I can't influence anyone to like my music.
The late great DJ John Peel was well known for his eclectic taste in music, and he's been crucial in bringing many unknown bands into the mainstream. I happen to have a compilation he did, the only one he did, and at the very end of the cd he slipped in his favorite song of all time-- Teenage Kicks by the Undertones. I have never heard the song before, but the way he felt about the song struck a chord in me. In 1978 he played the song twice on the show, back to back. He had wanted his tombstone to read: "Teenage dreams, so hard to beat," a line from the lyrics. And most telling was his quote on the song: "I can't listen to it now without getting all dewy-eyed. And if I play it on the radio, I have to segue it into the front of another record because I can't speak after I've heard it." (7)
Well, for the record, my desert island song would be The Maker (8) by Emmylou Harris. If there is one song that can make me smile, cry, get my mouth agape in awe and my hair on the back of my neck stand, all at once, it is this. In fact, make sure it gets played at my funeral. Go to my house to take the cd if you have to.
(7) All taken from Wikipedia. It's scary how much I rely on it for information.
(8) Though I have no idea why I picked such a thoroughly christian song. I guess it's the way she pushes her voice to the limit on lines such as 'I can't work the fields of Abraham and turn my head away.'
