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Playlists: songs about breaking things

April 12, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Breaking news: who will smash through into this week’s playlists and have a ball?

Breaking: it happens suddenly, slowly, in many forms, and places – hearts, minds, bodies, objects, houses, relationships. Guest guru Uncleben picks up the pieces from last week’s many suggestions and puts them together with cracking results

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In African, blues, calypso, country, disco, dance, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, breaking, Fugazi, A Place To Bury Strangers, Fiona Apple, The Radiators From Space, Andrew Bird, Gillian Welch, Dropkick Murphys, Ann Peebles, Mikey Dread, Erasure, The Beach Boys, Kurtis Blow, Dexys Midnight Runners, Johnny Cash, Luke Haines, Prince Alla, The Pretenders, Julia and Company, The Special AKA, Leo Kottke, Old Blind Dogs, Klammer, Mitski, Echo and the Bunnymen, Singers and Players, Alpha Blondy, Uncleben
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Playlists: songs about the sixth sense

February 8, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Trust your senses: Björk

intuition to the unexplained, new realms of perception to deja vu, telepathy and the astral plane, all this and more in a pair of perceptive playlists picked by guest of the week Suzi from the most recent topic

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In blues, country, disco, folk, funk, indie, jazz, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, sixth sense, psychology, Kate Bush, Linx, Ruby Turner, Imelda May, Bjork, Dave Brubeck, Emiliana Torrini, Jackie Leven, The Grateful Dead, Willie Mabon, Cadaver Club, Peter Blegvad, Arthur Lee, Love, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Blondie, Rod Stewart, The Waterboys, Tom Petty, Enrique Morente, The Modern Lovers, Tim Buckley, Ann Peebles, Benny Spellman, Carole King, Leonard Cohen, Show Of Hands, Ella Fitzgerald, Suzi
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Playlists: songs about adultery and infidelity

March 23, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Blue tales? The magnificent Millie Jackson will always find out …

Blue tales? The magnificent Millie Jackson will always find out …

Saucy musical hall to broken-hearted blues to soaring heart-wrenching soul, guest magicman reveals all the ins and outs of secret liaisons, setting all affairs in order with three supreme playlists to capture the huge response by readers

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, musical hall, pop, playlists, musicals, postpunk, rock, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags Vesta Victoria, Frankie Lee Sims, The Chicks, Franco & TPOK Jazz, Beyonce, Jimmy Rushing, Gene Pitney, Lefty Frizzell, Denise LaSalle, Robert Johnson, Millie Jackson, Sanford Townsend Band, Waterson & McCarthy, Ida Cox, The Ink Spots, Dream Wife, Gene Autry, Ann Peebles, Lloyd Brown, Brandy Clark, 100º Proof Aged In Soul, Crystal Gayle, Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting, Nancy Kerr, Taylor Swift, Haim, Muddy Waters, Dionne Warwick, Patsy Cline, Me'Shell NdegéOcello, Squeeze, Dr John, The O'Jays, Howlin' Wolf, Johnnie Taylor, The Temptations, Jimi Hendrix, The Dubliners, Toni Braxton, George Harrison, adultery, infidelity, relationships, sex, magicman
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Playlists: songs about fallen 'heroes'

July 1, 2020 Peter Kimpton
A new American discovery. Columbus, not as heroic as once thought, kisses the dirt again

A new American discovery. Columbus, not as heroic as once thought, kisses the dirt again

Political figures to perverted pop stars, sport stars gone sour to disappointing dads, guest ShivSidecar picks playlists that bring a whole rogues’ gallery of favourites perfectly into perspective, all inspired by last week’s nominations

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In blues, country, avant-garde, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, songs, soul, traditional, ska, rocksteady, rock, punk Tags songs, playlists, heroism, scandal, Randy Newman, Dick Gaughan, 10000 Maniacs, Woody Guthrie, The Herd, Wolfgang Press, Luke Haines, The Impressions, Mark Lanegan, The Who, John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band, Paul Kelly, The Redskins, Willie Nile, The Bangles, Felt, Sonic Youth, Opal, Tahures Zurdos, Johnny Cash, Big Mama Thornton, Ann Peebles, Teenage Fanclub, The Mountain Goats, Microdisney, XTC, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Ed Banger
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Playlists: songs about trust

December 18, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Lotte Lenya

Lotte Lenya

Sometimes you can believe, yet it doesn’t work out. But sometimes it does. This week it has, at least through hundreds of brilliant song nominations, and playlists equal that by guest Severin, spanning genres, mood and eras

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In blues, classical, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musicals, playlists, punk, reggae, rock, showtime, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, trust, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Philip Pullman, Mildred Bailey, Fine Young Cannibals, Lotte Lenya, Nine Inch Nails, Karine Polwart, Inspiral Carpets, John Cooper Clarke, Rocco Deluca, Susheela Raman, Jimmy Cliff, Blues Traveler, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Chemical Brothers, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Billy Bragg, Barbara West, Murray Head, The Wedding Present, Little Feat, The Versatiles, Suzi Quatro, The Tymes, Steve Forbert, Culture, Susanne Sundfør, Neil Young, RIchie Havens, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Anti Establishment, Postmodern Jukebox, Caroline Baran, Ann Peebles, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, JS Bach, Sam Cooke
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Playlists: songs featuring personification

March 19, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Rokia Traoré … dancing with a constant companion Mélancolie

Rokia Traoré … dancing with a constant companion Mélancolie

The Bar is delighted. Places, emotions, elements, the weather and even music itself take human traits as this week’s guru Uncleben is excellence personified, guiding through two exhaustive and illuminating playlists on this topic

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In blues, classical, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, metal, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, personification, poetry, John Milton, The Incredible String Band, Philip Jeays, Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, Ella Fitzgerald, Rokia Traoré, Sandra Carrasco, The Young 'Uns, Bill Wells, Aidan Moffat, Indian Ocean, Frank Sinatra, Neko Case, Bob Marley, Electric Light Orchestra, Grace Jones, Julian Cope, Reparata & The Delrons, The Auteurs, Ann Peebles, The Meters, Art Pepper, B.J. Thomas, James Brown, The Very Things, The Kinks, Richard Strauss, Jessye Norman, Def Leppard, Black Star, Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Uncleben
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Playlists: songs about windows

November 22, 2017 Peter Kimpton
What strange sights might been seen through … the car window?

What strange sights might been seen through … the car window?

Aphex Twin's wet windscreen to Sonny Boy Williamson escaping out the bedroom window, it's all going on here. Guest playlister nosuchzone is pure glass – giving us stunning sights and sounds from last week's topic

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In playlists, music, rock, songs, soul, indie, folk, blues, dance, electronica Tags songs, playlists, windows, glass, Aphex Twin, Gentle Giant, Samaris, Eryka Badu, Sonny Boy Williamson, Arthur Russell, Annette Hanshaw, Roni Size/Reprazent, The Rays, Múm, Bessie Smith, Moodymann, PJ Harvey, Joan Armatrading, Dean Barlow, The Beautiful South, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Joe Cocker, The Four Tops, Guillemots, The Lightning Seeds, Joni Mitchell, Ann Peebles, Kinoko Teikoku, The Temptations, Weekend, Tony Joe White, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, John Surman, Howard Moody, Scritti Politti, David Bedford, Kevin Ayers, nosuchzone
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Pleasure and pane: songs about windows

November 16, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Shine some light through this topic

Shine some light through this topic

Clear or stained-glass, from or into rooms, trains, windscreens or more, literal or metaphorical, from the soul to an opportunity, it's time to shine light through and suggest titles or lyrics with this theme

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In music, playlists, songs Tags songs, playlists, windows, glass, William Shakespeare, George Formby, Tommy Cooper, television, Derek Griffiths, Richie Blackmore, Paul McCartney, Bruce Dickinson, William Makepeace Thackeray, books, Film, religion, prositution, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, window tax, history, Defenestration of Prague, Garrison Keillor, Samuel Beckett, Coco Chanel, Great Depression, Grenfell Tower, 9/11, Twin Towers, George Edward Moore, Billy Wilder, Julie Andrews, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Grace Kelly, John Perry Barlow, Wuthering Heights, Quentin Tarantino, Father Ted, Edie Bricknell, Tom Lehrer, Saul Leiter, photography, Ann Peebles, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Monty Python, travel, Stephen Pinker, sex
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'DRINK' OF THE WEEK

Lucky 13 Seed Co. romulan ale


SNACK OF THE WEEK

Baker's Dozen (+) mini donuts


New Albums …

Featured
The Sophs - Goldstar.jpeg
Mar 17, 2026
The Sophs: Goldstar
Mar 17, 2026

New album: A fairytale story of a debut for the Los Angeles six-piece fronted by Ethan Ramon, who cold-emailed demos to Rough Trade Records before even playing a live gig and were signed – that instinctive leap of faith rewarded by this stylish, bold, mercurial, confident, darkly humorous, eclectic debut leaping between rock, indie, pop, hoedown country, delta blues and beyond

Mar 17, 2026
Kim Gordon - Play Me album.jpeg
Mar 13, 2026
Kim Gordon: Play Me
Mar 13, 2026

New album: Following 2024’s The Collective, the former Sonic Youth frontwoman’s fourth solo LP continues her extraordinary experimental, innovative journey, moving to more melodic beats and shorter tracks with a motorik krautrock-style driven coloured by strange sounds, intense emotions and sharply angled, dark, droll social commentary

Mar 13, 2026
ELIZA - The Darkening Green.jpeg
Mar 11, 2026
ELIZA: The Darkening Green
Mar 11, 2026

New album: The London artist Eliza Caird (formerly under the mainstream pop moniker Eliza Doolittle) returns with more of the cool, slow, sensual, gentle, sophisticated experimental soul-funk style evolving from her 2022 album A Sky Without Stars, here with particularly polished, silky, stripped back grooves and vocals

Mar 11, 2026
Irreparable Parables by Andrew Wasylyk.jpeg
Mar 11, 2026
Andrew Wasylyk: Irreparable Parables
Mar 11, 2026

New album: The Scottish multi-instrumentalist and composer returns with a new selection of soothing, meditative mix of experimental classical and jazz, but this time joined with six different singers represented by the birds on the album artwork

Mar 11, 2026
waterbaby - Memory Be A Blade.jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
waterbaby: Memory Be A Blade
Mar 10, 2026

New album: A delicate, experimental, understated soulful chamber pop debut by the pure-voiced Stockholm-born singer-songwriter (aka Kendra Egerbladh) in 25-minute, eight-track release of lo-fi, lyrically semi-improvised numbers about heartbreak and self-renewal in a world of gorgeous musical sensations

Mar 10, 2026
Joshua Idehen - I Know You're Hurting ....jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
Joshua Idehen: I know you're hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try
Mar 10, 2026

New album: With a strikingly long title, a euphoric and honest full debut LP by the British-born Nigerian poet, spoken word artist and musician based in Sweden, working with his musical partner Ludvig Parment’s sonic layers, packed pacy dance and hip-hop grooves, clever sampling, slower reflections, and articulate expressions of positivity through the ups and downs of grief and hope

Mar 10, 2026
Atlanta by Gnarls Barkley.jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
Gnarls Barkley: Atlanta
Mar 10, 2026

New album: Finally, after an 18-year gap since their last collaboration in the heady days of the hit Crazy, with the St Elsewhere and The Odd Couple LPs a third and supposedly final album from fabulous singer CeeLo Green and producer and musician aka Brian Burton with a mix of soaring soul, hip-hop, pop and RnB with songs filled with vivid lyrical memories and strong, emotive melodies

Mar 10, 2026
War Child - Help(2).jpeg
Mar 9, 2026
Various: HELP(2) - War Child Records
Mar 9, 2026

New album: Not only a timely and topical milestone charity record following the first in 1995 to help bring aid and wide variety of support to children in war zones around he world, but an impressive double-LP array of stellar British and international talent and powerful, poignant 23 songs from Arctic Monkeys to Young Fathers

Mar 9, 2026
Bonnie Prince Billy - We Are Together Again.jpeg
Mar 9, 2026
Bonnie “Prince” Billy: We Are Together Again
Mar 9, 2026

New album: Just over a year after 2025’s The Purple Bird, but from parallel recording sessions and familiar co-musicians, the veteran Louisville-Kentucky singer-songwriter Will Oldham returns with another collection of exquisite, intimate, gently defiant lo-fi folk to troubled times, an ode to community with a beautiful array of acoustic instruments and his poignant, insightful lyrics and delivery

Mar 9, 2026
deadletter-existence-is-bliss.jpeg
Mar 5, 2026
DEADLETTER: Existence Is Bliss
Mar 5, 2026

New album: This second LP by the South Yorkshire/London six-piece expands their post-punk sound palette with a collection of arresting, thrumming songs, often dark and challenging, with richly exploratory lyrics across dystopian and existential questions, yet despite a climate of difficult, shows how gasping for life’s oxygen is essential

Mar 5, 2026
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Mar 5, 2026
Lala Lala: Heaven 2
Mar 5, 2026

New album: Moving from Chicago to New Mexico, Reykjavík, then London and now Los Angeles, the UK-born artist Lillie West’s experimental indie dream pop is a fascinating release about restless escapism while trying to stay where she is

Mar 5, 2026
Hen's Teeth by Iron & Wine.jpeg
Mar 3, 2026
Iron & Wine: Hen's Teeth
Mar 3, 2026

New album: Timeless, poetic, gentle folk-rock in this eighth solo album by the North Carolina multi-instrumentalist and producer Sam Beam, in warm, tender album with a title that suggests the idea of the impossible yet real, and an earthier, darker, more more tactile companion to his Grammy-nominated 2024 album Light Verse

Mar 3, 2026
Buck Meek - The Mirror 2.jpeg
Mar 3, 2026
Buck Meek: The Mirror
Mar 3, 2026

New album: The Brooklyn-based Texan guitarist of Big Thief returns with his fourth solo LP filled with tender, thoughtful, beautiful folk-country-rock, a tiny splash of analogue synths, joined by bandmate James Krivchenia as producer, Adrianne Lenker on backing vocals, plus guitarist Adam Brisbin and harp player Mary Lattimore

Mar 3, 2026
Nothing's About to Happen to Me by Mitski.jpeg
Mar 1, 2026
Mitski: Nothing’s About To Happen To Me
Mar 1, 2026

New album: Following 2023’s acclaimed The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, now an eighth LP of sublime beauty, wit and melancholy and silken vocal tones from the American singer-songwriter, mixing pop, rock, echoes of Laurel Canyon era, and stories and metaphors of love and loss, insecurity, independence and solitude all set at home – and no shortage of cats

Mar 1, 2026

new songs …

Featured
Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell.jpeg
Mar 17, 2026
Song of the Day: Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell
Mar 17, 2026

Song of the Day: A catchy, witty, innuendo-filled new number about being and single and lonely, with some stylistic echoes of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, heralding the acclaimed Grammy-winning Texas country singer-songwriter’s upcoming seventh album, Middle of Nowhere, out 1 May on Lost Highway

Mar 17, 2026
Jaakko Eino Kalevi 2.jpg
Mar 16, 2026
Song of the Day: Jaakko Eino Kalevi - Black Diamond
Mar 16, 2026

Song of the Day: A splendidly rousing eight-minute retro-style electro-pop baroque melodrama by the Finnish artist with the deep, rich voice, one that stylistically and in his own fashion, draws a pentagram between Goblin, Rondo Veneziano, Cerrone, Doris Norton and Lindstrom, out on Domino Records

Mar 16, 2026
Hannah Lew album.jpeg
Mar 15, 2026
Song of the Day: Hannah Lew - Sunday
Mar 15, 2026

Song of the Day: An appropriate day to highlight this classy latest single of shimmering 80s-style synth-pop with echoes of OMD, with themes about pain, love and grief from the upcoming debut album by the Richmond, California artist, out on 10 April via Night School Records

Mar 15, 2026
Mei Semones.jpeg
Mar 14, 2026
Song of the Day: Mei Semones - Tooth Fairy (featuring John Roseboro)
Mar 14, 2026

Song of the Day: A charming cross-genre fusion of bossa nova, jazz, folk and chamber pop sung in English and Japanese by the Brooklyn-based American musician with a tale of losing a tooth on the subway and friendship, from the upcoming album Kurage, out 10 April on Bayonet Records

Mar 14, 2026
Robyn - Blow My Mind.jpeg
Mar 13, 2026
Song of the Day: Robyn - Blow My Mind
Mar 13, 2026

Song of the Day: Quirky, sensual electro-pop with a dash of Kraftwerk by the acclaimed Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Robin Miriam Carlsson, in this latest from the upcoming album Sexistential out on 27 March via Konichiwa / Young Records

Mar 13, 2026
Lava La Rue 2 new.jpeg
Mar 12, 2026
Song of the Day: Lava La Rue - Scratches
Mar 12, 2026

Song of the Day: The latest single by the London singer-songwriter is punchy, powerful psychedelic rock number with tearing riffs and lyrics about damage from troubled relationship, abuse and self-harm, from the forthcoming EP Do You Know Everything?, out on BMG

Mar 12, 2026
Alewya - City of Symbols.jpeg
Mar 11, 2026
Song of the Day: Alewya - City of Symbols (featuring eejebee)
Mar 11, 2026

Song of the Day: A stylish fusion of electronica, soul, hip hop and Ethiopian rhythmic influences centring on themes of heritage, family by London singer, songwriter, producer and multidisciplinary artist, with drums from eejebee and guitar from Vraell, heralding from the forthcoming new debut Zero out 22 June via LDN Records / Because Music

Mar 11, 2026
Huarinami - Carried Away.jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
Song of the Day: Huarinami - Carried Away
Mar 10, 2026

Song of the Day: Explosive, stylish, gritty, restless indie-psychedelic punk with angular, angry guitars, driving bass and wonderfully arresting vocals by Pauline Janier (aka Cody Pepper) fronting the French London-based four-piece in this single fuelled by the frustration of big-city life, and heralding their sophomore EP Nothing Happens, due for release on 6 June

Mar 10, 2026
Avalon Emerson - Written Into Changes album.jpeg
Mar 9, 2026
Song of the Day: Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Written into Changes
Mar 9, 2026

Song of the Day: Following the singles Eden and Jupiter and Mars, another stylish, experimental indie synth-pop release by the New York artist with the title track of upcoming second Charm moniker album, out on 20 March via Dead Oceans

Mar 9, 2026
Aldous Harding - One Stop.jpeg
Mar 8, 2026
Song of the Day: Aldous Harding - One Stop
Mar 8, 2026

Song of the Day: An enigmatic, oddly stylish, stripped back, piano-based new experimental folk single by the New Zealand singer-songwriter, namechecking John Cale, and from her upcoming album Train on the Island out May 8 via 4AD

Mar 8, 2026
Max Winter - Candlelight.jpeg
Mar 7, 2026
Song of the Day: Max Winter, Asha Lorenz & Rael - Candlelight
Mar 7, 2026

Song of the Day: A dark, stylish, striking fusion of hip-hop, trip-hop, spoken word, and jazz by the London-based rapper and friends, and the the first single from the collaborative mixtape Like the season!, out on Secret Friend

Mar 7, 2026
SPRINTS - Trickle Down.jpeg
Mar 6, 2026
Song of the Day: SPRINTS - Trickle Down
Mar 6, 2026

Song of the Day: The feisty, ferociously fun Dublin post-punk band return with a punchy, on-point angry new number about the flawed economic term, watching systems fail in slow motion, housing crisis, rising costs, culture wars, climate collapse, and frustratingly being told to stay patient while everything burns

Mar 6, 2026

Word of the week

Featured
Snail on a wall.jpeg
Mar 12, 2026
Word of the week: wallfish
Mar 12, 2026

Word of the week: It sounds like the singing finned picture ornament Big Mouth Billy Bass that became popular in the late 1990s, but this is a much older noun, derived in Somerset, England, pertains to the climbing gastropod that can slowly climb up any surface

Mar 12, 2026
Swordfish.jpg
Feb 25, 2026
Word of the week: xiphias
Feb 25, 2026

Word of the week: Get the point? This is the scientific name for the swordfish, in full Xiphias gladius (from the Greek and Latin for sword), that extraordinary sea creature with the long, pointy bill. But what of it in song?

Feb 25, 2026
Korean musicians in 1971.jpeg
Feb 12, 2026
Word of the week: yanggeum
Feb 12, 2026

Word of the week: A form or hammered dulcimer, this traditional Korean instrument, with a flat and trapezoidal shape, has seven sets of four metal strings hit by thin bamboo stick

Feb 12, 2026
Zumbador dorado - mango bumblebee Puerto Rico.jpeg
Jan 22, 2026
Word of the week: zumbador
Jan 22, 2026

Word of the week: A wonderfully evocative noun from the Spanish for word buzz, and meaning both a South American hummingbird, a door buzzer, and symbolic of resurrection of the soul in ancient Mexican culture, while also serving as the logo for a tequila brand

Jan 22, 2026
Hamlet ad - Gregor Fisher.jpg
Jan 8, 2026
Word of the week: aspectabund
Jan 8, 2026

Word of the week: This rare adjective describes a highly expressive face or countenance, where emotions and reactions are readily shown through the eyes or mouth

Jan 8, 2026

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