Maree Todd: Edwyn Collins sang at my ceilidh

What was the first record you ever bought

I grew up in Ullapool in the days before Amazon, so we definitely didn’t have a record shop anywhere nearby. So, that maybe is why I can’t remember buying records.
     We also didn’t have a great radio reception in the village that I lived in. So, when I was at secondary school, one of my best friends who lived in Achiltibuie which is by the coast, got a brilliant radio reception and she used to record the charts on a tape on a Sunday night and bring it down to school on the Monday for us to listen to.

What record will always get you on the dance floor?
I always tell people I have my own song, because I’m named Maree after Loch Maree, [and] there’s an old traditional song called Loch Maree Islands. So, growing up I always knew that I had my own song, and it was always played at ceilidhs.

What songs do you want played at your funeral?
I’m not big into planning my own funeral but my mum who died a couple of years ago, always said to us that she wanted a particular song sung at her funeral and we did that. It was If You Don’t Know Me by Now, and that played as the coffin went out. She was a very funny woman, and we all laughed because well, it was a great joke.

Is there any music that’s going to make you cry?
Sinéad O’Connor is somebody who has always been able to capture emotion in a song. All her songs are quite poignant now when you listen to them, but I love She Moved Through the Fair, which is a very sad song to start with, and it’s even more poignant now.

Is there any song that reminds you of your childhood?
I grew up in the 1970s and my folks had quite an eclectic mix of sort of country and western, but there was a record we used to play a lot when I was growing up, which was by Dr Hook & The Medicine Show. There were many songs on that that if they came on the radio, I would probably still be able to sing all the words to.

What’s song was first dance at your wedding?
We had a local Celtic rock band called Rhythmnreel. They play a mixture of Celtic rock and ceilidh tunes, so you can do formal dancing, and Scottish country dancing as well. And they played Van Morrison’s Have I Told You Lately.

What was the last band you went to see and who with?
My husband and I went to see The National when they were over in the summer at Edinburgh Castle, which was very special.

Is there any song that you associate with your political wins?
My best friend is Edwyn Collins’ cousin, and we had a ceilidh to celebrate when I won in 2016, and he came along and sang A Girl Like You with a ceilidh band backing him. •