Dido Q & A: Recent Update

Dear Dido. I like the song Do You Have a Little Time as performed on the album Life For Rent, but I absolutely love this song as performed on Live at Brixton Academy. My question is if you think there is an optimal performance (producing, creation) for each song/melody, or that it can be performed in very different ways, each way liked by another group of people?

Dido replies: Actually the Live at Brixton Academy is the first version of that song as I wrote it. I often like to go back to the first versions when I'm performing live. The one on the record is a different version that came about when I heard a brilliant sample that Mark Bates was working with in the other room in the studio and we decided that song worked really well over it. But in answer to your question - I don't know. I think the beauty of songs is that once the core of the song is there there are indeed a million ways to do it. But I tend not to think too much about it and just take the song where it wants to go naturally. Whether that's on record or whether that's live. And yes, I'm sure that different people like different versions.

Where is your favorite beach?

Dido replies: My favorite place in the world is Connemara in the west of Ireland. The beaches there are so incredibly beautiful and empty and hold so many memories for me. I used to spend a lot of time near the Twelve Bens (a little mountain range that goes down to the sea). Without a doubt my favorite place in the world.

I wonder, do you remember a record you got as a present when you were a child (maybe as a Christmas gift?), and which you still listen to today?

Dido replies: Yes! I remember one year my brother gave me a collection of my first albums (I'd only ever managed to save up enough for singles at that stage in my life) all of which I loved and had a huge influence on me I think. I remember among them was Yellow Moon by the Neville Brothers, Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got by Sinead O'Connor, a Chet Baker record, an Odyssey album, a Chieftains album. A bit of variety, but all albums I still absolutely love.