Wombat the Writer

Today I am joined by an absolute treasure. A Yorkshireman living in the rural green hills of Lancashire with his wife and two adult daughters who are far more talented than he. He has a penchant for good single-malts, inept football teams, big daft dogs and the diary of Mr. Samuel Pepys. In his time he has been forester, bus conductor, busker, carpet salesman and computer guru. He is very old indeed and likes to pretend he takes good photographs.

So @wombat37 did you enjoy trying to come up with 10 songs from a lifetime of  listening to music? Coming up with ten defining pieces of music is an impossible task. No sooner had I finished when I realised there was no early Stranglers and none of the songs I used to enjoy busking on Tottenham Court Road. It's terrific fun to do though, especially explaining why you've made a particular choice. Oh God - Tam Lin! That's not there either. I need 100 songs on the desert island please!

1) Teach Me To Be Bad by Thea Gilmore
For fifteen years Thea has been entertaining me, bless her little cotton socks. It's tough to select one track, but this upbeat song always gets my juices flowing.

2) John of Ditchford by Steeleye Span
Great singalong song telling a gripping tale, but chosen mostly because of the brutal ending.

3) Beethoven's 6th Symphony
The Pastoral. Because on a desert island you're going to need a musical landscape to wander through occasionally to maintain your sanity.

4) America by The Nice
Keith Emerson's piss-take of the USA raises memories of the psychedelic piss-artist I once was.

5) Stupidly Happy by XTCChosen because XTC. No other reason required.

6) Famous Last Words by My Chemical RomanceIt's become unfashionable to like MCR for some reason, but this is the anthem to beat all anthems. Oh, except for the following song.

7) One Day Like This by Elbow
The ultimate feelgood song, especially for those black dog moments when it pisses down on the island.

8) Throw Down The Sword by Wishbone Ash
With a guitar solo that gives me an eargasm, and that's the one. That impossibly high note near the end OMGOMG. Also worth listening to Warrior THEN Throw Down The Sword sometime as they melt together really well on the vinyl album.

9) The Night Before by The BeatlesOh God Oh God, which Beatles song to choose? In the end I opted for this, from the height of their powers, cos I used to play it on the guitar.

10) Not Sleeping by Kanute
A cracking song from my friend Rachael (@rachaelkanute)

If you don't think you can cope without more Wombat in your life, look for him on Twitter