We asked our Dorset Magazine columnist Tiggy Walker (Life is for Living) and her husband BBC Radio 2’s Sounds of the 70s presenter Johnnie Walker to share some of their favourite music tracks with us.
In their new podcast Consciously Coupling, the Shaftesbury-based duo talk to other media couples about how their partnerships work, and ask them to share the musical soundtracks at the centre of it all. Couples they have interviewed in this first series include Damon Hill (Formula 1 World Champion) and his wife Georgie, Clare Balding and wife Alice Arnold, Steve Harley (Cockney Rebel) and his wife Dorothy, and fellow radio presenter Paul Gambaccini and his husband Chris Sherwood.
So, what would be on Johnnie and Tiggy’s own playlist? ‘Johnnie’s is a tad more romantic than mine!’ admits Tiggy. But what do you think?
![Great British Life: Johnnie and Tiggy Walker present a new couples inspired podcast from their Shaftesbury home]( "Great British Life: Johnnie and Tiggy Walker present a new couples inspired podcast from their Shaftesbury home")
Johnnie and Tiggy Walker present a new couples inspired podcast from their Shaftesbury home (Image: Tiggy Walker)
Johnnie Walker’s playlist...
Yvonne Fair - It Should Have Been Me: I’ve loved this song from the moment I heard it. She’s singing in the back of the church at her ex-lover's wedding “It should've have been me”. I love the way she sings “somebody call the poh-leece”
The Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow: One of my all-time favourite records. I’d play it on the jukebox in a cafe during my lunch break when I was working in a factory during my school holidays. At the time I was 15 and saving money for a tape recorder.
Hal Kethchum - Loving You Makes Me A Better Man: Dedicated to my wife Tiggy - it’s all there in the song!
John Prine - All The Way With You: I played this song to Tiggy after a yoga class. It was the second time we’d met, but I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
Lorraine Ellison - Stay With Me: One of the most soulful and heart-wrenching vocal performances you’ll ever hear.
The Righteous Brothers - (You’re My) Soul And Inspiration: I love the spoken part in the middle.
‘Baby, I can't make it without you
And I'm, I'm telling you, honey
You're my reason for laughing, for crying
For living and for dying’
Aretha Franklin - I Ain’t Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)
Lady Soul at her best.
Also in Johnnie’s jukebox:
Marvelettes - When You’re Young And In Love
Gordon Haskell - How Wonderful You Are
Ed Sheeran - Perfect
Etta James - At Last
Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman
The Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream
Erma Franklin - Piece Of My Heart
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je T’aime Moi Non Plus
Carole King - It Might As Well Rain Until September
Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue
Follow Johnnie on Twitter @piratejw and Instagram @piratejwdj
Tiggy Walker’s playlist...
Gordon Haskell - All The Time in The World: Gordon died last year. As my former boyfriend and the man who introduced me to Johnnie, he was a very key player in my life. Our brief romance was over the summer of 2001. I would go to gigs around Dorset with him, and when he played this song, he’d always manage to drop in my name which was incredibly flattering, and shamefully exciting. It has remained one of my favourite songs of his. Johnnie and I are sad that we never got to say goodbye to Gordon, and we had to attend his funeral via Zoom.
David Bowie - Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me: In January BBC Radio marked the five-year passing of my all-time hero, David Bowie. So many fantastic shows were made as a tribute to this genius. It was great to be reminded of some albums I forget to play, like Diamond Dogs. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me is a track from that 1974 album and it was a firm favourite when I was a teenager. I dreamt of rock and rolling with the man himself. Happily, I did meet him in 2002. But we just talked, not danced.
Tom Baxter - My Declaration: Tom is an indie British singer songwriter who I’ve loved for years. He turned his back on all the rubbish around the big music business, which I admire him for. He writes lyrics from the heart. This song is about a man declaring he’s going to be stronger and better. It’s actually a declaration to himself, not a lover. But I find it utterly inspiring and full of hope. We sometimes have to recognise that we’ve hit rock bottom and have to fight back.
Also in Tiggy’s jukebox
The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome (The Seeger Sessions)
Ryan Adams - La Cienega Just Smiled
Van Morrison - Have I Told You Lately
Wendy Matthews - The Day You Went Away
The Who - Getting In Tune
Mumford & Sons - Winter Winds (But My Heart Told My Head)
Carly Simon - Let The River Run
Josh Ritter - Homecoming
Joan As Policewoman - Eternal Flame
John Lennon - Grow Old With Me
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Please Read The Letter
Follow Tiggy on Twitter @tiggywalker and Instagram @tiggywalk1
Click here to listen to their podcast Johnnie and Tiggy Walker Consciously Coupling
