Historian’s playlist picks all the tracks of our years
History has proved to be the inspiration behind some of modern music’s greatest hits.
It also helped Simon Sebag Montefiore with the mammoth task of writing the world’s history in his new book.
“When I was writing the book, I listened to music very loudly all the time and it was fun to listen to great history songs,” he said.
“The whole point of doing a family history is to have a book that shows human life and that includes music, food, clothes, sex and literature. Things other than just battles and politics.
“I began to get into this music and I had real fun looking up the great history songs. Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones is the greatest ever history song. I’d love to know if the readers agree with me and what others they’d suggest.”
With more than 300 tracks, which can be found on Spotify, Montefiore’s playlist spans from The Proclaimers’ Scotland’s Story to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire to Boney M’s Rasputin. Here are some of the other tracks:
Sympathy For The Devil The Rolling Stones
No More Heroes
The Stranglers
Enola Gay
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Pompeii
Bastille
Waterloo
Abba
Wind Of Change
The Scorpions
Zombie
The Cranberries
In The Ghetto
Elvis Presley
Born In The USA
Bruce Springsteen Children Of The Revolution T. Rex
Man’s World
Marina
The Message
Grandmaster Flash
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next Manic Street Preachers
A Change Is Gonna Come Otis Redding
Respect
Aretha Franklin