The 8 songs Brian Cox couldn’t live without
Most recently, Brian Cox has gained acclaim for his role as Logan Roy in HBO’s Succession, playing the billionaire patriarch over four seasons. However, he has enjoyed a prolific career on screen and stage, beginning his career in Scotland in the theatre. By 1967, he’d made his West End debut in a production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, paving the way for his time in the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1980s.
Through the years, Cox has received many awards, including two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, two Olivier Awards and an Emmy. He received unanimous praise for his groundbreaking performance of King Lear in the 1990s, cementing him as one of the finest actors of his generation.
Cox has been interested in acting since he was a toddler, telling Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs that he used to perform for his family with his siblings. “We had a window recess, and there was a bunker where we kept the coal, and there were curtains. And my sister May – who was a very flamboyant singer, wonderful singer, my sister – she would say: ‘Presenting Brian Cox!’ and she’d swing open the curtains and I would do [Al] Jolson impersonations.”
On the show, he also discussed the music that shaped his life, with his first pick being Johnny Cash’s cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, describing it as “the best of both worlds.” He called Cash “the greatest,” and referred to his rendition as “incredibly moving,” seeing the bridge over troubled water as a reflection of the musician’s life.
Cox also picked ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ by The Drifters to echo his lifetime love of cinema. “This is my childhood. I spent more than Saturday night at the movies. I spent all my time at the movies. So I know what that was; I know what that is. Not just Saturday night at the movies; if the song was called Every Night at the Movies it would be more accurate.”
The actor loves The Beatles, describing the 1960s as “a time of incredible social mobility, and it was the time of The Beatles.” He picked out ‘Get Back’ as his must-have song before recalling a story where he spotted two of the Fab Four at a party. “I once went to a party in Dundee, and they had been playing. There were two guys lying fast asleep, and one was George Harrison, and one was Ringo Starr. They were clearly exhausted the poor guys. I never met them but that was all I saw of them.”
Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’ featured on Cox’s list, with the actor explaining, “shes just astonishing.” He continued, “The thing that is undeniable is her version – the late version – of ‘Both Sides Now,’ when you hear a woman who has lived,” referring to her original 1969 take as “speculative” but her later one as “cynical.”
Check out Cox’s complete list of songs he couldn’t live without below.
The 8 songs Brian Cox couldn’t live without:
- ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ – Johnny Cash
- ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ – The Drifters
- ‘The Air That I Breathe’ – k.d. lang
- ‘Get Back’ – The Beatles
- ‘La quête’ – Jacques Brel
- ‘Both Sides Now’ – Joni Mitchell
- ‘God Only Knows’ – The Beach Boys
- ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ – Pretenders
