"I have a romantic, soft spot and love ballads and slow airs. Love songs about doomed relationships seem to appeal to me, maybe because they bring a touch of reality to things. 'Bubbly' feel- good pop music depresses me. I like singer/songwriters, Dylan, Mitchell, Waits, Drake, Simon, and I am into traditional music as well," Paddy said.

He added: "These are not my all time favourites, just songs that relate to a particular time, and have lingered."

My Top 10

1. Albatross - Fleetwood Mac - Not even a song but an instrumental, which had a momentous role in history for people of my generation. I don't know about the 'swinging sixties' but there was not a lot of it to be found for a teenager in suburban Belfast. This tune was a liberator, an excuse to smooch with and maybe even snog teenage girls at discos or parties. It was wonderful. Even today when the DJ plays something slow, my mind races back to Albatross. Albatross was the 'original' smooch tune, and is still untouched.

2. The Travelling People - Luke Kelly - This was written by Ewan MacColl and was one of the many 'protest' songs around in the '60s. Not so much protest as a lament for changing times and ways, and the man was a prophet. With the lines "Nice and easy, no need to go faster" and "for time was not our master" even MacColl could not have foreseen the stress filled hectic lives we live now. Kelly was the supreme folk singer, sadly missed but not forgotten.

3. Fire and Rain - James Taylor - This was released in December 1969, and is probably about the death of Suzanne Schnerr, the break up of Taylor's band 'Flying Machines', and his battle against drugs. Singer/songwriters were in vogue then, and still are to me. On leaving school in 1971 we were gathered in the 'smoking room' on the last day, with guitars and singers. This was the last song played before we headed down the school lane and out of the gates for the last time. And in those days yes it was rare and very advanced for a school to have a purpose built smoking room.

4. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack - Written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl for his wife Peggy Seeger this is quite simply a beautiful, simple love song. Made famous by Roberta Flack in the Clint Eastwood film 'Play Misty for Me', which I saw in a cinema in Muswell Hill in London in 1973. The film terrified me, and the song remained in my mind. Ten years later as the steward of Glossop Labour Club in Derbyshire, the song was on the juke box. On many a quiet night, we passed the entire night, literally, playing pool, talking and playing this repeatedly. Remember when people went to bars to talk without needing a foghorn? And it always reminds me of .....?

5. Madame George - Van Morrison - I am into Van in a big way. When I was a student (the first time, I am always a student) we sat in dingy bed sits listening to Van in the early '70s. A song full of haunting pictures of Belfast "On the train from Dublin up to Sandy Row" this is the best song about Belfast that I know. The CD version is polished and moving; the live version with an emphasis on electric guitar runs is superb, if not as haunting. Painting pictures with words is what songs should be all about. I can still see those 'backstreets' that Van brought to life.

6. Dearg Doom - Horslips - Now I discovered Irish Traditional music at an early age, but in the early '70s as a student I was going to discos. And then along came this group who combined the two. Electrifying in more ways than one. Suddenly 'O'Neill's March' was being belted out before breaking into a rock song. Absolutely amazing. 'Horslips' were the best live band I ever saw, especially when there were no seats and you could dance away to your heart's delight. And Dearg Doom was another name for Cu Chulainn.

7. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan - You can spend hours trying to pick your favourite Dylan song, and never get an answer. A genius, the best song writer ever. I could name about 100 Dylan songs as my favourites. I choose this one because of the words, the greatest put-down of all time, and I once saw him perform it live in the twilight at a rock festival back in 1977, with Eric Clapton providing guitar backing, and it was evocative and full of angst. The subject of his scorn remains in doubt, Joan Baez or possibly Edie Sedgwick. The latter fits the bill but Dylan didn't really get close to her until 1966, a year after he wrote the song. 'Rolling Stone' magazine had this as the best popular song in its 500 best songs poll. Maybe they liked the title. Once again, listen to the words. Powerful. Or what about 'Just like a Woman', or 'A Hard Rain's' or...

8. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - Carole King - In the early 1970s everybody had a copy of King's LP called 'Tapestry', featuring this great, realistic love song. When I was returning to Ireland after many years in England, on our last night out, again with guitars and singers, this was the last number we did. It always reminds me of great and bad times in Manchester, and a lot of friends I left behind. The very day I returned Alex Ferguson became manager of Manchester United. How did he get on?

9. The Island - Paul Brady - "And I guess young boys dying in the ditches, Is just what being free is all about?" Those two lines say it all. A great anti-war song, showing the senselessness and futility of violence. There have been thousands of books, poems and songs written about the 'Troubles' here, but for me those two lines sum it all up.

10. Blue Moon - Manchester City Supporters - Manchester City may not have a very good team but by a mile they have the best song. When you are 2-0 up at Old Trafford in the Munich Remembrance derby with 90 minutes gone and the fans launch into "Blue Moon..." It is the best song you ever heard, and the best singing. Life is sweet. Altogether now, along with the pride of Manchester, "Blue Moon, You saw me standing alone".