• Themes/Playlists
  • New Songs
  • Albums
  • Word!
  • Index
  • Donate!
  • Animals
  • About/FAQs
  • Contact
Menu

Song Bar

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Music, words, playlists

Your Custom Text Here

Song Bar

  • Themes/Playlists
  • New Songs
  • Albums
  • Word!
  • Index
  • Donate!
  • Animals
  • About/FAQs
  • Contact

Playlists: songs about D-Day

June 12, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Reflection on Omaha beach in the aftermath of D-Day battles on 6 June 1944

Following the 80th anniversary of one of the most significant events of the 20th century, guest playlister Maki picks poignant and powerful selections abuot that event as well as other do-or-die metaphors inspired by last week’s D-Day topic

Read more
In blues, classical, country, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, jazz, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, traditional, soundtracks, soul, songs Tags D-Day, history, war, second world war, Second World War, Maurice Jarre, Sabaton, Chumbawamba, Seth Lakeman, Chris De Burgh, Iron Maiden, Soulsavers, Dave Gahan, B-Squadron, Mavis Staples, The Charlesys, Sod's Opera, Tom Jones, Robert Wyatt, Nat King Cole, Dave Wright & The Midnight Ramblers, Woody Guthrie, Avett Brothers, Captain Beefheart, James Keelaghan, Bill Frisell, Spear of Destiny, Jim Bradford, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Benjamin Britten, Maki
Comment

Playlists: music without percussion

March 13, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Slowdive back in the day … but now reaching a new audience

Jazz, classical, acoustic rock to neo-folk, gentle pop and soul to ambient electronica, there’s a whole texture of sounds audible when the bang of drums and other struck percussion are absent. Inspired by last week’s topic, guest Nilpferd brilliantly guides us through a more delicate, nuanced musical experience

Read more
In classical, African, avant-garde, blues, country, experimental, electronica, folk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, playlists, pop, prog, psychedelia, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Giuffre, Astor Piazzolla, Benjamin Britten, Led Zeppelin, The Full English, The Go-Betweens, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Wheeler, Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, Nat King Cole, Huey Lewis and the News, Flying Pickets, Patti Austin, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, Rachel Unthank, The Grateful Dead, Charles Brown, The Mountain Goats, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Flying Lotus, Pink Floyd, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Christian McBride, Mark Whitfield, Nicolas Payton, Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven, Nilpferd
Comment

Gay pride struggles and strides: songs exploring gender and LGBTQ

June 24, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Very fruitful: Little Richard

Very fruitful: Little Richard

It’s time to come out with our own Song Bar gay parade – songs exploring, expressing the experience from confusions and problems, all the way to coming out and celebrating gender, difference across the sex spectrum

Read more
In African, avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, drone, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, soul, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, homosexuality, gender, Gay Pride, Little Richard, Sappho, Oscar Wilde, E.M. Forster, Jeffrey Eugenides, Harvey Milk, Derek Jarman, RuPaul, Simone De Beauvoir, Quentin Crisp, animal behaviour, LTBTQ, David Bowie, Tchaikovsky, Benjamin Britten, Noel Coward, Joe Orton, Cole Porter, Peter Tatchell, Alan Turing, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, Grayson Perry, Adrian Street, Marc Almond, Anohni, Dusty Springfield, Y-Love, Ezra Furman, Sophie, Donna Summer, Village People, Lucille Bogan, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Kylie Minogue, Cher, Madonna, Lady Gaga
Comment

Playlists: songs about roses

May 25, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Roses of many colours decorate this week’s lists …

Roses of many colours decorate this week’s lists …

Whether wild or cultivated, on western plains to eastern mountains, country gardens or inner city, guest flower picker AmyLee creates a bloomin’ marvellous bouquet of music to display a fabulous selection of aural and lyrical colours

Read more
In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, roses, flowers, The Smithereens, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Otis Taylor, The Temptations, Chris & Cosey, The Association, Elliott Smith, Oysterband, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Hope Sandoval, The Warm Invention, Waxahatchee, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Airto Moreira, The Maytals, Shawn Phillips, Peter Hammill, Gary Lucas, Van Morrison, Praetorius, Ben Webster, OutKast, Betty Harris, Dub Syndicate, Bobby Hebb, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, PJ Harvey, The West Coast Pop Art Experiment, Squeeze, Clear Light, Marianne Faithfull, television, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Jerry Garcia, Ray LaMontagne, Rosanne Cash, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Ben Harper, Tom Waits, Thin Lizzy, The Magnetic Fields, Pete Docherty, Them, Fairport Convention, Kaia Kater, Captain Beefheart, Nazareth, Bijan Chemirani, James P. Johnson, St. German, St Germain, Oscar Peterson, Johann Strauss II, Benjamin Britten, Handel, George Friederic Handel, Henry Purcell, Mouse on Mars, Virgil Fox, Tony Gould, Vangelis, Brian Eno, Roger Eno, AmyLee
Comment

Playlists: songs with similes

December 4, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Leonard Cohen. Like no one else.

Leonard Cohen. Like no one else.

There’s noting quite like a simile playlist, and even more special is a pair. This week’s guest ParaMhor creates perfect examples for comparison, picked with impeccable taste out of a vast selection from last week’s topic

Read more
In avant-garde, blues, classical, country, dance, disco, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, jazz, instrumentals, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, songs, rock, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, similes, language, Beck, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Definition of Sound, Smokey Robinson, The Miracles, Rita & The Tiaras, Stevie Wonder, This Mortal Coil, Leonard Cohen, Chet Baker, Van Morrison, Cheikh Lô, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, Dolly Parton, Ike and Tina Turner, Boogie Down Productions, Lavern Baker, Dean Martin, Joaquin Sabina, Iceage, Placebo, Captain Beefheart, Sparklehorse, Bert Jansch, Abbey Lincoln, Gillian Welch, Stephen Crane, PG Wodehouse, Raymond Chandler, ParaMhor, Orange Juice, Benjamin Britten
Comment

Playlists: music that mentions, mimics or samples birdsong

April 11, 2018 Peter Kimpton
The paradise tanager, an exotic songbird 

The paradise tanager, an exotic songbird 

Cuckoos to chickens, geese to gulls, a host of exotic birds and ascending on high with the lark and nightingale, this week's aural aviary expert Hoshino Sakura spies a beautiful set of musical calls from last week's topic

Read more
In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, electronica, folk, hip hop, indie, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul Tags Captain Beefheart, Marsha Gee, Lisa Carbon, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Nina Nastasia, Camille Saint-Saëns, Benjamin Britten, Les Compagnons de la Chanson, Travis, Kate Bush, Olivier Messiaen, BBC Sound Archive, second world war, Minnie Riperton, Frank Sinatra, The Meters, Bob Marley, The Durutti Column, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Love, Eva Cassidy, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Frank Haffort, Caetano Veloso, birds, birdsong, Goosehouse, Hoshino Sakura
Comment

Playlists: songs about fish and other life aquatic

January 18, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Dolphins. Having a good time. All the time.

Dolphins. Having a good time. All the time.

Diving dolphins to scavenging sharks, biting punk to soft seal lullabies, guest writer severin makes a beautiful oceanic journey from New Orleans to India to Cornish shores inspired by last week's topic

Read more
Tags songs, fish, marine biology, whales, dolphins, Fishing, Severin, Harold Budd, Brian Eno, VV Brown, Van Der Graaf Generator, Eric Whitacre, Allen Toussaint, Lopamundra Mitra, Fred Neil, The Congos, Steve Hillage, The Fisherman's Friends, Raffi, The Marvelettes, Anthony and the Johnsons, Riot Clone, Elvis Presley, Bobby Rydell, Nina Simone, Skin Flesh and Bones, Turquoise, Camille Saint-Saens, The Beatles, Soran Bushi, Benjamin Britten, Blurt
Comment

Playlists: songs about saints and martyrs

March 23, 2016 Peter Kimpton
Saint or sinner? A singer from this week's A-list bows in martyr mode ... Photograph: Amy Jett

Saint or sinner? A singer from this week's A-list bows in martyr mode ... Photograph: Amy Jett

St Louis to St Vitus, Malcolm X to Bauhaus's Stigmata Martyr, this week's playlists selected by Song Bar's regular TatankaYotanka from last week's topic come with a particularly poetic air

Read more
Tags songs, Saint Vitus, Mary Lou Lord, Louis Armstrong, Dennis Brown, Depeche Mode, Warren Zevon, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Estrella Morente, Michael Nyman, The Animals, Bauhaus, David Bowie, Band of Holy Joy, Jane Siberry, Frank Zappa, Benjamin Britten, Graham Moore, John's Children, Jackie Leven, Victor Jara, Cammille, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Jacques Brel, Van Morrison, Sex Gang Children, Veda Hille, TatankaYotanka
Comment
music_declares_emergency_logo.png

Sing out, act on CLIMATE CHANGE

Black Lives Matter.jpg

CONDEMN RACISM, EMBRACE EQUALITY

No results found

Donate
Song Bar spinning.gif

DRINK OF THE WEEK

Prune juice


SNACK OF THE WEEK

celery sticks in guacamole dip


New Albums …

Featured
Sam Grassie - Where Two Hawks Fly.jpeg
Apr 29, 2026
Sam Grassie: Where Two Hawks Fly
Apr 29, 2026

New album: Beautiful debut LP by the London-based Glaswegian fingerstyle folk guitarist and singer-songwriter, with added saxophone, double bass, flute, clairsach and clarinet in a release of mostly the traditional, covers, sung or instrumental, and supported by the Bert Jansch Foundation

Apr 29, 2026
Irmin Schmidt - Requiem.jpeg
Apr 29, 2026
Irmin Schmidt: Requiem
Apr 29, 2026

New album: A strangely mesmeric, avant-garde and analogue-ambient, field recording-based experimental release by the last surviving founding member of experimental ‘krautrock’ band CAN, who, approaching the age of 89, has also written over 40 TV and film scores

Apr 29, 2026
Gia Margaret - Singing.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Gia Margaret: Singing
Apr 28, 2026

New album: Gently profound, and full of wondrous, mesmeric, slow, delicate experimental songs, this simple title has a powerful resonance – it is the Chicago artist’s first vocal album since 2018’s There’s Always Glimmer (there have been two instrumental LPs since), having suffered and recovered from a severe vocal injury, she returns with a delicate, candid, whispery but hauntingly beautiful delivery

Apr 28, 2026
Angel In Plainclothes by Angelo De Augustine.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Angelo De Augustine: Angel in Plainclothes
Apr 28, 2026

New album: A beautiful, delicate fifth LP from the Los Angeles singer-songwriter, friend and collaborator with Sufjan Stevens with whom he shares a stylistic resemblance, here with themes on life's fragility, second chances, and picking up the pieces after an undiagnosed illness forced him to re-learn basic abilities

Apr 28, 2026
Carla dal Forno - Confession.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Carla dal Forno: Confession
Apr 28, 2026

New album: This lo-fi, darkly minimalist but also oddly candid fourth LP by the Australian, Castlemaine-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist centres on the conflicted, obsessive feelings about “a friendship that became emotionally charged in an unexpected way”, and “an album about closeness that arrives late and unexpectedly. About stability rubbing up against desire.”

Apr 28, 2026
Friko - Something Worth Waiting For album.jpeg
Apr 26, 2026
Friko: Something Worth Waiting For
Apr 26, 2026

New album: Passionate, powerful, dynamic indie rock in this sophomore LP by the Chicago-based quartet that gallops forwards with a driving momentum, some elements of early PJ Harvey and Radiohead, and is produced by John Congleton

Apr 26, 2026
White Denim - 13.jpeg
Apr 26, 2026
White Denim: 13
Apr 26, 2026

New album: This 13th LP in two decades by the Austin, Texas rock band fronted by James Petralli has a particularly mischievous experimentalism, spreading styles far beyond breathlessly paced prog rock, with wrily humorous, surreal, personal and passionate numbers across heavy funk, dub, soul, psyche, country, dirty blues and more, joined by host of outstanding extra musicians

Apr 26, 2026
Asili ya Mama by Hukwe Zawose Foundation.jpeg
Apr 24, 2026
Hukwe Zawose Foundation: Asili ya Mama
Apr 24, 2026

New album: Wonderfully evocative field recordings release of Wagogo, Waluguru and Wasambaa Tanzanian women singing traditional songs in their villages, rarely heard outside of their own circles, the title is translated as The Origin of Mother, rich in stories and capturing the place where song is first learned, first felt, first shared

Apr 24, 2026
They Might Be Giants - The World Is To Dig.jpeg
Apr 23, 2026
They Might Be Giants - The World Is To Dig
Apr 23, 2026

New album: Four decades since their self-titled debut, Brooklyn alternative rockers John Flansburgh and John Linnell return with their 24th LP, packed with of punchy, pacy, wistful, whimsical, clever wordplay and indie rock-pop, buoyantly satirical and also a little world weary at times, they remain oddball, lively commentators on the ongoing absurdity of life

Apr 23, 2026
Eaves Wilder - Little Miss Sunshine.jpeg
Apr 22, 2026
Eaves Wilder: Little Miss Sunshine
Apr 22, 2026

New album: After 2023’s Hookey EP, a strong, passionate indie-dream-pop-shoegaze full debut by the London singer-songwriter, whose breathy voice intertwines with strong, stirring riffs and textured sounds, themed around cycles of nature aiming to explain and celebrate the mercurial nature of human emotional weather

Apr 22, 2026
Honey Dijon - The Nightlife.jpeg
Apr 22, 2026
Honey Dijon: The Nightlife
Apr 22, 2026

New album: The irrepressible, prolific and charismatic London-based Chicago DJ, musician, producer and vinyl lover returns with a flamboyantly fun celebration of club and queer culture through the prism of dance music from disco to house, with a wide variety of guest vocalists

Apr 22, 2026
Tiga - HOTLIFE.jpeg
Apr 21, 2026
Tiga: HOTLIFE
Apr 21, 2026

New album: Montreal’s acclaimed electronica/techno/dance artist Tiga Sontag returns with his fourth album - inventively packed with head-nodding, toe-tapping, oddly itchy, infectious grooves, cleverly crafted retro sounds recalling Kraftwerk to acid house and electroclash, insistent bold beats and synth riffs, with lyrics of the existential, droll and surreal

Apr 21, 2026
Tomora - Come Closer.jpg
Apr 20, 2026
TOMORA: Come Closer
Apr 20, 2026

New album: A striking, dynamic collaboration between Norwegian experimental pop sensation Aurora and Tom Rowlands, one of half of Chemical Brothers, with a sensual, otherworldly energetic fusion of mystical, sensual ambience, and block-rocking dance beats

Apr 20, 2026
Jessie Ware - Superbloom.jpeg
Apr 20, 2026
Jessie Ware: Superbloom
Apr 20, 2026

New album: Following 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? and 2023’s That! Feels Good!, as well as the successful food podcast Table Manners she hosts alongside her mother, the British pop singer continues to ride the 70s disco ball train, catering to the clever, kitsch and catchy with an ironic wink, adding also a luxuriant garden metaphor

Apr 20, 2026

new songs …

Featured
Alewya - Saleh.jpeg
Apr 30, 2026
Song of the Day: Alewya - Selah
Apr 30, 2026

Song of the Day: Striking, stylishly agile electronica and dance with a rich African and Arabian influence by the London-based British singer-songwriter, producer, multidisciplinary artist and model Alewya Demmisse, heralding her upcoming album, Zero, out on 26 June via LDN Records

Apr 30, 2026
metric romanticize-the-dive.jpeg
Apr 29, 2026
Song of the Day: Metric - Crush Forever
Apr 29, 2026

Song of the Day: Uplifting, effervescent electro-disco-pop by the Toronto indie rock band, with a song vocalist/keyboardist Emily Haines describes as “my love letter to strong girls in this world”, taken from their recently released 10th album, Romanticize the Dive, out on Metric Music via Thirty Tigers

Apr 29, 2026
Jim Ghedi - The Hungry Child single.jpeg
Apr 28, 2026
Song of the Day: Jim Ghedi - The Hungry Child
Apr 28, 2026

Song of the Day: Dark, gripping, visceral folk by the Sheffield singer-songwriter, with a striking number based on an early 19th-century German poem about the fatal story of a child pleading for food, and, following last year’s acclaimed album, Wasteland, also out on Basin Rock, it heralds his upcoming soundtrack for the Hugh Jackman film, The Death of Robin Hood.

Apr 28, 2026
holybones with Baxter Dury - SLUGBOY.jpg
Apr 27, 2026
Song of the Day: holybones (with Baxter Dury) - SLUGBOY
Apr 27, 2026

Song of the Day: Dark, unsettling, sleazy and strange, this is arrestingly vivid new collaborative single between the clandestine London electronic collective and the downbeat, deep-voiced poetic Londoner, out on Promised Land Recordings

Apr 27, 2026
Hand Habits - Good Person.jpeg
Apr 26, 2026
Song of the Day: Hand Habits - Good Person
Apr 26, 2026

Song of the Day: Gentle, droll, humorously self-deprecatingly, and also delicately beautiful, this new experimental folk single by the moniker of Los Angeles singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Meg Duffy addresses the love-hate relationship with making music, out on Fat Possum

Apr 26, 2026
Pigeon - Miami.jpeg
Apr 25, 2026
Song of the Day: Pigeon - Miami
Apr 25, 2026

Song of the Day: Catchy, sunny, upbeawt indie synth-pop with an African twist by the Margate band fronted by Falle Nioke, with flavours of William Onyeabor, Hot Chip and New York 70s disco, heralding their upcoming album OUTTANATIONAL, out on 1 May via Memphis Industries

Apr 25, 2026
Tricky - Out of Place.jpeg
Apr 24, 2026
Song of the Day: Tricky - Out of Place (featuring Marta Złakowska)
Apr 24, 2026

Song of the Day: A pulsating fusion of beats, orchestral strings and the Bristol trip-hop pioneer’s distinctive, deep, croaky voice, with an emotional reference to his daughter Mina Topley-Bird (1995–2019), and heralding his first solo album for six years, Different When It’s Silent, out on 17 June via False Idols

Apr 24, 2026
Beck - Ride Lonsome.jpeg
Apr 23, 2026
Song of the Day: Beck - Ride Lonesome
Apr 23, 2026

Song of the Day: Beautiful, simmering, slow, melancholy and reflective, a surprise single and welcome return by the acclaimed US artist, evoking the haunting, sun-bleached landscapes and musical textures of his 2015 Grammy winning album Morning Phase, out now on Iliad Records/Capitol Records

Apr 23, 2026
Gelli Haha - Klouds.jpeg
Apr 22, 2026
Song of the Day: Gelli Haha - Klouds Will Carry Me To Sleep
Apr 22, 2026

Song of the Day: Described appropriately as somewhere between Studio 42 and Area 51, eccentric, effervescent, spacey, catchy and eclectic disco pop by the Los Angeles artist (aka Angel Abaya, co-written with Sean Guerin) out on Innovative Leisure

Apr 22, 2026
Leenalchi band 2.jpeg
Apr 21, 2026
Song of the Day: LEENALCHI 이날치 - Here Comes That Crow 떴다 저 가마귀
Apr 21, 2026

Song of the Day: Wonderfully catchy, funky, psychedelic and quirky new work by the seven-piece Seoul-based Korean pansori band led by bassist Jang Young Gyu with the title track of their new EP, out on 12 June via Luaka Bop, and heralding a European and North American tour

Apr 21, 2026
Jesca Hoop - Big Storm.jpeg
Apr 20, 2026
Song of the Day: Jesca Hoop - Big Storm
Apr 20, 2026

Song of the Day: Catchy, quirky experimental indie folk-pop by the innovative Manchester-based California artist, featuring a clever video that old footage and Hoop in various vintage guises, heralding her upcoming album Long Wave Home, out on 1 May via Last Laugh / Republic of Music

Apr 20, 2026
Gia Margaret - Singing.jpeg
Apr 19, 2026
Song of the Day: Gia Margaret - Alive Inside
Apr 19, 2026

Song of the Day: Delicate, dream-like, reflective experimental folk-pop by the American singer-songwriter and producer from Chicago, heralding her upcoming fourth album, Singing, out on Jagjaguwar

Apr 19, 2026

Word of the week

Featured
Song thrush 2.jpeg
Apr 23, 2026
Word of the week: throstle
Apr 23, 2026

Word of the week: An archaic, evocative noun with two connected meanings, originally for the song thrush, then later a textiles industrial frame for spinning, twisting and winding machine for cotton, wool, and other fibres simultaneously

Apr 23, 2026
Undine - Novella.jpeg
Apr 9, 2026
Word of the week: undine
Apr 9, 2026

Word of the week: It might sound like the act of abstaining from food, but this noun from derived from undina (Latin unda) meaning wave, refers to mythical, elemental beings associated with water, such as mermaids, and stemming from the alchemical writings of the 16th-century Swiss physician, alchemist and philosopher Paracelsus

Apr 9, 2026
Veena player.jpg
Mar 27, 2026
Word of the week: veena
Mar 27, 2026

Word of the week: This ornate, curvaceous, south Indian classical instrument, the saraswati veena, is a special bowl lute with a rich, resonant tone, has 24 copper frets with four playing strings and three drone strings, and is used for Carnatic music

Mar 27, 2026
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

Song Bar spinning.gif

No results found