Gillian Orr Says
15 musical questions with Gillian Orr + her playlist request: "Motherhood"
Gillian Orr has great taste in music. I’ve been reading her newsletter — probably the best named newsletter on Substack — Slouching Towards Bethnal Green, for a while now, and when I started thinking about this series I knew she was one of the first people I wanted to ask to take part. While her newsletter covers style, life, beauty, culture and motherhood, it turns out that in a previous life Gillian was an arts writer for The Independent, mainly covering music, and reading her answers you can tell she’s someone who listens broadly and really loves music. She loves it so much in fact, that she made her own playlist! I got very excited about the theme and added a few of my own picks and I reckon it’s the coolest playlist about motherhood you’re ever going to find. It has Kelis on it for goodness sake!
Which fictional character would you love to make you a playlist?
Honestly? Jesse from Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. I just know Ethan Hawke’s character would make me the playlist of my dreams: alternative, ‘90s, a bit pretentious, and consumed with longing. My kind of music.
You’re having people over, what album do you put on?
At the moment it’s Southern Nights by Allen Toussaint, it’s basically the Creole version of Sgt. Pepper... Otherwise it’s usually jazz. The Awakening by The Ahmad Jamal Trio and The Sorcerer by Gabor Szabo are both brilliant and a bit off-piste.
Your crush just sent you a song/album and you suddenly can't understand why you ever liked them. What is it?
I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t develop a crush on someone with bad taste in music, it would come up too quickly, but for the sake of this question let’s say anything by Kings of Leon (although I’ll allow Aha Shake Heartbreak which is kind of a banger to be fair to them).
You decide to send your crush a song/album to impress them with your exceptional taste. What is it?
He’s not my crush (my husband might have something to say about that) but I recently introduced the band Songs: Ohia to a very snobby musician friend of mine and it blew his mind. I played him “Farewell Transmission” and he couldn’t get over it. I felt very cool because this guy is a picky bastard.
A movie with a perfect soundtrack?
So hard to choose just one but I’ll go with Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty. It’s a mixture of the best female voices of the ‘90s (Mazzy Star, Portishead, Hole) and classic soul and blues (Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday). It’s probably the soundtrack closest to my own taste. The sequence that uses John Lee Hooker’s “Annie Mae” is incredible (it’s just one of the sexiest songs ever). Yes I used to own the soundtrack on CD.
A musician whose wardrobe you'd love to own?
I mean, it’s gotta be Jane Birkin. I saw her sing live on New Year’s Eve in 2019, she still looked amazing. I also love the way Joanna Newsom dresses. If she ever makes another album, I’ll try and catch her live. I’d love to see her perform. Oh or Patti Smith’s. Too many!
A song or album that has the power to make you more stylish?
You can choose the song your greatest enemy will have stuck in their head for the next week. What is it?
As the mother of a three-year-old, I have so many songs in the toddler canon that I could inflict upon my enemies. Sadly, it’s me who has the songs stuck in my head. “Baby Shark” is probably the worst offender and is banned in our house. It’s not all bad though, I genuinely love the Moana soundtrack. “Where You Are” makes me emotional.
What’s the name of your most used playlist?
‘Dins’ for dinner music when we have guests over to eat. It’s pretty eclectic and includes Shuggie Otis, Mac DeMarco, The Velvet Underground, Clarence Carter and Lindsey Buckingham, among others. There is no through line except that I like all the songs and they don’t take over.
What’s something you do that has to have music accompanying it?
Cooking in my kitchen. I crank it. If I’m doing something quick, I might stick 6 Music on but for something that’s a bit of a commitment, say a lasagne, then I’ll select an album to play. And I usually wear headphones when I’m shopping because most stores play dreadful music.
The dance floor has emptied and it's up to you to fix it. Which song do you put on?
“Showdown” by Electric Light Orchestra. Anything by Steely Dan. Or, depending on the crowd, I’d just go full indie sleaze. That always gets people my age going.
Which artist, dead or alive, would you most like to write a song about you?
Being greedy and picking two! Dead: Leonard Cohen. Alive: Bill Callahan. Callahan released the song “Pigeons”, which is a song about marriage, right before my own wedding in 2020 which felt very meaningful to me. Funnily enough the song also finishes with a reference to Cohen.
The music collaboration you dream of?
I feel like Roy Orbison could have rustled up something pretty cool with Nick Cave.
The song/album you currently have on repeat?
Cameron Winter’s debut album Heavy Metal. Glorious, heart-shattering, transcendent stuff. Truly cannot recommend enough. If there’s any justice, he’ll be huge.
You wish you were this song, but the truth is you're probably this song.
I’d like to invoke the spirit of a song like “Cactus Tree” by Joni Mitchell, but I’m probably more like an ABBA song - sentimental but a bit ridiculous
Love this, all of this! Both the questions and the answers! ❤️