By pejepeine
Song Bar Singles Night: What Happened Next …
The Swipe Right A-List Playlist:
Brittany Fousheé’s Single AF kicks us off with a glorious 6/8 soul ballad that celebrates the end of a toxic relationship and the glorious possibilities of being single again. Miki from Lush experiences a similar revelation during the course of Single Girl, switching 180 degrees from the fearing the solitude of singledom to embracing the sheer rush and freedom of it, courtesy of a bad choice.
Many men umm and ahh and change the subject when the issue of commitment arises. Not Johnnie Maestro, though. When his girl delivers an ultimatum, he and his band, The Brooklyn Bridge, step up to deliver an epic, New York-Italian anti-marriage soul anthem. For Johnnie, married bliss is the Worst That Could Happen.
Nina Simone’s sharp sense of humour is often overlooked, but the hilarious Marriage Is For Old Folks is another superb anti-wedlock song: “One married he, one married she: whaddya got? Two people watchin' TV!” The truth hurts.
Jake Thackray’s On The Shelf is a philosophical, sad little ditty about the practicalities of single life and the resilience that millions of people find to deal with it. I preferred this version to the one where he sings the same song about a young woman, which lays the pathos on a little too thick.
Melissa Manchester singing Carol Bayer Sager is always going to be a classy affair, and Home To Myself from her first album is a mature, reflection on the consolations of solitude:
“I wake up and see
The light of the day
Shining on me
Make my own time
It's mine to spend
Think to myself
My own best friend
It's not so bad all alone
Comin' home to myself again
Now I understand.”
Mary Gauthier writes: “After years of being taught that the way to deal with painful emotions is to get rid of them, it can take a lot of re-schooling to learn to sit with them instead. But learning how to live alone, sitting with difficult feelings is like panning for gold. Those who have slept in the wilderness know things that those who sleep in comfortable houses may never know. This song is about learning how to sleep in the wilderness.”
How To Learn To Live Alone is raw, brutal stuff, and one of the few songs this week that hints at how many of us have to face a tough reckoning with the solitary life as we age.
Sparks come up with a novel way of avoiding permanent bachelorhood in I Married Myself, although the sad, wistfulness of the song belies the fact he’s very happy together. Still, there are those walks on the beach. Lovely times.
Ariana Grande also finds herself enjoying a relationship with herself in the wonderfully generous Thank U Next, in which she acknowledges everything she’s learned from past lovers and even thanks her absent dad.
I wasn’t surprised to see Jill Scott turn up with the Mexican-tinged One is the Magic Number, from her brilliant first LP. Jill does the maths and calculates that it all starts with her:
“So many times I define my pride through somebody else's eyes
Then I looked inside and found my own stride
I found the lasting love for me.”
Lucy González was one of the most celebrated cumbia singers in 60s Colombia, and here with Combo Los Galleros, Soledad sees her heading to the beach to drown her sorrows, before discovering joy in solitude and the sea – always a redemptive presence in this coastal style of music.
Round my way, the thumping beat of reggaeton is the sound of young singles on the town (couples prefer the slinkier, more romantic bachata). Lunay is a pretty-boy newcomer who teamed up with the not-so-pretty giants of the genre, Daddy Yankee and Bad Bunny, for this approving hymn to single women doing what the hell they like. “She’s single and wild with her friends, she goes to the disco and needs no excuse.”
But after the party’s over, there’s often that long walk home. The Radiators bring Dublin lyricism to those rainy streets with Walking Home Alone Again, opening with an epic intro featuring vocal effects by Welsh folkie Mary Hopkin.
Let’s finish with one of Moondog’s haunting rounds in snake-time. Moondog remained single until his death, and reminds us that whatever webs we weave, we are always, ultimately on our own.
Fousheé – Single AF (Severin)
Lush – Single Girl (Tarquin Spodd)
The Brooklyn Bridge – Worst That Could Happen (SweetHomeAlabama)
Nina Simone – Marriage Is for Old Folks (ParaMhor)
Jake Thackray – On The Shelf (Suzi)
Melissa Manchester – Home To Myself (Fred Erickson)
Mary Gauthier – How To Learn to Live Alone (tincanman2000)
Sparks – I Married Myself (OliveButler)
Ariana Grande – Thank U Next (Loud Atlas)
Jill Scott – One Is The Magic Number (DiscoMonster)
Combo Los Galleros ft Lucy González – Soledad (Nicko)
Lunay, Daddy Yankee, & Bad Bunny – Soltera (magicman)
The Radiators – Walking Home Alone Again (Max Visconta Nuclearosa)
Moondog – All is Loneliness (Traktor Albatrost)
The ‘I’ve Got Your Number’ B-List Playlist:
Bessie Smith is feeling horny and wants sugar in her bowl and hot dog on her roll. It’s a real shame that the English dish toad in the hole doesn’t seem to have reached the southern states at that time.
ABBA are also horny. It’s half past twelve and they vent their frustration with a yearning disco classic. I’m a big fan of “in the studio” videos, and this is up there with the best of them.
Beabadoobee was new to me, but Last Day on Earth is a terrific, swirling, 90s-sounding number in which she plans to greet the apocalypse “fucked up at home…naked, alone”.
Sunfire’s Young, Free and Single is one of those perfect summer soul tunes, although I’m not sure if they’ve quite understood the world “mingle”.
Helen Merrill is an underrated jazz singer who I also discovered recently, and her By Myself is another of those resigned songs about making the best of being passed over: “I'll face the unknown, I'll build a world of my own; No one knows better than I, myself, I'm by myself alone.”
Slapp Happy’s Dagmar Krause is also all alone, but not particularly upset about it “I don't really mind. It could be worse,” she sings, on this timeless, beautiful tune.
The Original Carter Family sing an old song about a girl whose commitment to staying single involves committing suicide to avoid marriage, while Ry Cooder offers luggage advice from the point of view of a cat, a source I would consider to be inexperienced on the subject.
Days N´Daze’s Drunken Misanthropic Loner is the most savage side of singledom this week, a raging song of disgust, rejection and hatred for humankind that also has an anthemic quality of sheer joy in the outsider life.
I once saw Billy Idol in a shop in London. He was by himself, but he wasn’t dancing – he was rummaging through some shirts. I often wish I’d seen him in a pub instead, so I could have asked him if he wanted to drink another drink.
Pet Shop Boys rhyme “single” with “bilingual” for the bleak tale of a Euro-hopping executive who flies from capital to capital seeking the nightlife. We can thank Brexit for putting an end to this sort of soulless EU-sponsored hedonism.
Finally, a crunching beat, a Morricone motif, a prowling bassline, and the highest of hi-top faces. Yep, it’s another brilliant Cameo video. Single guys and ladies: clap your hands!
Bessie Smith – I Need a Little Sugar In My Bowl (Isabelle Forshaw)
ABBA – Gimme Gimme Gimme (Loud Atlas)
Beabadoobee – Last Night On Earth (ParaMhor)
Sunfire – Young, Free and Single (Severin)
Helen Merrill – By Myself (Nilpferd)
Slapp Happy – I’m All Alone (Tarquin Spodd)
Original Carter Family – I’ll Never Marry (treefrogdemon)
Ry Cooder – Suitcase In My Hand (George Boyland)
Days N’ Daze – Misanthropic Drunken Loner (EnglishOutlaw)
Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself (amylee)
Pet Shop Boys – Single Bilingual (Florian7)
Cameo – Single Life (Severin)
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Over the weekend a pall of misery settled upon the Song Bar single theme, with loads of songs nominated about break-ups, loneliness and general moping that were destined to nurse their drinks alone before being rejected. Come on, people! I can’t believe nobody nominated George’s “game over” taunt to Andrew when he got engaged to Shirley out of Pepsi and Shirley. Death by matrimony!
Meanwhile, Chic got used to lonesome meals, Karin purchased a wind-up sex toy and I found time to watch Bridget Jones again.
Wham! – Young Guns (Go For It!)
Chic – Soup For One
Karin Krog – Mr Joy
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Not just 45s: songs about being single. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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