards and I'm all about Mick Jagger. We both read all the books there are about them and discussed in details what we just discovered.
We loved Bowie so much and she watched me discovering him after he appeared in the film Christiane F. I was absolutely hypnotised.
I'm really lucky to be her daughter and really lucky that we had this connection, we have so many memories of us just enjoying life, enjoying music, movies. Or just getting tattoos together. Yes, my mum had three tattoos, I only have two and both of those I made when she was sitting on bed next to me getting her new one done. Yep, my mum was the coolest.
We were as close as its gets, we been together through lots of things, and she taught me to be strong, to work hard, be nice to people and to always believe that good times will come back to us and laughter is the best when enjoyed together.
For the gathering after her funeral I created the playlist I knew she would enjoy, made of most of the songs we loved. It's a long playlist - over seven hours of music - below are the most important of all important tracks."
Mamu <3
• Santana - Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile
• The Strokes - You Only Live Once
• The Rolling Stones - ALL OF THEM obviously but especially Waiting On A Friend & Can't You Hear Me Knocking
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
• Arctic Monkeys - 505 / Cornerstone/ The Hellcat Spangled Shalala- any of them
• The Last Shadow Puppets - Meeting Place
• T. Rex - Cosmic Dancer - Billy Elliot
• Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic
• David Bowie - China Girl / Heroes / Sound and Vision
• Amy Winehouse - Love is A Losing Game
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An Ode To Björk
20th Sept
Today’s Memory Taper is Emily Mackay, a writer and music-lover from Southend-on-Sea.
Featuring
1. Bjork – Hunter
2. Leila – Mettle [instrumental]
3. Tricky - Pumpkin
4. Milton Nascimento - Travessia
5. Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
Emily says: “One of the best things about music obsession is how your favourite artists introduce you to other musicians who've inspire them, lighting up a web of connections you’d never have made otherwise. Since I discovered her album Debut at the age of 12, Björk has helped expand my tastes, with nudges sometimes gentle, sometimes forceful; the ever-adventurous, sometimes challenging nature of her music led my own curiosity onward, through interviews, covers, remixes and most often, though collaborations.
Björk is, as the opening track of Homogenic affirms, a Hunter: her quarry is the magic extra element that comes from two different minds meeting and creating together, “1 + 1 = 3” as she describes it. In her career, she’s crossed paths with artists from Stockhausen to Timbaland to Steve Coogan, and called my attention to some things I’d never have been drawn to on my own. Her musical tastes, she’s always said, are extreme, and her role is to be a bridge between those outer limits and her beloved world of pop.
I recently wrote a book about Björk’s album Homogenic, and part of the fun of research has been rediscovering and retracing that web of collaborations and connections, from remixes I’d forgotten about to obscure albums by Björk’s former bandmates. Every song on this playlist has a connection to Björk, though only a few actually feature her voice. There are songs she wrote for other artists (Madonna’s Bedtime Story); cuts from her own favourite records (Joni Mitchell’s Amelia, Public Enemy’s Bring the Noise, Meredith Monk’s Gotham Lullaby, which she also covered), tracks by former collaborators (Tricky’s Pumpkin, Bomb The Bass’s Winter in July, 808 State’s Lopez) and songs that I’ve read were inspirations to her (including gMilton Nascimento’s Travessia, which inspired her to track down Eumir Deodoto to help with string arrangements on Post). It’s a wild mix, and one that will keep on expanding, and surprising, as long as Björk keeps making music.”
Emily Mackay's book Homogenic – no. 127 in Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series of short books about popular music, focusing on great albums - is out on 5 October.
Music Makes The Miles Fly By
Today’s Memory Taper is Brett Jordan from South Harrow. He’s shared memories of driving his (now grown-up) children between London and Lincoln and the very long list of songs that sound tracked those journeys.
Brett explains: “I’ve been a 6 Music listener since it started broadcasting. And, as a 56-year-old typographer/designer who enjoys a wide range of music, I am probably as near to your “core demographic” as you can get. Every time I hear your Memory Tape feature, I think to myself ‘I really should send Lauren one of mine’, and then forget about it until the next time I hear the feature.
So, at the beginning of this year, I put it on my New Year’s resolution list. Now, with Christmas a mere four months away, I thought it was about time I got around to it.
The story begins in 2001, when my ex-wife moved herself and my four children (Sky, Brook, Cyan & Zak) from London to Lincoln. This meant that at least two Saturdays a month I would get up at 3.30am, and drive the 150 miles to Lincoln to pick them up. I would then drive them back to London to spend the weekend with them. On Sunday afternoon, around 4pm, I would drive them back to Lincoln, and then return to London.
On the week before each trip, I would compile a playlist. Over the years I have added and subtracted from the list, which now contains over 7,500 tracks (my digital collection stands at over 65,000 tracks).
As I was compiling this memory tape, a quick glance at the ‘most played’ column revealed a good number of ‘guilty pleasures’ including Spagna’s Call Me, Baccara’s Yes Sir I Can Boogie and Starland Vocal Band’s Afternoon Delight, along with a bunch of Emo Philips, Tommy Cooper, Demitri Martin, Monty Python and Muppets comedy clips.
I asked my children (now ranging from 25 to 31!) for a list of songs they remember. Perhaps, not surprisingly, they didn’t have many specific recollections, although Sky offered ELO’s Mr Blue Sky, Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, Ottowan’s D.I.S.C.O, Toy Doll’s ‘Nelly The Elephant’ amongst others.
The rest of the list is based on a mixture of play counts and a recollection of the ones that got the children singing along. It’s a long list but, remember, it was pared down from 7,500 songs!”
• Build Me Up Buttercup: Foundations
• Beautiful Girl: Pete Droge
• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: Daft Punk
• Lazy Guy: Slobberbone
• I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover): The Offspring
• Last Night: Vitamin C
• Can't Take My Eyes Off You: Andy Williams
• Baby, Now That I've Found You: Foundations
• Girl All the Bad Guys Want: Bowling for Soup
• Kiss Me Deadly: Lita Ford
• Secret Smile: Semisonic
• Too Good To Be Forgotten: Amazulu
• Hey There Lonely Girl: Stylistics (feat. Eddy Holman)
• She's So High: Tal Bachman
• For America: '87: Red Box
• Dude Looks Like A Lady: Aerosmith
• Zambesi: Bert Kaempfert
• Sweet Talkin' Guy: The Chiffons
• Hungry Like The Wolf: Reel Big Fish
• Frankie: Sister Sledge
• Daddy's Girl: Red Sovine
• Copacabana (Disco Remix): Barry Manilow
• Bathtime In Clerkenwell: (The Real) Tuesday Weld
• Ca Plane Pour Moi: Leila K
• Centerfold: J. Geils Band
• Jessie’s Girl: Rick Springfield
• Metarie: Brendan Benson
• Monster: The Automatic
• Freeker By The Speaker: Keller Williams
• The Beginning Stages, Part 9: The Polyphonic Spree
• Say You Don't Mind: Colin Blunstone
• Fun and Games: The Caesars
• 18 With A Bullet: Pete Wingfield
• My Best Friend's Girl: The Cars
• One More Night: Yellow Dog
• Alisha Rules The World: Alisha's Attic
• Bizarre Love Triangle: Frente!
• Brandy (You're A Fine Girl): Looking Glass
• Mendocino County Line: Lee Ann Womack (duet w/ Willie Nelson)
• Knock On Wood : Amii Stewart
• Oh Lori: Alessi brothers
• The Promise You Made: Cock Robin
• Waiting For A Train: Flash & The Pan
• Make Me Smile: Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
• Blue Moon: Marcels
• Beaten Up In Love Again (Album Version): The Doves
• Can You Dig It: The Mock Turtles
• C'Mon C'Mon: The Von Bondies
• Kiss Me: Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy
• When You Are A King: White Plains
• Hi-Speed Soul: Nada Surf
• Cracklin’ Rose: Neil Diamond
• January: Pilot
• Good Morning Baby: Semisonic (feat. Bic Runga)
• Miss Grace: The Tams
• Superman (It's Not Easy): Five For Fighting
• Are You Gonna Be My Girl: Jet
• Pop Goes The World: Men Without Hats
• The Impression That I Get: Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• You're Unbelievable: EMF
• Crush (new): Jennifer Paige
• Always Something There To Remind Me: Naked Eyes
• Rock The Casbah: The Clash
• Come And Get Your Love: Leon Redbone
• Me & You & A Dog Named Boo: Lobo
• Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep: Middle Of The Road
• Whenever, Wherever: Shakira
• Scottish Pop: Spearmint
Did you ever make a mix tape for somebody? Did they ever make one for you? We’ve had mixtapes for friends and from loved ones, the soundtrack to breakups, starting bands, songs played in shops to self-help playlists. We want to hear your Memory Tape, simply email us with the track-listing and story behind it: lauren.6music@bbc.co.uk
Rosie Wilby's Book Writing Soundtrack
6th September
Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian who has appeared on the likes of BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends. She's currently the co-host of Radio Diva on Resonance FM. Her first book, Is Monogamy Dead? is out now.
Rosie tells us more about her book and memory tape: "Music is in my blood. As much as my first book Is Monogamy Dead? is an investigation into romantic relationships, it's also a memoir about using your own life as a vehicle for creativity. It spans my time during the 90s performing in an indie band around the Camden circuit, releasing an album, writing about music for Time Out and then ultimately evolving into a comedian and taking several shows to Edinburgh Fringe and touring them internationally.
These songs were part of the fabric of that time in my life and were gleefully played again last year as a soundtrack to writing the book. Many are mentioned in the book."
Tracklist:
• David Bowie - Wild is the Wind
• The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
• Puressence - This Feeling
• The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way
• Pulp - This Is Hardcore
• Jeff Buckley - Lover You Should've Come Over
• Elbow - Powder Blue
• Midlake - Van Occupanther
• Bon Iver - Skinny Love
• Richard Hawley - Born Under A Bad Sign
• Gemma Hayes - Ran For Miles
• A Girl Called Eddy - Golden
• Eg White - There's Going to be Someone
• Dusty Springfield - I Wish I Never Loved You
• Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
• American Music Club - All My Love
• The Finn Brothers - Edible Flowers
• John Grant - Where Dreams go to Die
• Cass McCombs - County Line
• Richard Hawley - Open Up Your Door
<< Memory Tapes - August 2017
