Cillian Murphy selects Lisa O'Neill, U2, The Frank and Walters and more as his Desert Island Discs

On February 11, 2024, Cillian Murphy joined Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs.

Produced by Paula McGinley, the podcast is broadcasted on BBC Radio 4 in the UK. The premise of the show is to bring in new and exciting celebrities and ask them what the eight pieces of music or speech they would bring with them.

Murphy has risen to attention in the public eye for his role in a recent blockbuster hit Oppenheimer. For this role he was nominated for an Oscar as well as given the Best Actor Award at the Golden Globes.

The first disc that Murphy said he would bring was ‘The Boy In The Bubble’ by Paul Simon. The song was one that reminded him of going on vacation with his family as a young child. He told Laverne, “We had this album, I know every single lyric from every single song, and I don’t think I knew how good the album was at the time.”

Music played a large role in Murphys’ life. His parents met at a traditional Irish music session. He and his brother also created the band Sons Of Mr Green Genes which was offered a five album record deal, but his parents thought his brother was too young to start a music career.

The second disc that he chose was ‘The Wandering Minstrel’ by Séamus Ennis. Murphy put a traditional Irish music piece into his disc list because it was a part of his childhood and has since grown a strong appreciation for it.

The third disc that he chose was a song from The Frank And Walters entitled ‘Walter’s Trip’. The band is also from Cork and Murphy describes the track as “a great pub song.”

The fourth disc that Murphy chose was ‘Bullet The Blue Sky’ by U2. This was the first time he “experienced fear or danger in a piece of music…It was terrifying and brilliant,” Murphy said.

For his next disc, Murphy picked his feel good song. He chose ‘Somebody To Love’ by Queen because he “had a big Queen phase in the 80s” and he loves everything about this song.

The sixth disc that Murphy picked was ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ by Radiohead which he loves and is inspired by as, in his eyes, it was released on an album in which the band was making a decision to make the kind of music they wanted and not necessarily what the public wanted.

The seventh disc that he would bring with him is ‘We Can Work it Out’ by The Beatles. The eighth and final disc Murphy would bring is from an renowned Irish artist, Lisa O’Neill. Her song ‘If I Was A Painter’ came out last year as part of her most recent album.

On top of these eight tunes, if Murphy was left on a deserted island he would bring Samuel Beckett’s The Complete Dramatic Works with him. For his luxury item would be an acoustic guitar and strings.

Of the eight tracks that he would bring with him, the first one he would save would be ‘We Can Work It Out’ by the Beatles because “ the sentiment of that song would keep me going throughout and it’s quite jolly,” Murphy said.