Joe Talbot’s favourite song of all time: “It changed me forever”
The reason why so many people clench their fists when asked to pick their favourite song of all time is that it’s an elusive concept.
Art moves and moulds with the changing times of your life, and so to pay faith to one song throughout that change would be foolish, and at worst, limiting. But damn it, we do it anyway, because it’s fun and gives us a chance to deep dive into exactly why we love our favourite bands.
It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to come along on a journey of favouritism with me if I weren’t willing to put my head on the chopping block and name my favourite song. For right now, at least. Because thanks to the Byrne’s night parties being thrown all over the country, Talking Heads’ greatness has been firmly reminded to me, and as of right now, ‘Burning Down The House’ is the first record I put on at any given opportunity.
But it turns out, I’m not the only man in Bristol spinning a New York record, in a fit of passionate frenzy. No, perhaps our most beloved contemporary musician, Joe Talbot, is just down the road, celebrating the very best of Manhattan’s music scene, playing The Walkmen to his friends who ask him to play his favourite song of all time.
Like all people remarking on their favourite song of all time, Talbot harkened back to his adolescence, a period in our lives when the empathy and sensitivity of a song feels particularly heightened.
When labelling ‘The Rat’ as his all-time favourite, he explained, “I first heard it when a girlfriend dumped me on the last day of the first year of uni,” he recalled. “My mate gave me their [2004] album ‘Bows + Arrows’ and said: ‘You have to listen to this.’ By the time I got to the second track, I was like: ‘Fuck everything else, life is amazing.’”
Adding, “You’ve got to pick yourself up, love yourself and stop being a dick to change the world. The energy in that song, the pain and the vigour that encapsulates being fucking trampled on and getting back up is magic. It changed me forever.”
Doubling down on the claim, Talbot added that were he to think about the morbid reality of his own death, The Walkmen’s iconic song should be the one to soundtrack it.
He explained, “I’d like to be remembered as someone who was defiant, strong, loving and compassionate, and I think ‘The Rat’ encapsulates all those things,” adding, “It’s what I play every time I DJ… It’s what I want to hear every time I go out, and it’s what I want all my friends to sing when I die.”
It’s a great choice from Talbot because of how deeply personal the original track is to The Walkmen, while remaining so universal in its delivery. The lyrics of heartache and pain can be easily adapted to the listener’s personal experience, whether it be romantic or not, with many listeners interpreting the song as a metaphor for addiction.
In fact, it’s such a good choice that Talbot may have done something I could never, which is pick a favourite song with the ability to endure the changing times of life.
