15 songs that Fontaines D.C. wish they wrote

Ask any musician if there’s any song from history that they wish they had written and, if they’re telling the truth, there’ll be capable of listing a selection off the top of their head without a moment’s thought — and Fontaines D.C. are no different.

The Irish group first made waves in 2019 with their debut album, Dogrel, which won them an array of plaudits and a Mercury nomination to boot. In the years since, the Irish band haven’t sat still and quickly followed it up with the perfect pandemic tonic, A Hero’s Death, before evolving further on their third record, Skinty Fia.

When the public collectively cried out for a new group to come along, Fontaines answered their prayers and now look on their way to becoming the band of their generation. They’ve managed to break free from the lazy comparisons to poets from their native land and proven that they are much more than just another post-punk band.

Earlier this year, Fontaines were the ‘Artists In Residence’ on BBC 6 Music, and for one of their shows, frontman Grian Chatten and bassist Conor Deegan played a selection of tracks they wish they’d written. It was an eclectic playlist, full of variety, and shows their broad influences, which have subliminally infiltrated their sound.

Their first selection was American singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs with ‘I’ll Be Gone’, which they followed up with The Mamas & the Papas’ ‘Snowqueen Of Texas’. “An amazing song off an amazing album, Doolittle, and a really important band for us,” Conor remarked about ‘Debaser’ by Pixies. Meanwhile, there were also inclusions from artists such as Bob Dylan, Baxter Dury and Scott Walker.

Chatten also named ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by The Verve and said: “We are not the first people to have played that on BBC Radio. I have a friend who worked in construction for a couple of years, and he told me about that song being on the radio.”

Adding: “Whenever that came on when he was feeling low, that song, just all of the lyrics and the melody, the string and all the rest of it, it really kind of brought him back into himself, gave him a sense of autonomy and hope.”

See the full list of their selections below, and listen to the playlist.

15 songs Fontaines D.C. wish they wrote

Additionally, the vocalist included ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ by The Cure and added: “A song that was introduced to me by my mam when I was very, very small, and she’d just come home with the greatest hits on CD. She was very excited to show me her youth, you know, when she was a massive Cure fan.”

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