Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin, Margaret Atwood & other authors name their desert island tunes

June 19, 10:18 AMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Book Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

                       Alexander McCall Smith

What eight songs would you take with you for a solo stay on a desert island? BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, the longest-running music program in the history of radio, asks authors, entertainers, and general all-around interesting people to name their eight favorite ditties, along with one book (other than the Bible and the complete works of William Shakespeare which, apparently, are native to the island), and one luxury.

Take a look at the full description of the Desert Island Disc rules and the selections of authors Stephen King, Jack Higgins, P.D. James, Bernard Cornwell, and Nick Hornby here.

Let's hear from a few other famous authors: Alexander McCall Smith, Margaret Atwood, Ian Rankin, Brian Aldiss, and Minette Walters.

Alexander McCall Smith's Desert Island Disc selections

 1. Soave sia il Vento
Performer Kiri te Kanawa, Ann Murray and Ferruccio Furlanetto with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Levine
Composer  Mozart
CD Title Cosi Fan Tutte
 
2. Mah Lindy Lou
Performer Paul Robeson
CD Title 25 Sweethearts of Yesteryear
 
3. My Jo
Performer Helen McArthur
CD Title Robert Burns Collection: The Songs
 
4. Greater Love hath No Man
Performer Nicholas Price and Charles Gibbs with the choir of St Paul's Cathedral with Andrew Lucas on the organ and conducted by John Scott
Composer John Ireland
CD Title The English Anthem - Vol 1
 
5. As time Goes By
Performer Dooley Wilson, Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman
Composer Al Jolson, Vincent Rose & B.G. DeSylva
CD Title Soundtrack to Casablanca
 
6. Part of the Sanctus of Faurés Requiem
Performer Elisabeth Brasseur with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Composer Fauré
CD Title Faurés Requiem

7. On the Circuit
Performer W H Auden
Composer W H Auden
CD Title Poetry International '69
 
8. West Coast of Clare
Performer Planxty
CD Title Planxty

Mr. McCall Smith chose the same book that Stephen King picked: The Collected Works of W.H. Auden. As his luxury, Mr. McCall Smith decided on a handmade pair of shoes.

                                    Margaret Atwood

 Margaret Atwood's Desert Island Disc selections

                                      Ian Rankin

 Ian Rankin's Desert Island Disc selections

                            Brian Aldiss

Brian Aldiss' Desert Island Disc selections

 

1.Old Rivers
Performer Walter Brennan with the Johnny Mann Singers
CD Title Old Rivers/Family Reunion

2.Opening movement of Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Performer Susan Gritton with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Simonov
Composer Górecki 
CD Title Górecki: Symphony No 3…
 
3.Cow-Cow Boogie
Performer Ella Fitzgerald with the Ink Spots
CD Title The Best of Ella Fitzgerald Vol 11
 
4.In the Steppes of Central Asia
Performer The Kirov Orchestra
Composer Alexander Borodin 
CD Title Rimsky Korsakov: Sheherazade…
 
5.King of the Boeotians 
Performer Sadlers Wells Theatre – 1960
Composer Offenbach
CD Title Orpheus in the Underworld
 
6. Oj Lolo Moja or Oh My Darling
Performer The Choir and Tambouritza Ensemble of Radio Osijek
Composer Trad
CD Title Songs and Dances of Yugoslavia
 
7.So Long Mom or a Song for World War 111
Performer  Tom Lehrer
CD Title Tom Lehrer: That was the Year that Was
 
8.Saturn:The Bringer of Old Age
Performer The London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
Composer Holst
CD Title Holst: the Planets

 

Mr. Aldiss would take John Halpern's biography of John Osborne as his desert island reading material, along with his luxury: a banjo.

 

                        MInette Walters

Minette Walters' Desert Island Disc selections

1. Bohemian Rhapsody
Performer Queen
CD Title A Night At The Opera
 
2. Peggy Sue
Performer Buddy Holly
CD Title 20 Golden Greats
 
3. The Marseillaise
Performer Placido Domingo with the Choir of the Paris Orchestra
Composer Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle
CD Title Berlioz: Requiem, Domingo/Choeur et Orchestre de Paris/Barenboim  

4. Symphony Number 9 in D Minor
Performer Various orchestras and choirs, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Composer Beethoven
CD Title Ode to Freedom
 
5. Free As A Bird
Performer Louis Armstrong
CD Title New Orleans Function

6. Brian before Pilate sketch
Performer Monty Python
CD Title Life of Brian  

7. I never went away
Performer Cleo Laine
CD Title Let the Music Take You
 
8. No Puede Ser
Performer Placido Domingo with the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma conducted by Zubin Mehta
Composer Sorozabal
CD Title Carreras Domingo Pavarotti in Concert 

Ms. Walters chose the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations as her book and Van Gogh's "Irises" as her luxury. That would be a luxury, indeed. 

I found reading these music selections unendingly fascinating. They got me thinking about what my own Desert Island Disc selections would be. After much soul-searching and rending of garments, I finally whittled my 50 or so selections down to the maximum eight: 

I Don’t Care

Performer: Fall Out Boy

CD Title: Folie a Deux

 

White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)

Performer: Marty Robbins

CD Title: The Essential Marty Robbins

 

Happiness is a Warm Gun

Performer: Joe Anderson

CD Title: Across the Universe Original Soundtrack

 

Black Dog

Performer: Led Zeppelin

CD Title: Led Zeppelin IV (aka ZOSO)

 

I’m Walkin’

Performer: Fats Domino

CD Title: Fats Domino Jukebox

 

New Favorite

Performer: Alison Krauss

CD Title: New Favorite

 

Midnight Train to Georgia

Performer: Gladys Knight and the Pips

CD Title: Gladys Knight and the Pips Greatest Hits

 

Adagio from Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 8 in G Minor Christmas Concerto

Composer: Arcangelo Corelli

CD Title: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Soundtrack

 

Here, have a listen if you’d like: -- click on the Pop-Out Player button below to hear the Book Examiner's Desert Island Disc selections

 

 

The Corelli piece, the Adagio from the Concerto Grosso, can be heard here.

 

My book? Picking that was the hardest part, but I finally decided to go with James Joyce’s Ulysses. (Missed out on Bloomsday? Catch up with a little literary tribute to Ulysses here).

 

Picking the luxury was the easiest part: a wireless Internet radio. The only thing I love as much as books is BBC radio. O.K., and Cabernet Sauvignon, but that isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity of daily existence.

 

How about your Desert Island Disc picks? I’d love to see or hear them. Put your picks below or send them to michellekerns@surewest.net