Desert Island Discs - In Conversation with Roy Plomley - January 20, 1982

Track list

Disc 1

1. Intro

   0:25 • Interview

2. About Heartbreak Hotel

   2:21 • Interview

3. Heartbreak Hotel

   1:21 • Interview

4. About Sweet Little Sixteen

   2:49 • Interview

5. Sweet Little Sixteen

   1:09 • Interview

6. About Dances From Gloriana

   4:36 • Interview

7. Dances From Gloriana

   2:02 • Interview

8. About Be Bop A Lula

   3:26 • Interview

9. Be Bop A Lula

   1:49 • Interview

10. About Beautiful Boy

    4:56 • Interview

11. Beautiful Boy

    2:36 • Interview

12. About Searchin'

    2:13 • Interview

13. Searchin'

    0:53 • Interview

14. About Tutti Frutti

    3:25 • Interview

15. Tutti Frutti

    1:20 • Interview

16. About Walking In The Park With Eloise

    1:52 • Interview

17. Walking In The Park With Eloise

    Written by Jim McCartney

    1:45 • Interview

18. Outro

    1:25 • Interview

19. Searchin' - Beautiful Boy

    3:09 • Interview

See article “Paul McCartney appears on Desert Island Discs radio show” for more details.

From dmbeatles.com:

Being his first important appearance in the communications media since John Lennon’s death in 1980, Paul McCartney reappeared in the ”Desert Island Discs” programme because of the celebration of its 40 anniversary in the BBC radio, conducted by Roy Plomley (BBC Radio 4).

The programme was recorded on January 20, 1982, in the morning, at the BBC studios in London; with a length of 39 minutes and it was broadcated on saturday, January 30, 1982 (6:15 to 6:54 pm).
The programme was also filmed by BBC2 for the documentary “Arena” (broadcasted on February 23, 1982).

The format of the ”Desert Island Discs” programme was very simple: the guest stars were asked to imagine they were lost in a desert island and to choose eight discs they would take with them. In the middle of the chosen songs the lives of the artists were discussed and the reasons why they had chosen those themes. Every ”shipwrecked person” was also allowed to chose a luxury object and a book they would want to take to this imaginary desert island. Finally, they were asked to chose only one of the eight selected discs as the only choice.

Paul McCartney was the first and only ex-Beatle that made an appereance at the ”Desert Island Discs” programme, as the ”shipwrecked” number 1,630. Perviously, the Beatles had been invited but Brian Epstein rejected the idea of the group apearing in the programme.

Paul McCartney’s eight selections for ”Desert Island Discs” were:
-‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by Elvis Presley;
-‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ by Chuck Berry;
-‘Courtly Dances From Gloriana’ by The Julian Bream Consort;
-‘Be Bop A Lula’ by Gene Vincent;
-‘Searchin” by The Coasters;
-‘Tutti Frutti’ by Little Richard;
-‘Walking In The Park With Eloise’ by The Country Hams
-‘Beautiful Boy’ by John Lennon.

McCartney chosed the last song (”Beautiful Boy” de John Lennon) as the only selected disc he would finally take. His luxury object was one guitar and the selected book was an edition of his wife’s photography book: ”Linda’s Pictures”.

Here, the ex-Beatle is seen singing to some parts of The Coasters’ ”Searchin’ ” and, in another emotional moment, he’s clearly repressing crying while he’s listening to John Lennon’s ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’. The sad moment is evident seeing McCartney’s face in this sequence of the video. […]

Going further

• http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=5357.0
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/5183dd40#p009ml01