Joan Armatrading

Speaker 30:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

Speaker 30:08

The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty nine.

Speaker 30:11

And the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:28

My Castaway this week is a singer and a songwriter. She arrived in this country thirty one years ago, a small girl from the Caribbean, sent to join her parents and a new life in the industrial Midlands.

Presenter0:40

When she returned to her native island a few years ago, she was fated as a national heroine.

Presenter0:45

Her songs are both powerful and vulnerable in equal measure. They talk of love, fear, loneliness and desire.

Presenter0:53

Their author, conversely, is an intensely private person. She is Joan Armitrading.

Presenter0:58

A private person, Joan, who has, I think, little fear of being alone.

Joan Armatrading1:03

I think a desert island would actually suit me. Took me, um

Joan Armatrading1:08

Quite a while to get used to people.

Joan Armatrading1:10

When I was sort of younger growing up I did a lot of things on my own, going to the pictures.

Joan Armatrading1:17

Riding my bike.

Joan Armatrading1:18

Or anything I wanted to do I tended to do on my own. Didn't have a bunch of friends and uh

Joan Armatrading1:25

You know, I was I was an observer. You know, I'd always be the one standing in the playground looking at everybody else playing. Didn't bother me. I was I was very happy.

Presenter1:32

You speak in the past tense. Are you not still like that?

Presenter1:36

Not as bad.

Joan Armatrading1:37

Ed.

Joan Armatrading1:38

I think I could still be better, you know. I I I try and mix a little bit more. I'm I'm still told that I don't mix.

Joan Armatrading1:46

as much as I ought to, but it's sometimes it's very difficult.

Joan Armatrading1:49

Not to be disappointed with people.

Presenter1:52

But solitary confinement would not be purgatory for you.

Joan Armatrading1:55

Oh, I'd love it. You know, when I go on tour, my favorite time is after the show when I've sort of played in front of thousands of people, which is brilliant. I love that.

Joan Armatrading2:06

and then I've been surrounded by lots of people is when I go to my room.

Joan Armatrading2:10

And it's just me on my own and, uh, maybe watching a bit of television or something.

Presenter2:14

Presuming that the island were idyllic in climate and in natural resources, would there be anything at all that you would miss?

Joan Armatrading2:23

I wouldn't particularly miss people, I wouldn't miss the television, I wouldn't miss the radio.

Joan Armatrading2:29

I wouldn't necessarily miss having a car, because I like to walk anyway.

Presenter2:33

Yeah.

Presenter2:34

Well, you'll also have the music, so we'd better hear what that is like, if it's going to bring you any well, you don't need any solace by the sound of it, but uh what sort of music is it? What have you chosen?

Speaker 12:41

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading2:43

Well, I've chosen a a good selection when I'm at home and I listen to music.

Joan Armatrading2:49

I do tend to listen too.

Joan Armatrading2:51

Mostly classical records. Um

Joan Armatrading2:54

And then a little bit of jazz and a little bit of blues and

Joan Armatrading2:58

A mixture.

Joan Armatrading3:00

But mostly classical. So what's the first one?

Joan Armatrading3:02

First one is Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.

Presenter4:07

The beginning of Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor played by Kijung Wa Chung with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutois.

Presenter4:16

So, Joan Armitrading, you came to Britain at the age of seven from the Caribbean, all by yourself?

Joan Armatrading4:21

Yes, all on my own, in a big aeroplane.

Joan Armatrading4:24

um, with the stewardess looking after me all the way, and I had one of those signs on my neck hanging from a piece of string.

Joan Armatrading4:31

Say my name and probably my flight number and stuff.

Joan Armatrading4:33

And whenever I go on planes and I see little kids like that, it always makes me think of me. It was quite scary, you know.

Presenter4:42

You've never flown before?

Joan Armatrading4:43

No, never flown, never been out of the West Indies. Well, I I was born in St Kitts and left there when I was three and went to Antigua, which is where I left to come to England. So that was my only bit of travel and the first one I didn't remember anything about.

Joan Armatrading4:57

And the second one um was was quite nerve-wracking, you know, but

Joan Armatrading5:02

But also very exciting because I hadn't seen my parents for a long time.

Presenter5:05

Why were you all on your own then?

Joan Armatrading5:06

They they didn't want me. Uh

Joan Armatrading5:10

No, my father came to England first, and then I suppose he had to work and save up and send for everybody bit by bit. So then my mother came.

Joan Armatrading5:20

And then they sent for me.

Joan Armatrading5:22

What about your five brothers and sisters? I had two brothers when I came to England, two two older than me, and the other two brothers and my sister were born in England.

Joan Armatrading5:36

So they had to save up for three kids to that's pretty good going, you know. My my I think my father was uh working on the buses at the time.

Speaker 15:40

Yeah.

Speaker 15:44

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading5:45

And can you remember your first impressions of Britain?

Joan Armatrading5:48

Well, I remember I remember getting off the plane and I remember getting on a bus and getting to New Street not New Street station, but there was a little sort of hut there that the bus went to in Birmingham.

Speaker 15:59

In Birmingham.

Joan Armatrading6:00

and my mum meeting me there, and I had two big sties under my eyes.

Joan Armatrading6:04

And I remember my mum meeting me and being very upset that I had these thighs and she was sort of

Joan Armatrading6:09

really upset that I wasn't as well as she thought I should have been.

Joan Armatrading6:13

I've just been very happy to see you.

Joan Armatrading6:15

And not long after that, I d I don't remember the exact month, but I know it wasn't that long after that that uh I saw snow.

Joan Armatrading6:22

Which is brilliant, never seen it before.

Joan Armatrading6:25

And uh

Presenter6:25

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading6:26

Oh, I was just in it.

Presenter6:27

It's

Joan Armatrading6:27

I love

Presenter6:27

I loved it.

Joan Armatrading6:28

Yeah.

Presenter6:28

It must have been very odd, though, to find yourself a a a small black girl in a predominantly white country. Can you remember?

Presenter6:35

having any of those kind of feelings or being aware.

Joan Armatrading6:36

No.

Presenter6:38

Uh

Joan Armatrading6:38

Uh

Presenter6:38

Don't think I know

Joan Armatrading6:38

Is that part?

Joan Armatrading6:40

My parents were never th you know, they didn't sort of say, Well, Joan, you're black and those guys are white, have you noticed? It was never a big sort of issue.

Joan Armatrading6:49

So it was pretty normal.

Presenter6:49

So it was

Presenter6:51

And it never has been a bit.

Joan Armatrading6:51

I guess you've only Not with me, no. No. I tend to look at people as um as people.

Joan Armatrading6:57

You know. I'm I am aware of the color of my skin and and as I've said before, I like it. I think it's great. It a lot of colors suit it, you know. You can wear black and that looks great. Red really shines. I mean, lots of things look great with it. But apart from that, I don't see it as an issue for myself.

Joan Armatrading7:16

I'm not saying that it's not a problem for some people and that it's not something to tackle, it's not an issue to tackle, but sometimes I do feel that.

Joan Armatrading7:25

There are times when

Joan Armatrading7:27

People

Joan Armatrading7:29

Carrier chip.

Joan Armatrading7:31

And and and people sometimes say, It's because I'm black, and it's not, it's probably because somebody just didn't like you, the person you.

Presenter7:41

Let's have your second record.

Joan Armatrading7:42

Itala Fitzgerald

Joan Armatrading7:44

Singing that old black magic.

Joan Armatrading7:46

I saw Ella Fitzgerald.

Joan Armatrading7:48

At Ronnie Scott's, and it was brilliant. It was like watching my mum. So she sings better than my mum.

Speaker 17:57

Uh

Presenter7:57

Battle

Presenter7:58

Black Man

Speaker 37:58

Magic's got me in good spell That old black magic that you weave so well Those icy fingers up and down my spine The same old witch

Speaker 18:08

Aye.

Speaker 38:15

Uh

Speaker 18:16

Uh

Speaker 38:16

Eyes meet mine The same old tingle that I feel inside

Presenter8:23

Ella Fitzgerald singing that old black magic at her fortieth birthday concert in Rome in nineteen fifty eight. Terrific voice. Sings brilliant. When did the music begin for you then, Joan? Can you remember?

Presenter8:35

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading8:35

I say I started at fourteen. It might might be a little bit earlier.

Joan Armatrading8:40

And I started

Joan Armatrading8:42

'Cause of my mother getting a piano. She she wanted a piano. We had the posh sitting room. Um we used to live in one room.

Joan Armatrading8:49

There was me, my mum, my dad.

Joan Armatrading8:52

My two brothers well, actually by the end of it it was uh

Joan Armatrading8:56

My four brothers and my sister, we all lived in one room. And then we um in the house that we lived in this one room, two families moved out. So we got that whole house. And it was when we got the whole house that my mum um got the piano and to put in the potchool.

Presenter9:13

To put in the public funerum.

Presenter9:15

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading9:17

And uh and it was like nobody was playing it.

Presenter9:19

It was just a piece of history.

Joan Armatrading9:20

If it was just a bit of furniture, she thought it would look nice. I which it did.

Joan Armatrading9:24

And I just started to play it, and I just made up little bits and tunes and stuff. And and I didn't start out by

Joan Armatrading9:31

By learning things that I knew um or

Joan Armatrading9:36

learning uh sort of pop songs and things like that. I just started out playing my own stuff.

Joan Armatrading9:41

And my my dad used to have a guitar.

Joan Armatrading9:44

She used to sit on the step,

Joan Armatrading9:46

And he used to play Blue Moon in a sort of a jazz style, which sounded great, but that was the only thing he could play that I remember.

Joan Armatrading9:53

And um

Joan Armatrading9:55

I think maybe hearing him play it made me want to play the guitar, but he didn't want me to play his guitar.

Joan Armatrading10:01

So I used to hide it. We used to have a a cellar with a huge iron door that was like a big uh bank vault door, you know.

Joan Armatrading10:10

And he s he hid it in that room, up on the top shelf, so I couldn't get it.

Joan Armatrading10:16

And um my mum I I saw a a guitar.

Joan Armatrading10:20

In a pawn shop.

Joan Armatrading10:22

And I said to my mum, could I have it? It was three pounds.

Joan Armatrading10:25

And she said no, she didn't have the money, but she had two old prams, and if I would take the two prams to the shop

Joan Armatrading10:31

If the woman would swap them I could have the guitar, and that's how I got my first guitar.

Presenter10:36

Why do you think your dad was so mean about his?

Joan Armatrading10:39

I suppose he probably thought, Well, I should be doing the housework. I mean, that was my thing. I did I did all the housework, which I still do. I enjoy very much.

Presenter10:49

Now this was of course the early sixties when everything was happening on the pop scene. So were you influenced by all of that, or were you always, always just doing your own thing, writing your own stuff?

Joan Armatrading10:58

Yeah, I always I always wrote my own sti. I never was a big fan of anybody's. You know, you'd open the desk of all the other kids and they'd be the Beatles or

Joan Armatrading11:08

chain the pacemakers or whoever was the thing.

Joan Armatrading11:11

But I I didn't get into that. And I think Van Morrison is so important to me because he was the first well, he was the first album that I ever bought.

Joan Armatrading11:19

And I think I would be twenty or something.

Joan Armatrading11:23

Which is quite late to be buying um an album.

Speaker 111:24

Rebuk.

Joan Armatrading11:26

And uh he was the first person that I that I say made me listen to music. You know. When I got my first Van Muysen record, it made me want to buy other records.

Presenter11:37

In which case we'd better have your third record.

Joan Armatrading11:39

Which is Van Morrison singing Madam George.

Joan Armatrading11:45

Yeah, that's it, they're making all the stops.

Speaker 111:45

Hello?

Joan Armatrading11:52

A kids out in the street collecting bubbletops.

Joan Armatrading11:59

Go on for cigarettes and matches in the shops

Joan Armatrading12:06

Happy ticket, Madam Joy.

Presenter12:11

Van Morrison singing Madam George.

Presenter12:15

When then was the first time, Joan, that you stood up in public and sang?

Joan Armatrading12:20

That was

Presenter12:20

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading12:20

Sometimes in the sixties again.

Joan Armatrading12:23

and my brother

Joan Armatrading12:25

I had something to do.

Joan Armatrading12:27

With putting on a concert at the Birmingham University.

Joan Armatrading12:31

He asked me if I would sing a song.

Joan Armatrading12:34

Which I did, but the only songs I knew were my songs.

Joan Armatrading12:39

And um we said, Well

Joan Armatrading12:42

The people that know your songs I think you should sing something that they know.

Joan Armatrading12:46

And I chose to sing something by Simon and Garfunkel, which I think was the sound of silence, I'm not absolutely sure.

Joan Armatrading12:53

And it went down all right. I wasn't the top person on the show, so

Presenter12:57

But it's amazing you could do it, isn't it? Because, as you've described, you're a very shy and introverted child, a loner.

Speaker 113:04

Uh

Presenter13:04

I mean, to stand up in front of all those people and sing, you must have been paralyzed with fear.

Joan Armatrading13:09

Yeah, oh, it was nerve-wracking. I was I was aware that it wasn't my favourite moment in history, but um

Joan Armatrading13:17

I did it.

Joan Armatrading13:19

So when did the first professional break come? When I was about nineteen, I think, I met Pam Nesta.

Joan Armatrading13:27

and she used to write poetry.

Joan Armatrading13:28

And she gave me one of her poems and asked me if I would put music to it.

Joan Armatrading13:34

So I did that.

Joan Armatrading13:36

And then we wrote a couple more songs together. So with the songs that I'd written and the songs that we wrote together, we went to uh record companies and and uh and got this contract. Then I made the first album.

Joan Armatrading13:48

where where I did all the singing and playing and everything on it.

Joan Armatrading13:52

And from then on just carried on on my own.

Presenter13:54

But it was your intention, wasn't it, to be famous for writing the songs, but but faceless. You didn't really intend to be a performer.

Joan Armatrading14:00

Didn't really intend to

Joan Armatrading14:01

If yes, that would have been brilliant. If I could have done that, I'd have loved it. If I if I could have written songs and just have people record them.

Joan Armatrading14:10

And they say, god, that's a brilliant song, who wrote that? And they say, John Armitrade.

Presenter14:14

Mm-hmm.

Joan Armatrading14:14

Yeah, brilliant.

Presenter14:15

But you never made any concessions to being a performer, did you? You never went out onto the stage and performed other than performed your songs.

Joan Armatrading14:24

That's right. I wasn't capable of doing anything other than that. I'm not an exhibitionist.

Joan Armatrading14:30

So as much as people

Joan Armatrading14:32

Might have said to me, Well, Joan.

Joan Armatrading14:34

Because I j all I wore was jeans and a T shirt or jeans and a shirt.

Joan Armatrading14:38

People said to me, Well, Joan, maybe you sh you should wear a strapless, backless evening gown or something.

Joan Armatrading14:45

sit on the stool and strum your guitar instead of standing up, you know.

Joan Armatrading14:49

It that wasn't gonna work for me because I really would have been paralyzed because I I would have been totally uncomfortable.

Joan Armatrading14:55

But over the years I've I've st started to dance about and and and really enjoy myself on stage and I look

Joan Armatrading15:02

Uh my being on stage is my night out. That's my

Joan Armatrading15:06

That's my club.

Joan Armatrading15:08

as my way of having uh, you know, a bit of fun.

Presenter15:12

And then 1976 was the really big hit. That was love and affection.

Joan Armatrading15:16

Yes. I sort of didn't really know what was happening. I was in America when that record came out and was being a success here and I was on tour in America and I remember I had to come over.

Joan Armatrading15:28

From uh in the middle of that tour and do a gig at Hammersmith. I've been incredibly surprised at the response of the audience for this song.

Joan Armatrading15:38

This is my

Joan Armatrading15:40

Music that I do my hoovering to, my housework to, this is Marler's Fourth Symphony.

Presenter16:47

The opening of the first movement of Mahler's Fourth Symphony played by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Mazzell.

Presenter16:54

Joan, there have been attempts from time to time to to tag you as a kind of feminist symbol, if you like, the and the image is a good one, because you're strong, independent, black, female, a star who makes few concessions to glamour, as you've been saying. But you've rejected all of that, haven't you? You don't like that.

Joan Armatrading17:13

Feminism is such a strange thing. I'm very much for

Joan Armatrading17:18

equal opportunity. And I I believe that

Joan Armatrading17:22

If a woman is capable of doing the same job as a man.

Joan Armatrading17:26

She should have the right or the opportunity to prove that she can do it. I I I'm very much for that.

Joan Armatrading17:33

But I'm not for

Joan Armatrading17:34

bully tactics. And sometimes feminists come across as bullies to me and and that's that's the part I don't like.

Presenter17:43

You could also, of course, have used your popularity to deliver political messages. Again, there's been pressure on you to do that sometimes, hasn't there?

Joan Armatrading17:50

Yeah, I'm not I'm not a s I'm not a politician. I write about what I feel I'm

Joan Armatrading17:56

capable of writing.

Presenter17:58

Which is about emotion.

Joan Armatrading17:59

Emotion Yes, which is generally observation, uh, looking at people and seeing

Joan Armatrading18:04

the different emotions and traumas and

Joan Armatrading18:08

Whatever it is they're going through.

Joan Armatrading18:10

You know, I notice when people are very happy in love, uh, the way they look, and when they're miserable the way they look, and it's generally to do with love of something, love of work, love of money, love of another person.

Joan Armatrading18:23

And it's it's quite a strong emotion, you know, so it's it's the thing that I'm seeming to be drawn to.

Presenter18:28

But why do you say you observe it in others? I mean, surely a lot of it is born of yourself.

Joan Armatrading18:33

Well yes, I do write songs about myself, but it's you know, uh I'm supposed to have written thirteen albums, right?

Joan Armatrading18:40

Now there's ten

Joan Armatrading18:42

Songs on each album.

Joan Armatrading18:45

If you imagine that every single year I'm sitting there writing about Joan Armour trading,

Joan Armatrading18:50

Could that be more boring or boring?

Presenter18:52

But

Joan Armatrading18:52

Yeah.

Presenter18:53

But there is a recurrent theme. Um there's a certain vulnerability about all of the songs and there's a recurrent theme of of loneliness. I mean is that part of you?

Joan Armatrading19:00

I mean is that

Joan Armatrading19:02

Mm.

Presenter19:02

Uh

Joan Armatrading19:02

No.

Presenter19:03

Um Yeah.

Joan Armatrading19:03

I'm not

Presenter19:03

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading19:03

Hmm.

Joan Armatrading19:05

Not really a lonely sort of person. I remember when I was

Joan Armatrading19:08

When I was younger

Joan Armatrading19:10

Around about the time, say when I was twenty, twenty one, I remember being lonely.

Joan Armatrading19:16

It's about the only time I can remember feeling lonely. And I used to

Joan Armatrading19:20

I used to live in Westhampstead and I used to take the bus to town and walk around Oxford Street and all those places.

Joan Armatrading19:28

And I used to feel really lonely.

Joan Armatrading19:30

Um

Joan Armatrading19:32

'Cause I didn't I sort of had friends. I haven't got lots of friends now and I didn't have then.

Joan Armatrading19:38

And like love and affection.

Joan Armatrading19:40

But part of it says

Joan Armatrading19:41

I've got all the friends I want. I may need more, but I'll stick to those that I've got. Because I I think if you just have a a few friends that you can trust, that's really good. So I didn't feel as if I was missing out on friendship as such, but I was lonely for something. I didn't really know what it was. Maybe maybe my music has

Joan Armatrading20:00

sort of sorted that part out.

Presenter20:01

Fill the gap.

Joan Armatrading20:02

Hmm.

Presenter20:03

The other thing you very cleverly do in all of your songs is you never talk about he or she.

Joan Armatrading20:08

Yeah.

Presenter20:09

You you kind of blur the gender, as it were, so that the songs are applicable to everybody.

Joan Armatrading20:09

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading20:13

Yes. And and that that works, because I'll I'll I get men saying, John, this song means such and such and then a woman'll come and say exactly the same thing about the same song.

Joan Armatrading20:24

But I I did a on the last album did a song called The Devil I Know.

Joan Armatrading20:29

Which definitely talks about men being maybe not as nice as they should be sometimes.

Presenter20:35

Should we have the fifth record?

Joan Armatrading20:36

Uh this is Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, The Magnificent Seven.

Presenter21:10

A Cincinnati Pop Orchestra conducted by Erisch Kunzel playing the theme from the Magnificent Seven, Music to Wake You Up on the Desert Island. Now, you said that you've made thirteen albums and and and you've done as many tours, if not more. You've sold more than ten million records, all of which a couple of years ago took its toll on your health, didn't it?

Joan Armatrading21:29

Yes. Um

Joan Armatrading21:31

Since making that first album, I've made an album, I've done a tour, I've made an album, done a tour, made an album, done a tour. And the tours are are very long.

Joan Armatrading21:42

And uh by the time it got to nineteen eighty six, my buddy just said, Joan, hello?

Joan Armatrading21:50

I think you need to have a break now.

Joan Armatrading21:53

I've never felt so tired.

Joan Armatrading21:55

couldn't think straight or or anything and I and when I stopped and I and I took a break

Joan Armatrading22:01

I didn't really I didn't do anything. I just I slept. I

Joan Armatrading22:06

drove around a bit, sat in the garden.

Joan Armatrading22:09

Watched a bit of television, but didn't play my guitar, didn't write, didn't listen to much music or anything. For how long?

Joan Armatrading22:17

Well, I took I took a year off and for most of that time I didn't have anything to do with music.

Presenter22:24

Did you then set about reorganizing your life?

Joan Armatrading22:27

Well, I yes, I I said that I wouldn't tour.

Joan Armatrading22:31

as extensively as I

Joan Armatrading22:33

have been doing it up until then.

Joan Armatrading22:37

Um, comes where I did the last tour I think was like two months, which is good. That's the shortest I've ever done. It was nice.

Joan Armatrading22:45

and thought about how how often do I make albums as well.

Joan Armatrading22:49

So I thought, maybe, well, you know, I've made so many albums and I've seemed to have been here for a little while. Maybe I don't need to.

Joan Armatrading22:56

keep pushing myself as hard as I do.

Presenter22:59

You also bought a farm.

Joan Armatrading22:59

Yeah.

Presenter23:00

A stud farm.

Joan Armatrading23:01

A stud

Presenter23:02

Why did you do that?

Presenter23:04

Um

Presenter23:06

You know nothing you know nothing about horses, huh?

Joan Armatrading23:06

You know nothing.

Joan Armatrading23:09

Uh

Presenter23:09

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading23:09

Complete idiot, really.

Joan Armatrading23:12

I don't know anything about horses. Four legs and a tail and a head. That's it. But I s started to set up the the stud farm, hopefully to be

Joan Armatrading23:22

um a a proper sort of business and not just not just a game. For some reason I I sort of got into it and and w and then once you're in it, there's no stopping because you start to look

Joan Armatrading23:35

at the animals as if they're people.

Joan Armatrading23:37

and they're always sick.

Joan Armatrading23:39

That's the one thing you learn about horses very quickly, they're always sick.

Presenter23:42

But if they're sick, presumably it's an expensive business.

Joan Armatrading23:45

It is expensive, yes. It's too expensive really. I wonder how long I can go on.

Presenter23:51

You're far from being a typical rock star. I mean, do you ever put your glad rags on and go out to a glittering party?

Joan Armatrading23:58

Well this

Presenter23:58

This is my

Joan Armatrading23:58

Glad Ray

Joan Armatrading24:00

A black trouser suit.

Presenter24:00

Trouser suit

Joan Armatrading24:03

No, I'm not a party goer.

Joan Armatrading24:06

I did go to a party once, sir.

Joan Armatrading24:08

I went to Paul Gambaccini's birthday party. He invited me, thinking I wouldn't come.

Joan Armatrading24:14

And I turned up.

Joan Armatrading24:15

And it was nice. I liked it. He had lots of good food.

Presenter24:18

How long ago was that? That was last last year, I think it was. So you might think of going to another party this year?

Presenter24:25

No, I don't think so.

Presenter24:28

Let's have the sixth record.

Presenter24:30

This is Verdi's Requiem.

Presenter24:32

Did you hoover to this?

Joan Armatrading24:34

Yep, this is another Hoover record.

Presenter25:37

The Dies Ire from Verdi's Requiem with the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Sir George Schulte.

Presenter25:46

Joan, you live in the country a pretty solitary existence?

Joan Armatrading25:51

When I'm writing, uh I'm pretty much on my own. I have to be on my own when I'm writing.

Joan Armatrading25:57

But once I've sort of done whatever work I want to do there and I go up to the farm, then it's uh it's nice. But uh I don't socialize as much as I ought to.

Joan Armatrading26:09

This is you see, this is this thing with this desert island. It would definitely be right up my street because I'd still have this problem sometimes with

Joan Armatrading26:19

Being around people.

Presenter26:21

Why why do you regard it as a problem? Obviously somebody's told you it's a problem. You say you ought to and you don't do as much as you ought to. I mean why ought you to?

Joan Armatrading26:26

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading26:29

People have been telling me things like this for a long time.

Presenter26:33

You're a very um disciplined person, aren't you? You don't smoke, you don't drink.

Presenter26:39

You're a vegetarian. So in all of this, how do you get your kicks?

Joan Armatrading26:46

I don't know. I just I just enjoy doing whatever I do. I mean, I read my comics, that's nice.

Joan Armatrading26:53

What kind of

Joan Armatrading26:56

The Dandy the Beano, Mandy, Bunty, Judy, Wooppie, Wizard and Chip, Sparky, when that used to come out, Toba Beezer.

Joan Armatrading27:04

You name it, I'll read it. And I get those every week. Still? Yeah.

Joan Armatrading27:10

And I try and get

Joan Armatrading27:12

There's a there's a there's there's a black Superman.

Joan Armatrading27:15

in uh in the African comics. So I try and get different things.

Joan Armatrading27:20

So that's that's pretty exciting, don't you think?

Joan Armatrading27:23

How long does that take?

Joan Armatrading27:26

How long does that take? It depends. Uh sometimes I I read them really quickly and sometimes I try and save them up.

Joan Armatrading27:33

You know, but I I'm not always very good at doing that'cause I get excited and I just have to

Joan Armatrading27:38

Just have to get through the hand.

Presenter27:39

Find out what's happened today.

Presenter27:41

Um

Presenter27:42

Uh

Joan Armatrading27:42

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading27:43

Seventh record

Joan Armatrading27:45

Muddy waters, I'm a man.

Joan Armatrading27:47

I really like Muddy Waters. He's he's one of the people that I wish I could have met.

Joan Armatrading27:53

I love his his voice and his way of playing uh the guitar and the way he looked.

Joan Armatrading27:59

Yeah.

Speaker 328:03

I'm a rolling stone.

Speaker 328:06

For me time.

Speaker 328:08

I'm a boochie poochie band.

Presenter28:28

Muddy waters, and I'm a man. What is there then still left for um Joan Arma Trading to do? Are you ambitious still for something?

Joan Armatrading28:37

Yes, it's still f uh for my work, me and every other songwriter.

Joan Armatrading28:43

Try to write the song that will last forever.

Joan Armatrading28:46

You know, in a hundred years' time they'll be playing whatever this song is.

Presenter28:50

Some would say perhaps you did thirteen years ago when you wrote Love and Affection.

Joan Armatrading28:54

Uh yeah, love and affection is a good song, I have to be honest about this.

Joan Armatrading28:59

Um

Joan Armatrading29:00

And they're still playing it today, yes.

Joan Armatrading29:04

Uh and and and when I sing it, I sing it ever since I wrote it, I've sung it at every concert.

Joan Armatrading29:10

And I I have no problem.

Presenter29:12

That's that wonderful moment when the audience starts to shout and clap because they know it's this one they really want to hear.

Joan Armatrading29:12

Singin' it.

Joan Armatrading29:17

Thanks.

Speaker 129:18

A mixed

Presenter29:20

Well there you are. It's just got another eighty-seven years to go.

Presenter29:25

Is there a sense, Joan, in which you're being carried along, though? Perhaps you always have been, that you are a fatalist, really?

Joan Armatrading29:34

I think things seem to happen that you have absolutely no control over.

Joan Armatrading29:40

There's certain things you can't

Joan Armatrading29:42

Plan. You can't. I didn't plan to get into the music business.

Joan Armatrading29:47

Um, even when I did that first thing for my brother, I I hadn't I didn't do it and then think, Right, this is it, I'm I'm off, I'm gonna do whatever. Even when I made my first record,

Joan Armatrading29:57

I still wasn't planning on doing what I've ended up doing.

Joan Armatrading30:01

Once I was in it then I was very happy

Joan Armatrading30:04

And I made up my mind, yes, okay, this is it, just get on with it, fine, and enjoy it and I do very much. So we have the last record. For Jack, Symphony Number Nine.

Presenter31:05

The opening of the third movement of Vorjak's Symphony No. nine, played by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Kirill Kondrashin. So, Joan, which of those records, those eight records, means more to you than any of the others?

Joan Armatrading31:20

Well, it's it's got to be Van Morrison then, hasn't it, really?

Joan Armatrading31:24

The inspiration. Yeah, it's got to be.

Presenter31:27

Interestingly, I suspect that you might even be happy on this island without any record.

Joan Armatrading31:31

Well, I think I this has been my problem, is deciding what record I would take, because I almost don't want to hear the voice.

Joan Armatrading31:41

But at the same time, if if I did get lonely,

Joan Armatrading31:45

Then the voice I wouldn't mind hearing.

Joan Armatrading31:47

Would be Van Morrison singing.

Presenter31:50

And what about your book? You've got the Bible, and you've got the complete works of Shakespeare. What else can we supply?

Joan Armatrading31:56

There's a toss-up here.

Joan Armatrading31:58

Because people will laugh at me in my comics. I don't care. You laugh.

Joan Armatrading32:03

Comics are great, I like them.

Joan Armatrading32:05

It's the great escape.

Joan Armatrading32:08

So it's a real toss up between comics

Joan Armatrading32:11

and more comics, but I came up with Agatha Christie.

Joan Armatrading32:15

Which one? Uh why didn't they ask Evans?

Joan Armatrading32:19

I like Ogatha Christie.

Presenter32:22

Yeah.

Joan Armatrading32:22

You don't have to be defensive.

Presenter32:23

Damn sign.

Joan Armatrading32:25

And your luxury, Joe.

Joan Armatrading32:27

Well, that's got to be my guitar. I'm still trying to get good.

Joan Armatrading32:31

So I'd have lots of time.

Joan Armatrading32:33

I'd enjoy I'm actually quite looking forward to this. When can I go?

Presenter32:36

Oh, very soon, very soon, even now. But in the meantime I shall say, Joan Armour Trading, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island this.

Speaker 332:49

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.