ALICE NOT JOHN Episode 31: A Fictional Radio Transmission Guest: Frans de Waard

ALICE NOT JOHN
Episode 31: A Fictional Radio Transmission
Guest: Frans de Waard
Host: Joeri Bruyninckx

A conversation I overheard in a record store:

Customer: “Do you have Coltrane?”
Record shop owner: “In the jazz section.”
Customer: “I mean Alice, not John.”
Record shop owner: “In the jazz section.”

Which song do you associate with your childhood?

ABBA’s “SOS” – when they won Eurovision in 1974, it was the first time I was allowed to stay up late, so I always had a soft spot for ABBA, but “SOS” is one of the best early ones.

Which song do you sing in the shower?

Why would one sing in the shower and not when taking a crap? That said, I don’t sing on either occasion.

Which song do you associate with your teenage years?

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Electricity”. One of the first 7-inch singles I ever bought; still a classic song.

Which song do you know the lyrics to by heart?

Hardly any from A to Z; though as I recently learned in a karaoke bar, I do know a lot—85–90%. Everything Counts by Depeche Mode is one.

Which song do you associate with your adolescence?

Whitehouse – You Don’t Have to Say Please (although Erector and I Am Coming Up Your Ass were favorites back then too—we made Dutch translations that sounded much sillier).

Which song cheers you up when you’re feeling sad?

New Order – True Faith, though plenty of New Order tracks do the trick.

Name a song people wouldn’t expect you to like.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels—a right-wing redneck. That break where the devil plays the violin is the best part of the song.

Name a song you used to like but can’t stand anymore.

When I was 12 or 13, I loved Mull of Kintyre, but these days I call it Dull of Kintyre.

When I heard Give Me Hope Johanna as a child, I thought it was a love song about a woman named Johanna. It wasn’t until much later, when I saw the album cover featuring a map of South Africa, that I realized Eddy Grant was a protest singer and the song was about apartheid. Name a song you originally misunderstood.

I admit I mostly like instrumental music and never pay attention to the lyrics. A lot of what Ian Curtis sang about went right over my teenage head. I didn’t see it as dark!

What is your favorite song at the moment?

I don’t have any particular favorites. I like to… I hear lots of silly ones when I’m slightly tipsy (Hoeren Neuken Nooit Werken or Liever Te Dik In De Kist are two that spring to mind); this changes every month.

Which song do you quote most often? Which line?

I rarely quote a song, but Hoeren Neuken Nooit Werken or Liever Te Dik In De Kist come close. Again, subject to change, no doubt.

Joeri Bruyninckx

Frans de Waard Official Website