The first song I remember hearing
Willie Nelson – ‘Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain’
“I remember hearing my grandfather sing it. The old timers in the family had a family band and they would get together with their parents, my great grandparents, at least once a week to have a jam in the living room. My great grandmother played upright piano, my great uncle played banjo and guitar, and my grandfather played the spoons and sang. I remember falling asleep on the plastic covered stairs while he sang ‘Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain’. I was probably only three.”
The first album I ever owned
Elton John – ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’
“I must have been 12 [when I got it] on cassette as a Christmas present from a family member and it was a cherished thing. One day I did bring it to school and these awful boys on the bus who knew I was obsessed with it, took it from me. They had brought a magnet, and they pulled all the tape out and magnetized it. I couldn’t afford to replace it or anything, but from then on, I just had the lyrics. I’d read them any chance I got. It’s alright, I survived it. I’m sitting here in a spare bedroom in Elton John‘s house so I’m probably OK.”
The first gig I went to
The Judds, Washington State Puyallup Fair, 1988
“My mum took me. I don’t think she knew what to do with me [a lot of the time] because I was a really strange child. I either wanted to wear boys’ clothes or be in costume. I was always in this fantasy land, and I don’t think it was what she visualised when she knew she’d be having a daughter.
“When we went to The Judds for the first time, and we saw that mother-daughter duo singing together, it was almost like we just met. We had this new thing that was our thing, which was that we loved music and we could both really sing. And so we started wanting to go and see this band more as a language for each other. It really was a big bonding moment for me and my mother.”
The song that reminds me of home
Elton John – ‘Country Comfort’
“It just sings about themes that bring me comfort. I had a rural upbringing and it helps me remember the beauty of simple things.”
The song I wish I’d written
Leonard Cohen – ‘Hallelujah’
“I’m a notoriously jealous songwriter. It’s weird, I don’t feel competitive with other artists, but if I hear a song I wish I’d written, or I think I maybe could have written it, I can get this deep, burning longing to have written the song.
“I could list 10, but number one would be ‘Hallelujah’. That’s the perfect song. It’s so perfect in fact, that it just has infinite verses.”
The song I can’t get out of my head
Chappell Roan – ‘Good Luck Babe’
“[It’s] in my head day and night. I dream about it. It permeates my being. It’s such a good song, and it’s rare that you have a fabulous song stuck in your head.
“I actually got a chance to interview her on the album [‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’], and it was really fun. She can really wax philosophical about the molecules of putting an album together. It’s a brilliant album. I think my favourite song on it is ‘Kaleidoscope’.
The song I can no longer listen to
Enya – ‘Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)’
“I fucking love Enya, but I listened to the album with ‘Sail Away’ on it while I was reading Pet Semetery by Stephen King. Now, when I hear that album, I get the worst visual memories, so I try not to listen to it in certain applications.
The song that makes me want to dance
The Killers – ‘Mr Brightside’
“I am such a basic bitch when it comes to this. [It’s] ‘Mr Brightside’, or ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ by Journey. Those songs are like catnip to white people and I’m a fully-fledged white woman.”
The song that makes me cry
Joni Mitchell – ‘Both Sides Now’
“I have cried many times listening to Joni Mitchell sing ‘Both Sides Now’, just because of the gravity of her age, the condition her body is in, and the way she sings that song now. What it means is just unspeakably profound.”
The song I do at karaoke
Bonnie Tyler – ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’
“The more drama, the better. I don’t just do one song, I do three. I’m gonna go for it. I’m gonna try and body slam everyone else there vocally and take no prisoners! I’ll even go to the karaoke host and I’ll make comments on the mix, and I’ll ask for the right key and everything. Karaoke is not a joke for me.”
The song I want played at my funeral
The Carter Family – ‘Keep On The Sunny Side’
“I sang this song as my grandmother was crossing over. It’s an old country standard, and it’s really bright and uplifting and cheerful. It speaks of the lightness and the joy in the transition.”
Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s new album ‘Who Believes In Angels?’ is out April 4 via Interscope Records