Qthemusic.com – 24th September, 2012

Playlist – Richard E Grant’s “Swaziland soundtrack” feat David Bowie, Beatles, Elton John, Deep Purple & more

Despite a knack for playing quintessential Englishmen brilliant, Richard E Grant actually grew up Swaziland. With his film First Night out on DVD today (24 September) the actor has produced us a soundtrack inspired by life in his first home.

Millie – My Boy Lollipop
“First pop record I ever owned. It was a bright coloured 45 and endlessly played till it got warped by the sun.”

The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
“As far removed from life in Swaziland as it was possible to imagine and unforgettable. Endless hours identifying who was on Peter Blake’s iconic cover.”

Carol King – Tapestry
“Played by every American Peace Corps volunteer who brought hippie-dom to the Kingdom and dismissed by the colonial old guard for being, Anti-Vietnam draught dodgers.”

David Bowie – Pin Ups
“Day I bought it, went out and got the pom-pom and mullet haircut, or local version thereof, and was nicknamed Bowie for a term.”

Nat King Cole – When I Fall In Love
“That voice, those lush romantic strings and the sound of the late 50s before my parents fell out of love with each other.”

Paul Simon – There Goes Rhyming Simon
“Even the upbeat stuff has a melancholic undertow which perfectly chimed with my troubled adolescence, coping with my father’s alcoholism.”

Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
“How many times can you play an LP before you go completely insane? was the question my father asked after hearing this blasting in my bedroom for about a year.”

Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
“Again this Underground album prompted my parentals to regularly joke that they wished it was, Dead and buried and the sooner the better.”

Stevie Wonder – Songs In The Key Of Life
“This unbeatable double album soundtracked through my four years at university in the late seventies and every track a reminder of who I shagged, got stoned with or danced to.”

Elton John – Blue
“Another double album whose every song I knew back to front and sideways, memory crammed as it was the year I left home.”

First Night, starring Richard E Grant and Sarah Brightman is out now on DVD.