Paul Fitzpatrick: July 2025

I remember the days when Stag do’s and Hen nights were held on a Friday night ‘up the town’, a precursor to the wedding, in the local parish. Now it’s Stag & Hen weekends in Prague and ceremonies on the beach.

Talking of which, I went to a wedding in Barcelona recently where my son was best man and very nice it was too. As the night went on and the drinks flowed I got talking to a few of his mates about music. They’re all in their early thirties so I was surprised when they wanted to talk about Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell, and equally surprised that their knowledge was equal to mine.

The night was going well until one of them asked that question… the one that tends to grind any musical conversation to a halt – “what’s your favourite song then?”

If you have an opinion on music then it’s a question you always think deserves an answer but Invariably you end up going round the houses whittling on about favourite bands and albums, namechecking lots of songs, buying as much time as you can before settling on a song and then backtracking on it five minutes later.

Nominating a favourite album is just as tough… even within the same artist.
My favourite Bowie album can be Ziggy one month or one of Station to Station, Aladdin Sane or Hunky Dory the next, and you can forget about ranking Steely Dan or Stevie Wonder albums.

That’s why I have a new found respect for Peter Frampton.

I was listening to a podcast with Frampton recently. Rick Beato, the host, asked Peter what his favourite song was and without missing a beat he answered – “Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum.
It was said with such conviction that I reckon he would roll out the same response every time.

Obviously it’s subjective and Peter didn’t go into a whole lot of detail except to say that it has a ‘classical feel’, something borne out by the composer Gary Brooker, who stated that “Bach’s music was in me“, at the time of composing.

Whether you’re a Peter Frampton fan or not, the guy knows his way around a song, so I admired the fact that he didn’t try to justify his choice by babbling on about chord progressions or major or minor keys, he just said … “It’s a perfect song, I don’t know what it is about that song, but it’s just perfect….”

And I guess that’s the point about a favourite song, it doesn’t have to be flawless, or feature the best musicians or have the most meaningful lyrics, in all likelihood your favourite song is one that’s been encoded in your brain since your youth and provides an emotional connection to something or other.
It might make you happy or sad but you’re likely to know most of the words and you’ll never turn it off when it pops up on the radio or on a playlist.

One bit of advice I can pass on is do not set your favourite song up as your ringtone or worse still, your alarm. I made this mistake many years ago with Bowie’s “Young Americans“, convinced that Andy Newmark’s kick-drum intro and David Sanborn’s alto-sax solo would spark me into life every morning, but I just ended up hating one of my favourite songs (it’s okay, I love it again now).

Being logical, it figures that your favourite song could be the most played tune on your music library, that being the case mine should be “How Long” by Ace, except it’s not, although I do obviously love that song, it’s been played 386 times!

Maybe it’s a song that takes you back to a good place and time? Don Covay’s “It’s Better to Have (And Don’t Need)” does that for me, it was released in the summer of 1974, at a time I started frequenting clubs and bars, which falls in line with the “reminiscence bump“, a phenomenon where adults over 40 tend to hold more memories from adolescence and early adulthood than from any other periods in their life.

Incidentally, the answer I gave in Barcelona was the second most played song in my music library “Do it Again” by Steely Dan, a song I never tire of hearing, although 30 minutes later I was ready to change it to “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

I’d love to be like Peter Frampton and have one ‘go-to’ song but if you’re like me your favourite song can change based on your mood, your environment, what you’re currently listening to and dare I say it, the company you keep when the question is posed.
Because let’s face it, if you’re hanging out with all your prog rock buddies who worship at the altar of “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis you’d be a brave man to pipe up with Abba’s – “Dancing Queen“.

Then again if “Dancing Queen” is your favourite song, then why not own it?
Surely it’s subjective and beauty is always in the ears of the listener. Except, we’re a species of social animals who want to fit in and be accepted, hence the likelihood you’ll distance yourself from any Abba bangers in certain company.

I asked a few of our regular contributors to name their favourite song (listed below) and I was impressed at how quickly they responded. Interestingly they’re all songs from their youth so I’m pleased to report that the “reminiscence bump” theory is alive and kicking.

Russ Stewart: “I Say A Little Prayer” – Aretha Franklin
Alan Fairley: “All the Young Dudes” – Mott the Hoople
Mark Arbuckle: “Stay With Me” – The Faces
John Allan: “Wishing Well” – Free
George Cheyne: “Rebel Rebel” – Bowie
Colin Jackson – “Stay With Me” – The Faces“

I’m also compiling a playlist of the groups ‘favourite songs’ so please add yours to the comments below or on the Facebook page and I’ll add them to the playlist.