IAN RANKIN’S PLAYLIST

My first song is The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel. I sang it as a 12-year-old at my sister’s wedding. She was a fan of Simon & Garfunkel and Bridge over Troubled Water was one of the few albums we had in the house.

But the band at the wedding reception – which was one guy with a drum and one with a squeezebox – didn’t know it so I sang it by myself.

I hadn’t realised that the lyrics “just a come-on from the whores on 7th Avenue” might not go down too well with the aunties but when you’re 12 you don’t think about these things!

It makes me remember family members – aunts and uncles and both parents – who are no longer with us. It paints a big emotional picture for me of the way our family were at that time and how my life was at that time.

My second song is Exit Wound by Jackie Leven. It’s from much later in my life. I decided that my character

Rebus would be a fan of music and one artist he likes is Scottish singer-songwriter Jackie Leven. What I didn’t realise was that Jackie was a fan of the books and he saw himself mentioned. He got in touch and we became good friends. We made an album and toured together.

Jackie was a huge, larger-than-life figure. He was a big man, a fantastic storyteller, and when he walked into a room he filled it. He allowed me to get as close to being a rock star as I’ll ever get. Sadly Jackie is no longer with us so when I listen to Exit Wound it brings him back, but also it reminds me of what the Rebus novels mean to me.

NEXT WEEK:

NICOLA STURGEON’S PLAYLIST