June 13, 2021
David Adjmi

Writer David Adjmi shares a playlist of songs from his adolescence he’d rediscovered while writing his 2020 memoir, Lot Six. From his insular Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn to the discos of Bay Ridge, Adjmi guides us though his melancholy youth with much wit and many stories.



Complete playlist below; tracks in yellow were cut for time.

  1. I (Who Have Nothing), Shirley Bassey, 1963
  2. Prisoner (Love Theme from Eyes of Laura Mars), Barbra Streisand, 1978
  3. Nasty, Janet Jackson, 1986
  4. Time (Clock of the Heart), Culture Club, 1982
  5. Ship of Fools, Erasure, 1988
  6. Hells Bells, AC/DC, 1980
  7. King’s Cross, Pet Shop Boys, 1987
  8. We Do What We’re Told (Milgrim’s 37), Peter Gabriel, 1986
  9. Stripped, Depeche Mode, 1986
  10. Babe, We’re Gonna Love Tonight, Lime, 1982
  11. Give Me Tonight, Shannon, 1984
  12. Too Turned On, Alisha, 1985
  13. Break 4 Love, Raze, 1988
  14. Gigantic, Pixies, 1988
  15. Blue Bell Knoll, Cocteau Twins, 1988
  16. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, The Cure, 1987
  17. Cloudbusting, Kate Bush, 1985
  18. Third Uncle, Bauhaus, 1982

David Adjmi’s plays have been produced at such theatres at Steppenwolf, Lincoln Center, the Royal Court, the R.S.C., and Soho Rep, where he was the Mellon Foundation Playwright-in-Residence for three years. His play Stereophonic is scheduled to premiere on Broadway next season, and a new play, The Stumble, was commissioned by Lincoln Center Theatre, and recently excerpted in The Paris Review. David was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Writers’ Award, and the Steinberg Playwright Award (the “Mimi”) among others. His memoirLot Six was recently published by HarperCollins, and his two play collections, Stunning and Other Plays and Marie Antoinette/3C are published by TCG.