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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

My songbook

18 September 2020

  • Alicia Keys

    Alicia Keys: 'I was supposed to end up a prostitute or addicted to drugs'

    With the release of a new album, the singer picks favourite tracks from her back catalogue and talks about the magic of working with Kanye West, surviving the tough streets of New York and her struggles with self-worth

19 June 2020

  • Norah Jones

    Norah Jones: 'I worried about being swallowed up by success'

    The singer-songwriter reflects on her eclectic back catalogue, from a breakthrough mellow jazz smash to collaborations with Danger Mouse and Jeff Tweedy

17 October 2019

  • Symphony under construction: Holland Dozier Holland in the studio with the Supremes.

    Eddie and Brian Holland on their greatest songs: 'Motown feels like it was a miracle'

    The legendary songwriters run through their finest compositions – many inspired by their precarious love lives – for the Supremes, the Four Tops and more

4 September 2019

  • Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier.

    Stereolab: 'There was craziness in getting lost and dizzy'

    Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier pick their favourite tracks and reflect on two decades of pioneering electropop

16 August 2019

  • Dave Grohl at Glastonbury, 2017.

    Dave Grohl: 'I never imagined myself to be Freddie Mercury'

    As Foo Fighters prepare to headline Reading and Leeds, Dave Grohl talks us through his landmark songs, from the ‘blood and guts’ of Nirvana to an anthem for a doomed election

16 July 2019

  • The B-52s. From left to right: Fred Schneider (vocals), Kate Pierson (vocals and keyboards), Ricky Wilson (guitar), Keith Strickland (drums), and Cindy Wilson (vocals and guitar).

    'Everyone is welcome to the party!': the B-52s on 40 years of new wave

    The band’s singer Kate Pierson talks about the joy and tragedy behind her favourite songs of their back catalogue, from Rock Lobster to Love Shack

10 May 2019

  • ‘Songwriting was hard then, but it’s really hard now’ ... Burt Bacharach.

    Burt Bacharach on his best-known hits: ‘My songs are a form of resistance’

    He adored Dusty, drove Cilla to exhaustion and had so many hits he lost count. The singer-songwriter looks back over a very personal catalogue

14 March 2019

  • Karen O Yeah Yeah Yeahs

    'I just wanted to write a love song that stands the test of time': Karen O on her best work

    From her punky breakthrough to her David Lynch collaboration, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer takes us through her back catalogue

14 February 2019

  • Slash.

    Slash on his greatest hits: ‘John Lennon had his lost weekend. I had a lost decade’

    The hard rock guitarist picks the best of his back catalogue, from his ‘feral’ Guns N’ Roses heyday to Velvet Revolver and collaborations with Bob Dylan and Lemmy

24 December 2018

  • L-R: Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson.

    Geddy Lee on Rush's greatest songs: 'Even I can barely make sense of our concept albums'

    With widdly-woo guitars and albums about mythic priests, Rush became the biggest cult band in North America. Frontman Geddy Lee picks out his favourite songs from their back catalogue

22 November 2018

  • Emmylou Harris

    Emmylou Harris on her greatest hits: 'I was arrogant enough to think I could survive a flop'

    The singer-songwriter talks us through her career, including duetting with Gram Parsons, discovering Gillian Welch – and wondering why today’s country music doesn’t speak to her

21 September 2018

  • Low 2013 Band Photo

    Low: ‘We want to punch new holes in the possibilities of music’

    Never afraid to sit still, even after a dozen albums, the Minnesota band look back at the tracks that define their evolving sound: ‘Just say what you feel strongly about now’

8 August 2018

  • Joe Elliott of Def Leppard in the 1980s.

    Def Leppard's Joe Elliott: 'We had this inner demon of pop wanting to come out'

    The band’s frontman picks out songs from their back catalogue, and explains how they have remained positive through cancer, car crashes and alcoholism

21 June 2018

  • F&M - Irish singer-songwriter and record producer Roisin Murphy photographed in a studio in London. Photograph: Alecsandra Raluca Dragoi for the Guardian

    Róisín Murphy: 'Pop’s about putting across the primitive parts of yourself'

    The former Moloko singer on the freedom and heartbreak that inspired her favourite tracks from her back catalogue

24 May 2018

  • Lenny Kravitz.

    Lenny Kravitz on 30 years in music: ‘I did whatever I had to do to survive’

    The soulful rock star picks his favourite songs from his back catalogue – from those trying to win his wife back, to those reflecting on his mother’s death

26 April 2018

  • Kylie

    Kylie on how ageing, breast cancer and Nick Cave all influenced her greatest hits

    The Australian pop great picks out her favourite songs of a three-decade career, from escaping the creative boredom of the Kylie & Jason years to the dancefloor classics of her new album, Golden

16 March 2018

  • Ira Kaplan from Yo La Tengo perform in Barcelona at Primavera Sound (Photo by Simone Cecchetti/Corbis via Getty Images)

    Yo La Tengo on their greatest hits: 'Maybe no one else is listening'

    They are sometimes written off as a band for music nerds – but their vastly varied three decades of music has something for everyone. The band pick out their own favourite songs, from duets with air conditioners to Sun Ra covers about 9/11

15 February 2018

  • John Lydon on stage with PiL in 2009.

    John Lydon: 'I didn’t want to be a comfortable, Mick Jagger-type naughty pop star'

    From the Sex Pistols to the various iterations of PiL, via collaborations with Afrika Bambaataa and Leftfield, the legend, innovator and butter salesman picks the best of his output in the latest instalment of our songbook series

19 January 2018

  • Michael Stipe<br>American singer Michael Stipe of R.E.M. with the word 'Love' printed on his arm, circa 2000. (Photo by Tim Roney/Getty Images)

    'I'm a pretty good pop star': Michael Stipe on his favourite REM songs

    In our series where musicians tell the stories behind what they regard as their greatest songs, the REM frontman reveals how glam rock, grunge and INXS inspired the band – and how internal divisions tore them apart

30 November 2017

  • Mavis Staples At SummerStage<br>American Gospel and Soul singer Mavis Staples headlines the opening night of the Central Park SummerStage's 2008 season, New York, New York, June 13, 2008. (Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)

    Mavis Staples: ‘All that progress we made – and now we have a liar in the White House'

    For this month’s instalment, the singer – whose career spans the protest music of the 60s to Arcade Fire and Gorillaz – talks about the records that shaped her life and politics, from Mahalia Jackson and Dylan to Curtis Mayfield and her beloved friend Prince
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