Tess White's Political Spin

What is the first record you ever bought?

Devil Gate Drive by Suzi Quatro. She was a role model for nine-year-old Tess. She symbolised female expression and freedom.

What record will always get you on the dance floor?

Let’s Twist by Chubby Checker. I’ve had a knee operation now, but I used to always be able to get down to the floor. 

What is your karaoke song?

Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. It motivates me when I’m feeling down. I just pick myself up, sing it and get on with it.

What song do you want played at your funeral?

I would like Lord’s Prayer by African Sanctus and Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. I want something calm that everybody can sing.

What song or music is guaranteed to make you cry?

Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen. My sister Rachel, who died last year, loved Queen and we spent the last week of her life deciding what playlist she would like at her funeral, and she decided that song had to play while she was going. So, when I went to tell her friend, Caroline, that Rachel had died, I just stood on her doorstep, played the song and she knew that Rachel had gone. I still play it two or three times every week to remember her. It’s part of the grieving process. 

What music would you always associate with your childhood?

I learned to play the guitar to Joan Baez, and her song Mary Hamilton takes me back to that time. It’s a folk song about a woman who got pregnant from the King of Scotland. She sadly murdered her baby and was sentenced to death in Glasgow. The king was going to free her, but she said, “No, I’ve slain my babe” and she took justice. So, it is a story of life and justice that hit me when I was a child. 

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

The Crossroads TV theme. I can’t imagine why Toni Hatch would write such an awful song, but I can’t get it out of my head. 

What record would you be embarrassed to bring up that you have in your collection? 

Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler, which is the soundtrack to the film Beaches. When I want to cheer my wife up, I sing it to her because it’s her favourite film. I’m embarrassed to have it on my Spotify because it is a cringeworthy song, but it is also a beautiful tune.

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

Me and my wife went to see Texas in Aberdeen and it took us back to our early 30s.

Is there a song you associate with your election win? 

Jerusalema (by Master KG). A friend of mine run a virtual line-dancing class for my election campaign fund during Covid and the finale was a line-dance to the Jerusalema.