Cillian Murphy names his favourite song by The Beatles
Long before Cillian Murphy received an Academy Award nomination for his outstanding work in Oppenheimer, long before he became the Brummie crime boss Tommy Shelby, and long before he made his feature film debut in 28 Days Later, the Irish actor seemed set to pursue music. Starting up a band with his brother Páidi, Murphy, like many budding musicians, harboured an obsession with one band in particular: The Beatles.
Like most people who grew up with the Beatles, Murphy’s love for the band has never waned. Though his career ambitions have drifted from on-stage to on-screen, his passion for music has remained, as has his Beatlemania. During an appearance on BBC’s Desert Island Discs, Murphy demonstrated his continued love for the band and picked out his favourite track.
“The Beatles are my, kind of, musical touchstone,” he enthused, “I think they probably represent, in my mind, one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century, for me, personally. Not just musically, but in terms of their humour and their sort of friendship and their tolerance”.
Amidst tracks from fellow rock icons Queen and Irish singer Séamus Ennis, Murphy’s penultimate pick and ode to the Beatles’ artistic achievements was the 1965 song, ‘We Can Work It Out’. The number one single was one of many hits penned by the celebrated Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership and a demonstration of the humour and friendship between the two.
Over shimmering tambourines and soft strums, McCartney dominates the song, begging his subject to “try to see it my way,” repeatedly maintaining that they can work it out. Lennon joins him for a bridge that contradicts his words, suggesting that he is wasting his own time in his futile attempts. The pair declare, “Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting.”
It was this distinction between the two songwriting greats that particularly stunned Murphy and led him to include the track on his list. “I love this song. I love the energy of it,” he declared, “I love Paul’s hope and optimism and then John’s kind of acerbic, sort of realist middle eight he gives us. It’s just perfection.”
It’s a track that does seem like the perfect accompaniment for desert island shenanigans, allowing you to lean on McCartney’s optimism or wallow in Lennon’s defeatism. For a self-proclaimed Beatles fanatic, it’s the best of both worlds. Revisit ‘We Can Work It Out’, Murphy’s favourite Beatles track, below.
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