‘I’ve followed Radiohead from the start – I recognise genius when I hear it’: Rickie Lee Jones’s honest playlist
The first song I remember hearingIt’s a tie between Honeycomb by Jimmie Rodgers and (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? by Patti Page, which came out the year before I was born. I’d have heard them on the radio, growing up in Chicago and then Arizona.
The first single I boughtTicket to Ride by the Beatles, because I liked the B-side, Yes It Is. My first album was Fifth Dimension by the Byrds, because I loved I Come and Stand at Every Door, about a ghost from Hiroshima. In Phoenix, you could buy records at the drugstore, so I’d have bought them from Walgreens.
The song I inexplicably know every lyric toInto the Mystic by Van Morrison. I’ll sing it when I’m just hanging around, because I know all the words.
The best song to play at a partyGot to Give It Up by Marvin Gaye or Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) by the Jacksons, because you can really dance to them. I can really dance to them anyway.
The song I stream the mostBorn to Run by Bruce Springsteen is fun to listen to when I have to clean up the yard. I’ll be out there singing to myself and imagine the whole neighbourhood singing along with me.
The song I secretly like but tell everyone I hateI don’t like to do that because it can hurt somebody’s feelings. But let’s do it anyway. I feel I should hate Sad Eyes by Robert John, because it’s very sexist, but I can’t because it’s so pretty.
The song I can no longer listen toJust the Way You Are by Billy Joel. Or anything by Billy Joel.
The song I wish I had writtenAnything by Radiohead, so I’m going to say 15 Step, which was used in Twilight. I introduced them on ABC’s In Concert when they first debuted with Creep – I was the host – so I’ve followed them from the very beginning. I recognise genius when I hear it.
The song that changed my life When I first heard the Beatles, they captured not only my imagination but where they lived, what they felt and who they were, which was very exotic to me in Arizona. When I heard There’s a Place or Please Please Me, I was captivated.
The song I want played at my funeralThat’s always changing, depending on how I think I’m going to die. At the moment, I’d like my own song Away from the Sky at my funeral.