Desert Island Discs with Gingersnap

Desert Island Discs (DID) is a BBC Radio 4 Programme where invited guests share the soundtrack of their lives. Specifically, eight music tracks, one book and a luxury item.

What would you take with you to a deserted island? Better yet, what did Damian choose?

Here’s his selections:

Damian’s DID

And now it’s time for Gingersnap’s DID Playlist:

As a child of the 80’s you can probably guess, and rightly so, that I have owned 8-tracks, LPs, cassettes and CDs prior to MP3 bursting onto the scene. My first 8-track was AC/DC. I had a Sony Walkman that played cassettes, which is the 80’s version of an iPod. And thanks to Columbia House’s BMG CD Club “12 for one” deal, I had a crap load of CDs in the 90’s. Music is life; music is love. Music and food are two of the very few things that can transcend culture, and I love that!

I have chosen my eight recordings, a book, a luxury item and one of Damian’s characters who I would take with me as a companion if I were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing my life and the reasons for my choices. Pay attention to the reason I take each song to the island with me, as each represents an arrow in my quiver needed for the relationship with my companion. Bonus – some fun photo captions 😉

Castaway:
Gingersnap

Music Tracks:
1) Cosmic Love – by Florence + the Machine
Florence Welch has one of the purest-sounding voices I’ve ever heard, almost ethereal.  I love all her music and hey, she’s a fellow London born ginger! This song reminds me of Damian because when I discovered him as an actor, I was blown away by his talent. It was a cosmic clash of sorts.

Gingers Unite. Florence + Floor
“A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes
I screamed aloud, as it tore through them, and now it’s left me blind
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart”

2) Dreams – by Fleetwood Mac
Rumours is a staple album for any true vinyl LP collector in my opinion. I have memories of “borrowing” my sister’s copy and listening to it when she was away on a date or at a friend’s house. I was the pesky little sister, always sneaking into her things. My sister is several years older than me so I have a lot of 70’s musical influences thanks to her. I’m taking this song with me for familial nostalgia.

Tights and More Tights

3) Fade Into You – by Mazzy Star
It was about 1994 when I first heard this rhythmic melody; I instantly fell in love with it. Moody and melodramatic, but perfect for a rainy day. Subdued and hypnotic, still perfect for a rainy day. I’m taking this song with me for calm and comfort, preferably when Damian’s character companion is drawing me a bath.

Purple Haze

4) Fascination Street – by The Cure
It’s 1989 and I am under age at the clubs partying it up! Such fond memories of dancing into the wee hours of the morning. In Oklahoma it was difficult to find a club that played music I was in to, like Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Fixx, Clash, that whole London underground scene, or as they called it here in the U.S., the “British Invasion.” But SRO’s never let me down! (read about it in the 80’s section of the SRO link provided above). The Club DJ delivered us the New Wave/New Romantic tracks we craved. He even made me a copy of the songs he played. I was the SRO queen. I saw The Cure live at the Woodlands in Houston, Texas in the early 1990’s on my actual birthday and I still have the concert ticket stubs. I’m taking this song with me for the memory of glorious fun and lots of dancing. My Damian character companion and I plan to do a lot of dancing. And of course, Damian loves to dance!

Disintegration Dance

5) Here Comes the Rain Again – The Eurythmics
Youthful couples often have that naive “our song” sentiment that is usually chosen because the words define the experiences they share together and the 8th grade me was no different. Too young to exchange class rings yet like the older kids, but we had the next best thing–I wore his football jacket and he “gave” me this song. It remains one of my favorite songs to this day but now every time I hear it, I think of Brody. I’m taking this song with me to remember young love.

Brody Rain
“Here comes the rain again, raining in my head like a tragedy; tearing me apart like a new emotion. I want to breathe in the open wind. I want to kiss like lovers do. I want to dive into your OCEAN. Is it raining with you?” 

6) Paradise – Coldplay
Skip ahead to 2011 and I’m still favoring British bands and unbeknownst to me, I’m only five years away from discovering a British actor named Damian Lewis. He stated that Coldplay albums are one of his guilty pleasures here and he also spoke of how the band used to play at a club near his home here. I’m taking this song with me for serendipitous reasons.

He is Paradise

7) Trois Gymnopédies: No. 1 Lent et douloureux – Erik Satie
I imagine listening to this ambient tone as we cascade along the beach of the island we have to ourselves, smelling the native flowers, walking hand-in-hand, yet no spoken word is needed. Serene. Reflective. Life on a deserted island with a Damian character companion would be just that, serene. I’m taking this song with me for serenity.

Serene Waters

Take a listen below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaFH2h61J0

8) Undisclosed Desires – Muse
Surprise, surprise! Another UK band I adore. I’ve seen Muse three times in concert. I’m taking this song with me because it’s sexy, sultry and divine–just like Damian. #TheResistance

Sexy Musings

“I won’t let you be denied. Soothing, I’ll make you feel pure. Trust me, you can be sure. I want to reconcile the violence in your heart. I want to recognize your beauty is not just a mask. I want to exorcise the demons from your past. I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart. You trick your lovers that you’re wicked and divine. You may be a sinner but your innocence is mine.”

With eight perfectly-fletched feather arrows, thy quiver is now full. See the pattern now? Indulge me. I’m stuck on a deserted island with a Damian Lewis character companion, something I’ve DREAMED of.  Before this blog, I had not DISCLOSED MY DESIRES to others in public, but quickly became FASCINATED by him and the characters he portrays. This deserted island version of us shall have a COSMIC LOVE; he is someone I just want to FADE INTO as we live out our lives forever in this PARADISE. I imagine myself galloping on the sandy beach and swaying my arms in the air in sync with the rhythm of TROIS GYMNOPEDIES as the RAIN COMES DOWN AGAIN and he watches in wonder at the creature before him.

Castaway’s Favorite:
The Eurythmics
Here Comes the Rain Again
Touch (album)

Book Choice:
Harry Potter series

This book choice is very sentimental for me and my family. Before my daughter could read completely on her own, I read these books to her. Each night we would cuddle up either in her bed or mine and we discovered every word, every character, every moment together.  In fact, we read three books before the first movie was ever released. We didn’t know what the characters sounded like or how they looked apart from an errant sketch or two, but I did my best voice impression based on the descriptions of how they ate, what they wore, where the came from, how they walked and any other tidbit J.K. Rowling peppered in. Our imaginations ran wild – I was a child again.

Fast forward to November 2001 when the first movie was released. We piled into the theater, as we have every Thanksgiving tradition from then on for subsequent HP movies, “seeing” each character come to life for the first time. From the movie trailer we knew what Harry looked like, but our lives were so busy back then with cheerleading, gymnastics, power tumbling, horses, honors courses and the like, we didn’t pay too much attention to the announcement other than the movie was out. Imagine our astonishment to recognize every character as they appear on the screen, one by one, before they even spoke. “There’s Hagrid!” “There’s Dumbledore!” “That’s Professor McGonagall” “Ewww, there’s Snape!” Who was yelling these words at the screen? Not my child, but me! My daughter whispers, “Mom, you got all the voices right, too!”

When my daughter became old enough to read the books on her own, she still asked me to read them aloud with her.  Thanksgiving became something else for us those seven years. We implemented our own holiday tradition, how ever brief it may have been. When she moved to another state she saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them prior to coming home for Christmas visit. She told me the entire time she was in the movie theater that she had such guilt flood over her, saying to her friend, “This isn’t right. I need to be with my mom.”

Thank you J.K. Rowling, for giving us such unforgettable, wicked-cool characters that filled our home with wonder and amazement about the wizarding world. Speaking of HP characters, “That Dolores Umbridge is a real bitch.” Yes she is Bobby Axelrod, she sure is.

Source: Showtime-Axe after HP story time with his kids

And now it is impossible for me not to think of Damian when I see/hear anything related to Harry Potter because of the Narcissa Malfoy connection. Manon and Gully must think they have the coolest mother ever!

Luxury Item:
Lush Bathbombs. I could paint my island’s ocean with a variety of vibrant hues from these homemade watercolors and I know my Damian Lewis character companion would swim in the color swirl of amazement with me. Moreover, Lush products are eco-friendly and organic so no harm would come to the vast array of sea urchins, crustaceans, fish or plant life. Not to mention I’d have my very own ginormous bathtub.

Damian Lewis Character Companion:
Charlie Crews
Charlie + Gingersnap = one. One + one = one.

Charlie just fits the island Life–fun, quirky, zen. Everything Zen! And who besides Charlie would carry a handy Spyderco knife to cut into all that fresh fruit to eat? The mangos, pineapple, passion fruit, dragon fruit, and papaya…my boy needs his daily fruit intake!

Click here to buy your very own personal pineapple or favorite Charlie Crews t-shirt.

The End

Author: Gingersnap

Management Analyst, part-time Adjunct Professor and Computer Software Consultant by day and Damian Lewis aficionado by night.

29 thoughts on “Desert Island Discs with Gingersnap”

    1. Thank you Notlinda! It was a fun piece to write, for sure. Charlie and Bobby are my two favorite characters, followed closely by Brody and Soames. I don’t know if I could take Bobby on a deserted island with me forever because I imagine he’d be counting leaves and trading me in coconuts 😉 Charlie is the more romantic one. Fun times!

  1. One word: LOVELY! Thank you for sharing your memories with us! And, oh my god, I LOVE the part about Harry Potter so much! I still remember the day we saw the first movie (Both Lewisto and I read all the books, too!!!) on the day it opened in New York. I applauded with maybe 200 young kids when we saw 4 Privet Drive on the big screen. Such a happy evening! I know Charlie will enjoy this music, your memories and, most of all, your companionship on the island! Bon Voyage 🙂

    1. Awwww, thank you fellow blog-mate. Our HP audience clapped too, but at the end. With the majority in costume!

  2. This is great Gingersnap! I love that there are some songs on your list I know, but really love there are songs I don’t, so thank you for introducing me to them.

    Your descriptions for why you chose those songs was great! I little bit of you and a little bit of DL/character.

    I will admit that I have never read any Harry Potter (which is strange because I love that kind of stuff) and I never realized there were that many books!

    I was surprised at who you chose to be your island-mate, but I get it! Who doesn’t love Charlie?

    1. I’m so curious, which songs did I introduce you to? Yes, my DID was written moreso like the original DID where you link the song to a personal memory of your own. Being a somewhat newbie blog-mate of the team, I wanted to introduce myself to the readers in such a way that they could get to know me, too.

      I went back and forth between Charlie and Bobby, as I also did in the upcoming game we are playing 😉 I like Charlie’s happy spunk.

      1. I’d like to thank you for introducing me to: Florence and the Machine, Mazzy Star, Coldplay, Erik Satie, and Muse. I have never heard of any of them! I guess my musical taste is a bit narrow!

        I think you did a great job letting the readers know who you are! We don’t want them thinking we’re all the same person! I am really loving seeing our uniqueness in all of our musical choices!

        1. Giiirrrrrlllll…….Coldplay and Muse?!?!?!?!?!?! Well I’m happy to have introduced you!!!!!

          It is true I’m eclectic in my music taste. My iPod is schizophrenic when on shuffle mode. Metal, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Southern Rock, Alternative Rock, Prog Rock, Grunge, 80’s Hair Bands, 80’s in general, New Wave/New Romantic, British Bands, Punk, Blues and some Classical pieces…that’s my jam.

          I don’t really listen to Rap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Top 40 Radio, Pop, or Country. Okay, I listen to VERY little country and pretty much only old school country is allowed on my iPod like Alabama, Garth, Tim McGraw and Dixie Chicks. And probably the ONLY newest country I’ve enjoyed listening to is Chris Stapleton – because he has that Southern Rock/Blues about him. Although, I did love Goddamn Lonely Love by Drive-By Truckers/Jason Isbell that Billions introduced to us in season 2. But that is the extent of country for this Oklahoma girl!

          1. Love your concept of old school country, Old school to me is Merle, Tammy, Loretta, Hank, Johnny!

          2. In my household growing up I was exposed to old school country like Bob Wills, Porter Wagoner, Willie Nelson, Loretta, Hank, Merle, Conway Twitty, etc. I thought my grandmother would NEVER stop playing Conway’s “hello darlin’…it’s nice to see you….it’s BEEN A LONG TIMMMMMEEE” She’d repeat that part only, over and over and over. hehe

          3. Hahaha this conversation reminds me of one between Lady Trader and Brian Koppelman at the Billions Super Fan Finale. They were talking about – I think – Black Sabbath and members of the band and I did not understand a word of it and I let them know about it, too 😀

          4. Yep, knowing anything from Willie Nelson to Black Sabbath and everything else in between…that be me. But if you were to ask me about new artists today on the radio, I haven’t a clue for the most part.

    2. I suspect there will be a line for Charlie! Thinking he may take someone else over me, my back up plan is to take Soames to the island, who knows, the challenge could be worth it 😀

          1. hahahaha yep. But you know, I waver back and forth all the time between Charlie and Bobby. I wavered in my DID decision, and also in our upcoming game. They are both alphas, intelligent, and have swagger. *BOING*

        1. Hahaha you are taking this too seriously! 🙂 That said, I assume two others (you and JaniaJania) are taking Brody anyway so I may not stand a chance there. Otherwise, my second choice would be Brody <3

    1. I had family in the Alameda/Fremont/Lodi/Stockton area all my childhood and early adulthood, but sadly, most have passed on now.

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