Political Spin: George Adam

What was the first record that you bought? 

I would love to say that it was Paul Weller, the Clash, the Jam, the Sex Pistols – but it was the Muppet Show. In those days you didn’t have the VHS or DVD, so the only way for kids to listen to it was with an LP.  

I remember the day I got it, we went into the William Low supermarket and my sister got ABBA, which was quite cool, and I got the Muppet Show. I must have been about eight. I memorised it – all the songs and jokes.  

What record will always get you on the dance floor? 

I have an awful habit when we get home after a night out, I will go “Alexa, play Stacey playlist” and it is all romantic songs. But what always gets Stacey (Adam’s wife) and I both on the dance floor would be Life with You by the Proclaimers – we did that at Christmas recently. So that, and Love Shack by the B-52’s. 

We have a playlist that we play on the way home from parliament which has the B-52’s on it. Now, Stacey can’t sing a note, but she belts out this line at the end that goes “tin roof, rusted”. After 26 years of the same patter, I still laugh.  

What is your karaoke song? 

The whips recently had their second annual karaoke night at Supercube and Gillian Mackay comes along because she’s the business manager/whip for the Greens. So, we were effectively the DJs. 

I love karaoke – it’s not just do you have a song, it’s Jukebox Geo. I remember we went to an All Under One Banner march in Paisley, and we all went to this pub after it. The karaoke started, so I went up and this guy says, “do you know who you are?” I told him, “mate, I’ve only had two pints if I don’t know who I am we’re screwed”. I got up and did my main song Ain’t That a Kick in the Head by Dean Martin.  

What song was your first dance at your wedding and why? 

We were married in 1996, not long after Pulp Fiction came out and Chuck Berry sang You Never Can Tell. We wanted to do that – Stacey was going to be Uma Thurman and I was going to be John Travolta but the band didn’t know the song. So, Boaby who was playing the piano, had learned All I Ask of You from the Phantom of the Opera, so that was the song.  

What songs do you want played at your funeral? 

Going into the crematorium I’ll have Elvis’ If I Can Dream – but the ‘68 comeback special. Another song that Stacey and I love is God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, as well as Sunshine on Leith because I love The Proclaimers and because my working life has been a stone’s throw away from Leith. And finally, When the Saints Go Marching In for St. Mirren – the Louis Armstrong version.  

Which songs are guaranteed to make you cry? 

I’ll probably greet talking about it. I used to play a song to my daughter Jessica and my son James. We used to play Boyzone No Matter What, and there was a subliminal message, no matter what your mother says, be who you are.  

Jessica came to me years later and said, “that’s our song, Dad”. So that just makes me tear up. 

What record do you absolutely hate but can’t get out of your head? 

I hate The Best by Tina Turner for obvious reasons. It is a song that has been ruined for me by football supporters of a certain team. It really bugs me that I hate that song now.  

What was the last band you went to see and who with? 

This is a sore point because while Stacey has mobility issues, we used to be able to get gigs quite easily – it wasn’t an issue. But recently it has been a nightmare. We tried to get tickets for Bruce Springsteen, and all of the accessible ones were gone.  

Stacey won Michael Bublé tickets on the radio to go and see him in the Borders and I got Covid. But we are going to see The Proclaimers at Leith Links.