Desert Island Discs………your thoughts please?

Try as I might the notion of music playing in the house all day generally brings me out in hives, it stops me from concentrating and after a while can make me somewhat snappy. I find that my musical tastes do not generally collide with that of my husbands; a fact for which I am very grateful as he is old hence the gaping chasm that exists in our differing tastes. If I want to subject the house to a rather disparate mixture of music I have an iPod which does the job perfectly well and thankfully remains unchanged from one year to the next and so I never need to be troubled by the dreadful sounds that appear to be permanently on Radio 1.

Instead I find great comfort in the gentle background ramblings and hum of Radio 4. The radio gets switched on first thing in the morning when I boil the kettle for the first coffee of the day and it then stays on until the last person heads upstairs to bed at night. It entertains the dogs who are I believe huge fans of The Afternoon Play, they nod sagely to the various up and downs in The Archers and have probably gained some invaluable advice on Inheritance Tax from Money Box. I adore Radio 4 and Desert Island Discs has a particular place in my heart. I love the guests who have just picked their eight favourite songs that mean a lot to them and I don’t really care that people find them low brow and I secretly adore listening to the insufferable snobs who have chosen their tracks as they think that it will make them sound learned and intellectual when we all know they actually listen to The Birdie Song and know Agadoo word for word.

Well in case you were wondering my list in no particular order would be as follows;

1. Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings but very partial to the trance version by William Orbit as well. <<appears learned for a second and then introduces the notion of trance and lowers the tone>>

2. Blue Oyster Cult – Don’t Fear the Reaper. << lowers tone slightly further >>

3. Metallica – For Whom the Bell Tolls << blog explodes >>

4. Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan – Silence <<……>>

5. Gotye Somebody That I Used to Know – a friend recently posted a link on Facebook about this and I adore it.

6. Beth Orton – Don’t Need a Reason. << not me being snippy but the actual title >>

7. REM – The Great Beyond.

8. South African National Anthem – if you ever watch it on You Tube it tends to be sung by The Springboks with the rather yummy Lock Victor Matfield singing his heart out.

The Bible, ah yes a tricky one this my initial reaction to this was definitely not. A very strict Convent School Education has meant that I am out the other side and a committed atheist so it would be little use to me….however I could always use it as a door stop if I built a house to let the sea breeze circulate or to kill large spiders with as I am assuming my Desert Island will be off Africa so for that alone worth packing for. << waits for a large bolt of lightening to strike >>

The Complete Works of Shakespeare – I am not a fan, I hold my hands up and admit yes I am a philistine but I put that down to being dragged to a Theatre many miles away in Newcastle on the same night as Anthrax a band I was particularly fond of in my youth were playing at the next door theatre so the cards were always going to be stacked against dear William, but maybe now is the time for a rematch?

My Luxury Item – oh, this is so difficult a photo album of my family or a pen and paper, after much reflection the album wins.

My Book – without a doubt it would be Rainbows End by Lauren St John, a memoir of a childhood growing up in what was Rhodesia. It has the freedom that I wish I could give my children and which I experienced to an extent growing up in Hampshire however it would be definitely be without the violence and bloodshed St John experienced.

So there you go the Desert Island Disc choices of womaninabarbour, what about you…….?