Scottish actor Alex Norton reveals the 10 songs that have had the biggest impact on his life

Famous actor Alex Norton tells us his favourite songs and how they have shaped his life.

THE WEE COCK SPARRA

Duncan Macrae used to sing this brilliant wee song. I used to perform it (to great acclaim, it must be said) for my relatives when we would gather together each Hogmanay.

I think their laughter and applause might just have influenced my career choice.

KELVINGROVE

When I was at Wee Pollok Primary School in the 1950s we used to have a BBC schools radio programme once a week called Singing Together. One of the songs we learned was the beautiful Scots ballad Kelvingrove.

I loved the romantic lyrics:

Let us haste tae Kelvingrove, bonny lassie-o,

Through its mazes let us rove, bonny lassie-o,

Where the roses in their pride,

Paint the hollow dingle-side,

And the midnight fairies glide, my bonny lassie-o.

Kelvingrove, more than anything, kindled my lifelong love of Scottish traditional music

BREAKAWAY by The Springfields

My wonderful uncle Willie was a big Springfields fan and when I was about 12 I used to play this repeatedly on his Dansette.

The chorus went:

Oh I’m gonna grab my hat and grab my coat,

Take a train or take a boat,

Pack my bags and leave a note,

Oh I’m gonna break away.

The more I played the song, the more determined I became to do exactly that!

THE WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE by Rossini

This was the first record I ever bought with my own money probably because it was The Lone Ranger’s theme tune but through listening to it, I found my way into classical music.

It enriches my life immeasurably and gave me a huge buzz when I was invited to conduct the Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing it for the BBC’s Children in Need telethon.

LOVE ME DO by The Beatles

Everything changed for the previous generation when Elvis Presley exploded on to the musical scene.

For ‘baby boomers’ like me, it was The Fab Four who rewrote the rulebook. Listening to their first single Love Me Do was like falling in love you’re not sure what just happened, but you know your life will never be the same again.

MR. TAMBOURINE MAN by Bob Dylan

Dylan was a revelation to me. With nothing other than a guitar and a harmonica, he showed me that the song was the thing all the clever arrangements and orchestrations were superfluous.

In 1966, when my pal Brian Pettifer and I saw him live at the Odeon in Glasgow and he sang Mr. Tambourine Man, I knew I could never follow in my dad’s footsteps and live a so-called ‘ordinary’ life.

As the song said:

Hey Mr. Tambourine man, sing a song for me,

In the jingle jangle mornin’ I’ll come followin’ you.

And that’s just what I did…

ANJI by Davey Graham

When I began to teach myself the tricky art of fingerpicking, Davy Graham’s Angie was the ‘O levels’ for an aspiring young guitarist like myself. When I finally mastered it, Angie was my passport to an awful lot of teenage parties!

RHAPSODY IN BLUE by George Gershwin

When I went to visit my future wife, Sally, at her parent’s home in Tain and we realised we might be seeing a lot more of each other in the future this is the melody she played on her parents’ hi-fi that fateful evening.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that this is probably my favourite song of all time.

I still can’t hear Judy Garland singing it without getting slightly dewy-eyed.

If there was ever a perfect marriage of melody and lyrics, this has to be it.

I saw The Wizard Of Oz when I was a wee boy and knew it had been made just to send a message to me, saying ‘follow your dreams, no matter what’.

THE FREEDOM COME A’ YE by Hamish Henderson

This wonderful song, which I think should be Scotland’s National Anthem, is the party piece for Bill Paterson and myself.

We’ve performed it at select gatherings since we worked together in the 7:84 Company’s The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black, Black Oil, back in 1974.

It never fails to get a great response, and its sentiments are dear to both our hearts.

Alex’s autobiography There’s Been A Life (Black and White) is out now. He’s one of the big names featured at the 10th Aye Write, Glasgow’s book festival, which runs from April 17 to 25 at the Mitchell Library. Alex appears next Saturday, April 18, and will be joined by Christopher Brookmyre, Kirsty Wark, Kevin Bridges, Karen Dunbar and many more during the festival.