‘My dad said Great Balls of Fire was pagan music – and threw it out of the window’: Leo Sayer’s honest playlist

The first song I fell in love with
I first heard Bob Dylan through my cousin David when I was about 16. I fell in love with his voice. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right is still one of the best songs ever written. We were young rebels then, looking for a moral compass, while everybody older seemed to be wearing bowler hats and pinstripe suits. Dylan made us think differently.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. I’m going to record it myself some time because it’s just an amazing song.

The first single I bought
Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis from Fine Records in the Lanes in Brighton. When my dad heard it, he said: “I won’t have any of that pagan music in here,” then threw it out of the window. I thought: If he did that, it must be good. I retrieved it from the bushes, took it to a friend’s house and we played it all day.

My karaoke go-to
I hate karaoke, but I once sang Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen with a group of supermodels after the 2006 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. I was only singing because they were all beautiful.

The song I can no longer listen to
Imagine by John Lennon – not because I’m bored with it, but because the world clearly isn’t listening. Everything is about dividing people into races, classes, haves and have-nots, when Imagine is about joining people together.

The best song to play at a party
I Love Your Smile by Shanice, because it grooves like nothing else.

The song I secretly like, but tell everyone I hate
I don’t really have guilty pleasures. But people probably wouldn’t expect me to love Pennies from Heaven by Arthur Tracy.

The best song to have sex to
Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye is just the sexiest song in the world. Marvin is a monster with that voice. He’s who every man would like to think he is and who every woman would probably like to go to bed with.

The song that changed my life
I sang Oh, Boy! by Buddy Holly at school when I was about 14 in a band called the Buddies. Our drummer didn’t even own drums – he hit schoolbooks with his sticks. Buddy Holly made me think: I could actually do this.

The song that gets me up in the morning
Lovely Day by Bill Withers is exactly what you want first thing in the morning.

The song that makes me cry
I was at the Lyceum, standing at the side of the stage for the concert in 1975 where Bob Marley and the Wailers famously recorded the live version of No Woman, No Cry. Everybody was in tears. Later I toured with Bob – I’d designed one of his record sleeves [for Catch a Fire] when I was a graphic designer for Island Records. He was a lovely man.

The song I want played at my funeral
Keith Jarrett’s recording of Over the Rainbow. It’s just beautiful.

Leo Sayer’s 18-CD box set Leothology: The Studio Albums 1973 – Now is out now. He is touring to 15 November.