The two songs Jeff Goldblum would listen to for the rest of his life: “If I had to pick”
Life is full of mysteries, and one of them is Jeff Goldblum. The eccentric actor is one of the weirdest celebrities of all time; a walking non-sequitur full of random anecdotes, odd speech patterns, and baffling wardrobe choices. As a result, he is also one of the most beloved actors of the modern age, with fans of all ages tuning in to see what he’s going to do next. There are probably some fans of his who’ve never even seen one of his movies.
Of course, Goldblum is more than just an actor and a living meme. An active follower of jazz music from a young age, he has played piano with a band called The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra for over three decades. Beginning in 2018, they have released three studio albums, featuring contributions from Gregory Porter, Imelda May, Fiona Apple, and more. The band even performed a secret set at the 2011 Coachella festival.
This might be when Stephen Colbert was so keen to know his music tastes on an episode of his late-night talk show. Goldblum was subjected to the legendary ‘Colbert Questionert’ (sound it out loud, then you’ll get it), a series of questions that he had to answer as honestly as possible. As well as his most-used app and whether he prefers cats or dogs, the Jurassic Park star was asked what song he would listen to for the rest of his life if he could only pick one.
“As you know, very difficult question,” Goldblum exclaimed. “Even though there are songs that affect me, have affected me tremendously, and I put them on… once I choose it and listen to it, I get kind of out of steam with it very quickly.” He then attempted to dodge the question by saying he’d prefer to listen to a decent radio station or have someone curate a playlist for him, but the ‘Questionert’ doesn’t tolerate these sorts of flip-flop answers.
“The two that come to mind are when I was – oh boy, 13,” he continued. “I had Stevie Wonder doing ‘For Once in My Life’, you know that recording with that solo that he’s got. It drove me absolutely crazy and I played it over and over and over again. Then there was a time recently where Errol Garner plays ‘Eldorado’. It’s great, you can see it on YouTube, and I played that over and over again… so those two, if I had to pick something.”
Anyone who knows anything about music should know that Stevie Wonder song, but the second track Goldblum mentioned is a little more obscure. Errol Garner was a jazz and swing pianist born in the 1920s. His composition ‘Misty’ is a standard and forms the central focus of Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut, Play Misty for Me. ‘Eldorado’ is a piano piece taken from Garner’s 1972 album Gemini. There’s very little information about it online – the album doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page – but you can listen to it on Spotify if your interest has been piqued.
In a way, these two picks perfectly summarise Mr Goldblum’s personality. On one hand, he’s a mainstream juggernaut that everybody knows and loves. On the other, however, he’s a proper oddity that only a select few have ever fully gotten to grips with.
