A collection of Courtney Barnett’s favourite songs
Courtney Barnett has worked tirelessly since she emerged on the scene in 2012 with her debut EP, I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. Barnett’s deadpan singing and humorous lyrical content came to the fore on her debut album, released in 2015. To give us some clues as to Barnett’s inspirations, she fortunately once noted some of her favourite songs.
Barnett is in particular admiration of the Chicago alternative rock band Wilco. She discovered the country-come-alt outfit about a year after she released her first EP. Barnett said of first listening to Wilco, “I heard a bunch of songs on someone’s shuffle. That band stood out as something different, and again, it was a bit of a life-changing musical moment for me.”
Wilco’s ‘Handshake Drugs’ from A Ghost Is Born finds a special place in Barnett’s heart. She said of the track, “[That] would be the one that stood out. I’ve never been good at putting it into words. For one thing, that line, ‘Exactly what do you want me to be?’, that punches you right in the heart. I love it. But just the general groove and the three chords, it’s this transfixing. It’s kind of dreamy. You disappear into it. And then it all falls apart in the guitar at the end. It’s incredible.”
Talking Heads managed to combine a pop sensibility with an effortless direction of experimentation and are another group that Barnett admires. She first listened to the band when she was 17 or 18 in art class. She said, “We had a cool teacher who let us listen to music. My friend Rose, she just had all this cool music that she introduced me to, which I, again, hadn’t heard of. She showed me The Pixies and Talking Heads and Television, stuff that I didn’t know of.”
Discussing the relevance of David Byrne’s group, Barnett added, “[I liked] how different it was to other music I was listening to. The spoken, really casual verses probably inspired me a little bit, because I never sang in front of anyone until I was nineteen-ish. When I was doing my first shows, I always just played guitar, and I was always just so frightened by the idea of what a good singer should be and how they should sound. When I heard ‘Once In A Lifetime’, I just kind of opened up.”
Elsewhere Barnett selects cuts from Paul Kelly & The Messengers, You Am I and Magic Dirt, who were one of the first bands she saw when she turned 18. Barnett also clearly has a special respect for her own work and selects ‘Pedestrian At Best’ and ‘Depreston’ from her debut album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.
Of her debut, Barnett said, “I’m super proud of Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. It’s a good feeling to turn all those ideas and emotions and good and bad things into something that people can take whatever they want from it or put it in their life. It’s cool.”
Check out the full list of Courtney Barnett’s favourite tunes below.
Courtney Barnett’s favourite songs:
- ‘To Her Door’ – Paul Kelly & The Messengers
- ‘Handshake Drugs’ – Wilco
- ‘Depreston’ – Courtney Barnett
- ‘Once in a Lifetime’ – Talking Heads
- ‘Heavy Heart’ – You Am I
- ‘Vulcanella’ – Magic Dirt
- ‘Pedestrian At Best’ – Courtney Barnett
