Danny DeVito’s five favourite songs
There’s only one true renaissance man in America today, and his name is Danny DeVito. Whether it’s mining some of the most stomach-churning laughs in the history of network television on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, directing some of the most beloved films of a generation with Matilda and Death to Smoochy, or producing certifiable classics like Pulp Fiction and Erin Brockovich, DeVito is truly a man of many talents.
Unsurprisingly for a true man of culture, DeVito also happens to be a music fan. Not just of one genre either: when DeVito acted as a guest DJ for Santa Monica, California radio station KCRW, he brought with him five songs from across the musical spectrum. Some seemed like they were right up DeVito’s alley, while others came as a pleasant shock to hear DeVito gush about.
“I mean, from earliest memory, I was a big music fan,” DeVito explained. “I’m, of course, a New Jersey guy. I was born in Asbury.” If that specific city in Jersey sounds familiar, don’t worry, DeVito knows exactly what you’re thinking and just cuts to the chase. “Not far from Asbury, there was a very famous singer born–his name was Bruce Springsteen.”
Yes, at possibly the same period in time, you could have run into either Bruce Springsteen or Danny DeVito walking the Asbury Park boardwalk. “He was born in Freehold, New Jersey and made his start at the Stone Pony in Asbury, down by the boardwalk,” DeVito relates. “When I was a kid, we lived in the little town of Asbury, but on the outskirts of town, there were really big homes, and we used to go out there on a hot night and a few of us would sit out there on the car, on the road and off in the distance there was a beautiful house, in the middle of a field.”
DeVito then points to one of Springsteen’s darker songs, ‘Mansion on the Hill’, as one of his favourites. “There was a roadway and a gate and everything and way, way down in the distance, there was this mansion on a hill,” DeVito explains. “We would see the lights in the windows and people partying. It was a long way to that mansion. There was water in between – there were obstacles. And when I heard this song on Nebraska, I thought, ‘Boy, I can really relate to this.'”
From there, it was only a short jump to an artist that both DeVito and Springsteen idolised: Bob Dylan. “I’m a big Dylan fan, and I always have been,” DeVito relates. He opts to go with stinging mid-’60s single ‘Positively 4th Street’ for his pick. “‘Positively 4th Street’ has kind of a biting edge to it. Just listen to this, baby.”
What DeVito does next is he takes a detour away from some of the more well-known singers and reveals a bit of insight into his own life. The first involves a breakup, a friend, and some bluesy songs that DeVito needed to cope with his heartbreak. When a pal came over to check on him, DeVito was shown an old-school R&B tune from Philadelphia vocal group the Castelles.
“I had a friend who’s a singer in Asbury Park. He’s a really good singer – his name is Nicky Addeo. And I was going through a heartbreak man – I mean really shut down, is what I’m trying to say,” DeVito shares. “I was brooding in my basement one day and I’m listening to a lot of Etta James, Dinah Washington – anything that’s bluesy – and this guy came in with this song and said, ‘This is the song for you, man.’ And it’s called, ‘Over A Cup of Coffee’. It’s by the Castelles. It has always been one of my mainstays, through the years, all these years.”
DeVito then shares perhaps the biggest surprise of his guest spot: he’s an opera fan. “From my past and my future – I’m an opera fan, and I have some Tosca to play for you. My favourite diva is Maria Callas,” DeVito reveals. “She didn’t do any harm to any living soul. So, you’ve gotta get into the opera because it’s a whole sacrifice Tosca makes for her lover. It’s by Puccini, of course, Giacomo Puccini. It’s from Act II of the opera Tosca, and it’s ‘Vissi d’Arte.
For his final pick, DeVito decides to bring it back down to with, of all people, Mike Patton. The vocalist for legendary art-metal acts like Faith No More and Mr. Bungle made a huge impression on DeVito, especially when he got to see Patton in action with one of his projects, Peeping Tom, during the Coachella Music and Arts Festival.
“I get a lot of inspiration from my daughters and son,” DeVito says. “About four or five years ago – we usually go to a music festival called Coachella -and one year, all my son Jake could talk about was Fantomas. So a bunch of us went over to the Fantomas tent, and boy, I’m telling you, it was one of the greatest shows I ever saw. And from that day on, I’ve been a huge Mike Patton fan.”
“I’ve revisited listening to Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, and all the stuff,” DeVito explains. “Anyway, about a year or two ago, he put out a new group called Peeping Tom, and on that album is Five Seconds. The thing about that song is that you want to listen to it a lot. The words are amazing. When he says, “you are the air that I breathe,” it just blows me away. There’s kind of an angst, but a declaration of love in there.”
Check out all five of DeVito’s picks down below.
Danny DeVito’s five favourite songs:
- ‘Mansion on the Hill’ – Bruce Springsteen
- ‘Positively 4th Street’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Over a Cup of Coffe’ – Castelles
- ‘Vissi d’Arte’ – Maria Callas
- ‘5 Seconds’ – Peeping Tom
Steam the playlist, below.
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