Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Musician who formed Squeeze, presented The Tube, and hosts Later on BBC Two.
On the island
Eight records
this would be the first thing I would play as soon as I was washed up on the shore. ... Let's have some fun!
I've always liked Hank Williams, I liked him when I was small, I loved the simplicity and the conciseness of his songwriting. And I like Jerry Lee Lewis because when I was he was one of the few people that was a known pianist from rock and roll
On the Sunny Side of the Street
Is James Booker, the great New Orleans pianist? ... it was sort of magical for me to be there and see this.
The essence of a thing that is great is blues piano, or sort of and a lot of it comes out of the church as well, and this is a rather gospelly blues piece. I love the simplicity and the charm of it.
I think it would suddenly dawn on me that I was stuck in this place, so I would I would uh I would play this record and it would make me think, Oh, maybe I'll get up.
I think that the listeners would certainly agree that this sounds very appropriate to being on a desert island. I think they could imagine me sitting as the sun sunk over the palm trees. This is the sort of thing that I should enjoy listening to.
We're Gonna Jump for JoyFavourite
he is the boss of the blues, the greatest blues shouter uh that there ever was.
Royal Choral Society and Royal Albert Hall Orchestra
I would play this on the island and it would remind it would maybe give I think when I do want to get back, because I remember there was this place that I l I lived and I loved it very much and that was nice, and so I'd like to get back there, you know.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:31Would you say that you're still primarily a pianist, or would you now admit to being a professional television presenter?
I enjoy being on the television. It's given me a great opportunity to meet lots of people ... and to learn a lot from them. But you know, we make maybe we make spend twelve days a year making later and a hundred days a year touring.
Presenter asks
2:02Which do you find more demanding, playing in the band or presenting television?
Well, I think presenting is harder because you have to think of things to say and I find it easier it's it's comes more naturally playing the piano and you have to concentrate more, I think, with the television
Presenter asks
4:15Do you remember the first time you sat in front of a piano?
My grandmother had a piano in her front room. ... And I remember being quite impressed because although I couldn't pump the pedals to play it, other people did ... and then one afternoon my uh uncle sat down and st and played this boogie woogie piece which he knew of by heart and uh I was completely taken with it. And he taught it to me and then I kept playing it
The keepsakes
The book
The Four Books of Architecture
Andrea Palladio
I would take Palladio's four volumes of architecture ... So not only could I read them and maybe learn how to build a little building, but also I could prop them up and actually sort of go inside them ... And it would be a nice little sort of protective thing.
The luxury
I suppose it would have to be a concert grand piano because I could sit there quite happily practising and trying to improve my technique. And also I could shelter underneath it.
Presenter asks
7:23Did you have a music teacher?
I was sent to music lessons with a very nice uh woman called uh Miss Brown, but what she was showing me wasn't what I wanted to learn ... Once I was a bit uh older though ... I had this rather good middle-aged teacher who was very traditional in his methods ... he showed me just the facts of the theory of music and harmony and what time signatures and key signatures were, which meant that I could then go home and pick up a Beatles songbook ... and suddenly I could play the chords
Presenter asks
11:20Where did you play in those early days [with Squeeze], what did you play, and how much did you make?
There were pianos in pubs, which there are no longer ... myself and Glen Tilbrook ... would go into little pubs. And we would actually just bowl in a lot of the time if we knew they had a piano. ... and nine times out of ten, the landlord would say, That's good, do you want to come back next week and I'll give you some money? ... I was thinking something in excess of £7.50 per evening per man.
Presenter asks
16:10Why did you turn down the job presenting The Tube in the first place?
The type of music programmes or sort of youth programmes they had on them were um all were bits of flashing lights and chatting to earnestly to hairdressers. ... And so I said, Oh, no, don't fancy that very much, thanks. Um but at the time I'd just toured a lot and lost quite a bit of money and I decided I'd better do it to get some money.
“it's been one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do to choose the records I'd go to a desert island with. And in the end I realized you can't it's not your eight favourite records, it's the eight records that will respond to the situation of being on a desert island”
“I seem to remember thinking, I had this idea when first doing the tube, I thought the most important thing would be to avoid ever looking uh fashionable, and then it would be fine, you know, if you just had the same clothes and you always wore the same clothes from nineteen eighty one through to sort of twenty twenty.”
“I don't hanker after the past. I admire what we can learn from it. But I don't I can't stand that sort of thumb-sucking belly rubbing nostalgia.”