The first song I fell in love with
My dad used to have Beatles evenings that he referred to as Abbey Road Nights. I was only two or three, so I couldn’t read but I could use the record player. Sometimes when I wanted Strawberry Fields Forever, I’d get Turn! Turn! Turn! by Mary Hopkin and wonder why it didn’t sound like the Beatles.
The first single I bought
Roxanne by the Police, from Lion Records in Colchester.
The song I do at karaoke
Blue Eyes by Elton John. I saw a clip of Robbie Williams and Danny Dyer doing Parklife. It’s flipping bizarre, although I do like Danny Dyer. That song is overplayed now. People want to have a knees-up, like Knees Up Mother Brown or Roll Out the Barrel.
The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf. Come to think of it, I’ve probably done that more times at karaoke than I have Blue Eyes.
The best song to play at a party
I recently rediscovered New Frontier by Don Fagan after finding it confusing the 80s. Now I have to have it on four times in a row. It’s got sinister, sarcastic lyrics and an amazing groove.
The song I can no longer listen to
Anything by the Carpenters, apart from Goodbye to Love. The rest makes me feel as if I’ve injected acid and sugar, which makes me sad because of the tragedy of the Carpenters.
The song I secretly like but everyone I hate
I don’t really admit to liking Barbra Streisand, even though Evergreen is beautiful. I’ve also only recently been able to palate Abba and got obsessed by Lay All Your Love on Me.
The song that changed my life
When I was teenager, getting into Van der Graaf Generator, Caravan, Matching Mole and Robert Wyatt, Ladies of the Road by King Crimson changed my life, because it was so odd. I was learning the sax, as well as the guitar, and it’s got the filthiest tenor saxophone solo ever.
The song that gets me up in the morning
My dad had Blow By Blow by Duke Ellington on vinyl. Paul Gonsalves’s sax solo cuts across the rest of the album. I thought it was so out there, like free bebop getting freer. I still listen to it every morning.
The song that makes me cry
I’ve got three. I tested them this morning. If You Go Away by Scott Walker. The Way Love Used to Be, and Moments, both by the Kinks. When I listened to The Way Love Used to Be, the lump in my throat was pretty hefty. So I think that has to win.
The song I’d like played at my funeral
It was going to be I’m Your Man by Wham! but I don’t want people chucking at my funeral. I want them to be in emotional agony. So Inheritance by Talk Talk.
The Waeve are on tour to 21 March. The band’s new EP, Eternal, is out now. The 10th-anniversary vinyl rerelease of Blur’s The Magic Whip is out 25 April.
