Steve Martin’s 15 favourite songs
In his memoir, Born Standing Up, Steve Martin begins, “I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success”. At that dizzying peak, he may well have reached a pinnacle that ranks him as the finest stand-up in history.
In fact, he was so adept at his craft that the audience ate out of his hand to such an extent that he could begin the show in the comedy club and by the end, he had coaxed the audience outside to finish the set in the car park like the pied piper of laughter. He was, as he put it, a wild and crazy guy with a clear eye for what made people laugh and an inventiveness that pushed the medium into the modern age.
Yet comedy was only one string to his bow. When he was only 11, he remarkably took up a job selling sodas at Disney Land. It was there that he became obsessed with the magicians who would perform on stage as he slipped away from his duties. He liked the musician too. And the actors. And the artists. As he looked to emulate each of them, he became somewhat of a renaissance man.
He incorporated each of these aspects into his eventual act. He hadn’t just made the singular leap of inventing modern ‘alternative comedy’. He went beyond that and made music a fixture of it too. His songs were always hilarious, but they also helped to showcase his stellar banjo playing. Much like the opening line to his memoir, he has since refined this to the point that his bluegrass solo album won a Grammy.
Nevertheless, much like his comedy, his music taste draws from all areas. It’s just that 99.9% is from one singular area: bluegrass. So, ahead of the release of his record Rare Baird Alert, it was little surprise that he cited the likes of Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt & The Foggy Mountain Boys among his favourites when discussing the music that he loves with Apple’s Celebrity Playlist Podcast.
He’s self-aware about his obsession, too. As his joke goes: “There’s a big difference between the banjo and the guitar. The banjo has a round pop with a skinhead stretch over the top, and it projects the sound outward. And the guitar can get you laid.” The best jokes have more than a grain of truth to them, and this one happily showcases joyous mirth in a bit of banjo plucking.
So, with that in mind, Steve Martin’s selection of favourite songs amounts to a playlist that fills you with a sweet dose of mirth when needed.
Steve Martin’s favourite songs:
- ‘Red, Red Robin’ – Steve Goodman
- ‘Red, Red Robin’ – Sally Dworsky
- ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ – Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt & The Foggy Mountain Boys
- ‘The Maid of Coolmore’ – The Boothy Band
- ‘P Stands for Paddy, I Suppose’ – Planxty
- ‘Be Still Moses’ – The Steep Canyon Rangers
- ‘Children Go Where I Send Thee’ – Ralph Stanley
- ‘Atheists Don’t Have No Songs’ – Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
- ‘Rare Bird Alert’ – Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
- ‘High, Wide and Handsome’ – Loudon Wainwright III
- ‘Rye Whisky’ – Punch Brothers
- ‘Bright Morning Stars’ – Abigail Washburn
- ‘Spring Break’ – Pete Wernick
- ‘Molly’ – Lonesome River Band
- ‘Hail Against the Barn Door’ – The Gilded Bats
