Hello, I’m Dominic. Welcome to “That Song”; a weekly podcast about understanding how the people around me feel when they listen to a particular piece of music.
We’re going to be hearing from different folk I know for around 5 or 10 minutes about a song that gives them big feelings.
My mission is to gather a sound archive of the people around me talking about music - one song - that is important to them in some way. I reckon we’ll touch on topics such as childhood memories, mood and relationships.
My friend Joe Healey chats about what makes Blood on the Motorway by DJ Shadow his favourite song. Limewire, Sampling, iTunes Libraries, formative years and funerals.
Quotes:
"Alchemy, but at the same time unbelievably accessible"
"that possibility always intrigued me"
"please take it on an mp3 or on your phone to my funeral"
"i was trying to complete music"
"you could suddenly just get them at your fingertips"
This week we hear from my good friend David Casey. David and I were in the folk rock’n’roll band Ogre Melodies together. His song choice is Night of the Pencils by Tubelord. He talks about 6th form college, meeting new people, meeting his wife and forming friendships he holds dear to this day.
Key Quotes
It’s where I met my wife. I met the two people who gave speeches at my wedding.
Holy shit there are so many amazing people where I live.
It felt like every week I was meeting somebody else who was really funny or nice or interesting.
You could go see them for £5 cover!
The intimacy is so palpable.
Tubelord actually broke up the week we started making music together.
When you make music, especially when you’re young, you’re like if im gonna do this, I’m gonna make it my life and I wanna be really successful and I want to play gigs forever
A cool thing about the world is you get - if you’re lucky - you get to be around it for a very long time
Quote that didnt make the edit, but honourable mention: "I like math. I like rock"
My friend Jamie Nicholson-Ruther's song choice is Tribute by Tenacious D
Jamie takes us on a journey from childhood to "modern day Jamie" through the lens of his relationship with the song Tribute.
Key Quotes
and thats when karaoke truly became a big part of my life
Down at Yates Karaoke, Bar and Grill
The best medicine is laughter (as well as drugs and antibiotics and things)
Its the only song that has travelled with me through my life
Its become part of my persona
A crowd of Italians in an Irish bar in Rome at 3am
Music wasn't something I grew up with
I didn't really understand why everyone loved music so much.
I met Sophie Bellamy on a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam in early 2020.
Turns out you can go half-way round the world and still meet legends from Yorkshire.
We ended up staying in Vietnam together and going on many adventures.
Including scuba diving, motorbike riding and a near death experience in a cable car. All your classic spy activities.
Sophie is a co-founder of the Normal Bodies Art Project.
Their aim is to create a diverse gallery of paintings and stories where everyone feels normal, worthy, and seen.
Key Quotes
Some editing needs to happen there
When he left me I was in love with him.
I think sometimes we can underestimate the pain of a break up
but I now listen to with entirely different ears
It is entirely possible to be happier than you ever imagined you could be.
Whatever your situation is you can find something gorgeous in it.
Stefan Filby has a warm, natural friendliness. He is a Youth Worker, currently living in London, passionate about politics and making the world a better place.
His song choice is the wonderful Sadie, by Joanna Newsom.
Stefan discusses Joanna Newsom, living in Brighton, and working through difficult feelings of growing up, and moving onto a different phase in your life.
I really enjoyed chatting to Stefan. We chatted for a good long while and obviously only some of that can make it into the c.10 minutes I have set for this podcast format.
Stefan helps organise an autonomous youth club, called Nomadic Youth London. It is based in New Cross, London at The Field Social Centre.
Here's some quotes from the episode:
But, essentially its quite easy to understand that Sadie is her dog…!
There was an exodus of… people… giving up that lifestyle
So I eventually moved back home to my parents
I remember going to see Joanna Newsom at the Brighton Dome with Rosie.
Before the first note’s even finished ringing out, you know what that song is.
We need to get a drink, we need to talk about this.
Kat Smith is a brilliant, kind and extremely adventurous friend I got to know while in Vietnam in 2020/21, and more recently in Albania 2022. She is a serial expat and the founder of A Way Abroad. A Way Abroad focuses on connecting women around the globe, while sharing information about jobs abroad and lifestyles in different cities.
Her song choice is “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations.
“When I was 18, I was supposed to be going to university… and then……”
“I tried getting off the plane, that’s how nervous I was”
“That trip kinda changed everything for me”
“Have you ever been to Atlanta Airport??”
IG: @a_wayabroad
Harrison talks about why this song is so important to him; how it influenced the band we started 10 years ago, and where the song takes him back to.
“The album version is fine, but that specific version of that song is killer”
Raf talks about growing up in Colombia, learning English, and falling in love with Rock Music.
“You know that English is not my first language, right? That means at some point i did not speak English”
Raf's IG: @soy_raf
“Whenever it would come on in the car, my mum would always say “this is about you, you dont know that you’re great, you need to know that you can shine”
“There was an episode of Neighbours where I went into hysterics because a paint can dropped on somebody’s head and I thought they were gonna die… I was inconsolable for days.”
“It comes on the radio quite a lot… and I’d always be like “Oh no! Mum! Don’t sing it to me!”, but really now I’m like “oh mum, thank you!””
Intro Music: Robots & Aliens by Joel Cummins
Outro Music: Looping Ascent by Joel Cummins
“It would just be me and my dad - and he would play it pretty much every day”.
“That moment when you turn and you look at each other, and you’re like, “ah! we’re having the same thought clearly””
“It’s my Karaoke song; which is incredibly annoying, cos its 8 minutes long and the ending is the chorus about 5 times”
“When i was that young, i never really knew the meaning behind the song…”
Intro Music: Robots & Aliens by Joel Cummins
Outro Music: Looping Ascent by Joel Cummins
Tim discusses being 18 years old, big decisions, and finding meaning in powerful lyrics.
“It's about all the feelings you have when you’re 18”.
Intro Music: Robots & Aliens by Joel Cummins
Outro Music: Looping Ascent by Joel Cummins
Hello, my name is Dominic. Welcome to “That Song”; a weekly podcast about understanding how the people around me feel when they listen to a particular piece of music.
We’re going to be hearing from different folk I know for around 5 or 10 minutes about a song that gives them big feelings.
My mission is to gather a sound archive of the people around me talking about music - one song - that is important to them in some way. I reckon we’ll touch on topics such as childhood memories, mood and relationships.
You can expect the podcast to evolve as we go - I’m new to this and I’m looking forward to learning more about how to make a podcast. Thanks for listening, here we go!
IG: @boytheapostate
Email: boytheapostate@gmail.com