Kate Hudson’s 11 favourite songs of all time: “It holds the most meaning and memory”
There are multiple reasons why, when Kate Hudson picks out some songs, everyone should take notice, and not least because she is a singer and musician herself, who released her first album last year, but also music runs through pretty much every aspect of her life.
For one thing, she is the daughter of Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, the latter of whom was a singer in The Hudson Brothers band in the 1960s, and continuing the close relationship with music, to say she is fond of musicians would be something of an understatement, given her former boyfriends count as Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Matt Bellamy from Muse and singer/guitarist Danny Fujikawa, to whom she is currently engaged.
Looking at her own career in the movies, one of the most notable is her Oscar-nominated turn in Almost Famous, possibly the best film about loving music ever made, with one of the best soundtracks, plus several other tuneful projects, including Glee, which show clearly, she gets the appeal of a little song and dance, so the question arises: what are her favourite songs?
In a chat with Spin, she kicked things off with one of the greatest, Bob Dylan’s ‘Simple Twist of Fate’, saying, “Blood on the Tracks is one of my favourite albums of all time. When I was young and was discovering Bob Dylan, ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ was the one I couldn’t stop playing over and over and over again. It holds the most meaning and memory in terms of Bob’s songs.”
Next, she outlined two country legends in Bonnie Raitt as well as John Prine’s performances of ‘Angel From Montgomery’, explaining, “It’s hard to pick which version. It’s an all-time great song. John Prine is one of the great songwriters of all time”. In selecting The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, a song that’s been everywhere this year, Hudson said, “To me, this is the ultimate motivational tune. I feel like everybody had that moment when they discovered this song and it just opened the door up for them for life. A classic.”
Changing the pace, she picked goth rockers The Cure with ‘Close to Me’, noting,“When I realised that my kids liked The Cure, I kind of realised that my kids might be cool. That was a really fun day for me”. Moving back, another country pop star followed in the shape of Sheryl Crow and ‘I Shall be Released’, with Hudson adding: “I was a super emo girl and I would sit in my room and listen to the song when I was 14 or 15 years old and just drift off and dream. It’s just a huge part of my teenage years, this song and that whole album.”
As a huge The Rolling Stones fan, Hudson was unable to choose just one ‘Glimmer Twins’ and co track, so she went with two, gushing, “They’re maybe my number one favourite band in the world. ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ is the ultimate party song. It makes me want to get wild. ‘Rocks Off’ has one of the great lines of all time: ‘The sunshine bores the daylights out of me’. I want that written on my wall in neon.”
Hudson then tapped into the 1990s and picked from the British indie scene with Radiohead’s ‘High and Dry’, noting that if she had her way, her list would just be songs from them: “I’m a ‘90s girl. ‘High and Dry’ defines that time in my life. I love Radiohead, that’s another band I could have ten songs as my favourite of all time”.
Man of the hour and latest in the line of musicians with a biopic out this year, Bruce Springsteen, was next on the list, with ‘I’m on Fire’, of which the actor claimed, “I really love ‘The Boss’. There’s a lot of great songs. I love ‘I’m on Fire’, I love the feeling of it”.
Finally rounding off the picks was a slightly left-field choice in the form of jazz star Thelonious Monk’s ‘Pannonica’, about which she said, “I’m a big jazz head. My all-time favourite Monk piece is ‘Pannonica’,” and also old ‘Shakey’ himself, Neil Young, with Hudson revealing, ‘”The Needle and the Damage Done’ was always the one, even though it was a very dark song, that I loved and played again and again”.
Kate Hudson’s 11 favourite songs:
- ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Angel from Montgomery’ – John Prine/Bonnie Raitt
- ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ – The Verve
- ‘Close to Me’ – The Cure
- ‘I Shall Believe’ – Sheryl Crow
- ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ – The Rolling Stones
- ‘Rocks Off’ – The Rolling Stones
- ‘High and Dry’ – Radiohead
- ‘I’m on Fire’ – Bruce Springsteen
- ‘Pannonica’ – Thelonious Monk
- ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ – Neil Young
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.