The first song I remember hearing
My father was a very good trumpet player and an avid stereophile, so there was always a lot of big band, 40s music in the house, like Hank Williams and Benny Goodman.
The first record I bought
I vividly remember riding my Stingray bicycle to Kmart in Kettering, Ohio, to buy Hendrix in the West – the live album by Jimi Hendrix – and Master of Reality by Black Sabbath, both in the early 70s, with the money I’d made from doing rough carpentry work. I rode home, listened to the one after the other and blew my mind.
The song I do at karaoke
Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra.
The song I secretly like but tell everyone I hate
Poker Face by Lady Gaga. No disrespect to Lady Gaga. I love her, and this is a great song. I just don’t think people would think I would listen to her. I saw her perform at Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday party celebration. I’m a friend of Nancy Sinatra and have worked with Frank Jr, so I got invited. Who else was there? I remember talking to Arnold Schwarzenegger!
The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen pops into my mind on nearly a daily basis. So I know all the words to that.
The best song to play at a party
Turn! Turn! Turn! by the Byrds or Wooden Ships by Crosby, Stills & Nash.
The song that gets me going in the morning
When I was making Terminator 2, I used to work out to Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails, because my younger brother, Richard Patrick, was a touring guitarist for them. I took it to Jim Cameron and tried to get him to use it for the soundtrack to Terminator 2, but he said: “No. Arnold prefers Guns N’ Roses,” who went on to record You Could Be Mine, an original song for Terminator 2. It’s ironic because Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails has won a couple of Oscars for his soundtracks now. I also sing on the Last Rampage movie soundtrack that my brother scored, in a song called Oh Lord. I recorded it live with Alejandro Escovedo at the Moody theater in Austin [Texas].
The song I wish I had written
If I was going to listen to one song for the rest of my life, it might just be Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra.
The best song to have sex to
What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye.
The song I want played at my funeral
Midnight Rider by the Allman Brothers Band is just fantastic. As is Missing by Bruce Springsteen.
A Mother’s Fury is on digital platforms now.
