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Playlists: striking acoustic song versions

June 24, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Simmering power? That’s Cat Power

Renewed, re-imagined, whether by the same artist or covered by another, with a stripped back, unplugged sound, a song can be opened up anew in emotions and lyrics. Guest Loud Atlas artfully explores the magic of the acoustic, inspired by last week’s topic

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In African, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, drone, dub, easy listening, experimental, folk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, lounge, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, songs, soul, traditional, soundtracks, showtime, rock, punk, reggae Tags acoustic, covers, songs, playlists, Richard Thompson, The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, Scala & Kolacny Brothers, Scala and Kolacny Brothers, The Bad Shepherds, Béla Fleck, Cat Power, Kuricorder Quartet, Seu Jorge, Sekar Melati, Bruce Springsteen, Alzheimer, José González, Charan Po Rantan, Frente!, Joe Collier, Björk, Bjork, Depeche Mode, Big Special, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sinead O'Connor, Leo Kottke, Luvcat, Crosby Stills & Nash, Williams-Fairey Engineering Band, Manic Street Preachers, Gary Jules, Joan Armatrading, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Bernard Sumner, The Beatles, Foo Fighters, Damon Albarn, Loud Atlas, Britney Spears, Nirvana (UK), Radiohead, Buzzcocks, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, John Williams, David Bowie, Gang of Four, Kylie Minogue, Simon & Garfunkel, New Order, Jacob Collier
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Playlists: songs about the Vietnam War

May 21, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Prickly points: the absurdity of the war shown in this striking image of Vietnamese women and children prisoners

Songs of protest, despair, grief and more, from western and Vietnamese artists, set during and in the aftermath of this lengthy, catastrophic war, poignantly brought to you by guest Loud Atlas from last week’s topic nominations

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In blues, avant-garde, calypso, classical, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, psychedelia, reggae, RnB, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, Vietnam War, Vietnam, The Monitors, Redgum, Country Joe and the Fish, 23 Skidoo, The Clash, The Last Poets, The New York Dolls, Freda Payne, Joni Mitchell, Pham Duy, Trịnh Công Sơn, Vân Quỳnh, The Impressions, Jimmy Cliff, Alice In Chains, Curtis Mayfield, Lou Reed, Stanley Myers, John Williams, Edwin Starr, Moddi, Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, Paul Hardcastle, New Order, Country Joe McDonald, Merry Clayton, Iain Matthews, The Beach Boys, Television Personalities, The Isley Brothers, Bill Withers, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Doors, Jedi Mind Tricks, RA The Rugged Man, Bruce Springsteen, The Dead Milkmen, Loud Atlas
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Playlists: songs about football

May 29, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Poetry in motion: Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka the great Pelé, 1968

Goals, glories, disasters, fanfare and failure, from the great players to local heroes, and all the ups and downs of the sport, after a superb game of nominations, guest manager Loud Atlas picks and pitches perfect formations with playlists inspired by last week’s topic, but who is on the teamsheet? Check it out …

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Tags songs, playlists, football, soccer, sport, Match of the Day, Barry Stoller, New Order, Wilson Simonal, Billy Bragg, Half Man Half Biscuit, I, I Ludicrous, C Tangana, Amy MacDonald, Matt McGinn, Grupo Fundo De Quintal, Alfredo Zitarrosa, Edric Connor, Vaudeville Smash, Les Murray, Manchester United, Zinedine Zidane, Giacomo Puccini, Luciano Pavarotti, Mike Vickers, The London Stadium Orchestra, The Bouncing Souls, Rodrigo, Richard Dawson, Don Fardon, Cockney Rejects, The Hitchers, Megson, UB40, Scientist, Neba Solo, On the Huh, The Fall, Ed Banger, The Lightning Seeds, David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Collapsed Lung, Dario G, Los Ramblers, Lana Del Rey, Loud Atlas
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Flesh this out: big and ‘meaty’ songs and music

July 13, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Deep and meaty?

This week’s topic is sensual rather than cerebral, and extremely subjective. It’s less a lyrical lookup, more seeking out music that makes you, at least metaphorically, vibrate, and even salivate. Please suggest examples and describe the accompanying feeling

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, dance, country, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Mozart, Suzi Quatro, Beethoven, William Ross Wallace, Terry Riley, Jean-Michel Jarre, food, bass guitars, Jean-Jacques Burnel, The Stranglers, Jaco Pastorius, Charles Mingus, Yes, Chris Squire, Lemmy, Peter Hook, New Order, The Who, John Entwistle, Peter Strickland, Film, film soundtrack, The Sonic Catering Band
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Playlists: songs with notable outros and codas

April 4, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Seamlessly beautiful ending: boygenius aka Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers

From the seamlessly beautiful to the outrageously expansive, the gently whispered to the incendiary solo freakout, where do you start with great outros? From the beginning to the end (of the end), AmyLee picks a blistering selection from last week’s topic nominations

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In avant-garde, blues, country, experimental, electronica, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, rock, soul, songs Tags songs, playlists, codas, outros, Emerson Lake & Palmer, The Rolling Stones, Jacksoul, The Beatles, boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Olivia Chaney, Lana Del Rey, Richard Hawley, New Order, Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, Ride, Yes, The Stranglers, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Hallquist, The Move, Strawberry Children, Abba, Cowboy Junkies, Roxy Music, Television (band), Microdisney, Garolou, Echo and the Bunnymen, Fad Gadget, The Guess Who, The Decemberists, Jackie Leven, King Creosote, Oasis, David Bowie, The Race Marbles, Stevie Wonder, Ice-T, System Of A Down, GBH, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Smiths, The Bevis Frond, AmyLee
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Playlists: songs about eternity

January 18, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Round and round: a timeless track coming up from Signs of Life by Penguin Cafe Orchestra …

Space, time, the rhythms of life, expressions of the divine, love? Eternity in its many permutations is to be found in these captivating playlists picked by guest ajostu, inspired by the near-endless nominations from last week’s topic

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In African, avant-garde, classical, colours, calypso, comedy, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, eternity, The Rheingans Sisters, These New Puritans, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Bill Fay, George Friederic Handel, Handel, The Divine Comedy, Jim Croce, Wilco, Bjork, Emily Hall, Yes, Roy Wood, paul simon, Moloko, Half Japanese, Linda Lewis, New Order, Shoukichi Kina, The Mystic Revealers, Sergio Mendes, India Arie, The Black Keys, Pom Pom Squad, Super Furry Animals, Massive Attack, Anne Dudley, Jaz Coleman, Elyssa Samsel, Sakamoto Maaya, cosmo@bouso-P., ajostu
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Push those buttons: electronic dance and synth pop songs 1980-2000 

October 14, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Synth you’ve been gone …

Synth you’ve been gone …

Following a previous topic that went up to 1983, this week we explore the arc of this music’s sonic history through a new era of MIDI and digital, from the Fairlight CMI to the Roland TR-808 and beyond, and in lyrical pop songs more than instrumentals

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In electronica, disco, experimental, pop Tags songs, electronica, synthesizers, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode, Stephen Hawking, Curt Smith, Bernard Sumner, New Order, Tears for Fears, Kraftwerk, technlogy, Roland, Yamaha, Stereolab, Massive Attack, Tricky, Air, Daft Punk, Trevor Horn, The Art of Noise, Fairlight CMI, samplers, Tomorrow's World, Thomas Dolby, Kate Bush, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Dusty Hill, ZZ Top, Casio, Ikutaro Kakehashi, Ace Tone, Afrika Bambaataa
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Playlists: songs about horizons

June 8, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Rising and setting …

Rising and setting …

Distant hillsides to sea sunsets, skylines and vapour. trails to massive events, this week’s playlists are a thing of timeless beauty, picked by guest ajostu from an ocean of nominations, stretching far and wide across the musical globe

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, horizons, Judee Sill, Supergrass, Ismael Silva, Ben E. King, Azymuth, The Beauty Room, Feist, Virginia Astley, Cornelius, Rush, Cat Power, The Blue Nile, Rachael Yamagata, Peter Hammill, Suns of Arqa, John Cooper Clarke, Stanley Unwin, New Order, Boards of Canada, Barenaked Ladies, Cranes, Trash Kit, Osibisa, Bonobo, Zulya, Erick Truffaz, Mike Nesmith, Kevin Penkin, ajostu
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Unsung: songs by underrated, overlooked artists and bands

April 22, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Ignored and alone, down in the tube station at midnight

Ignored and alone, down in the tube station at midnight

This week it’s time to dig deep and broad for new names that rarely get a mention, certainly never make the charts or win prizes, sell much or get the recognition they deserve. Let’s refresh the synapses of musical hive mind knowledge

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In African, avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, experimental, electronica, folk, gospel, funk, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Carl Smith, Stewart Stafford, Truman Capote, Mary-Louise Parker, Mae West, Tom Paxton, Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Film, Vincent Van Gogh, John Kennedy Toole, education, teachers, Steve McQueen, racism, gender, Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Sixto Rodriguez, Anvil, documentary, Jackson C Frank, Blaze Foley, Sibylle Baier, Ry Cooder, Stanley Clarke, Ray Gomez, Harvey Pekar, Kenny Werner, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, New Order, Kamasi Washington, Ms. Melodie, Heather B, MC Lyte
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Playlists: songs from or about Italy

December 9, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Benvenuti in La Taverna Cantata!

Benvenuti in La Taverna Cantata!

This week, it’s the full Italian job! And there’s far more to it than exploding cars – a whole queue of hooting horns, gesticulation and finest food and wine in musical form, all picked by excellente playlister philipphilip99 from a fleet of nominations

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, electronica, dub, folk, funk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musicals, playlists, musical hall, pop, songs, showtime, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Italy, Matt Monro, Don Black, Quincy Jones, film soundtrack, Film, The Italian Job, Gianfranco & Gian Piero Reverberi, Gianna Nannini, Lush, Tullio De Piscopo, Fred Buscaglione, Renato Carosone, Rosemary Clooney, Stephen Bishop, Billy Joel, Super Furry Animals, Jovanotti, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mark Knopfler, Klein & MBO, New Order, Domenico Modugno, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sufjan Stevens, Giuliano Sorgini, Jonathan Richman, Alice, PFM, Chris Rea, philipphilip99
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New meets old: songs where different-era elements combine

July 2, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Carrying the ages, via The Simpsons. Insert any music you like …

Carrying the ages, via The Simpsons. Insert any music you like …

This week we seek strange combinations from starkly different times – old songs covered on new instruments, new songs played on old instruments, traditional musicians playing with younger, or old styles mashed up with the new

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, country, comedy, 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, fusion genres, The Simpsons, Ralph Waldo Emerson, TS Eliot, Bertolt Brecht, Kate Bush, Nalini Priyadarshni, technology, The Beatles, Joseph Parry, Arvo Pärt, Prince, Little Richard, Orkestra Obsolete, New Order, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, SsingSsing, Akdan Gwangchil, 이날치 Leenalchi, PJ Harvey, Eigenharp, Korg, Rudyard Kipling, Stephen King, Malcolm Muggeridge, Henry David Thoreau, Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, Colin Greenwood, John Maynard Keynes, Robert Bresson, William James, Humble The Poet
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Playlists: songs with great keyboard solos and riffs

May 13, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Few pianists are a patch on New Orleans’ James Booker

Few pianists are a patch on New Orleans’ James Booker

And the piano played on … During these testing times, inspired by the deft choices of readers and fast fingers of players, guest ParaMhor picks two note perfect playlists and adds some memorial extras for the dearly departed

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In avant-garde, African, blues, classical, dance, disco, experimental, electronica, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, playlists, prog, postpunk, punk, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, keyboards, piano, piano music, instrumentals, Fats Domino, Albert Ammons, Little Richard, Beverley, The Zombies, The Human League, New Order, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, Grace Jones, The The, The Knife, Vampire Weekend, GoGo Penguin, James Booker, Scritti Politti, Art Tatum, Piano Red, Floyd Cramer, Elton John, Dave and Ansell Collins, The Uniques, Tim Hardin, Joanna Newsom, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Billy Preston, Charanjit Singh, JayDee, Herbie Hancock, Otis Spann, Susanne Sundfør, Kraftwerk, Betty Wright, The Stranglers, McCoy Tyner, ParaMhor
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Meet me in the middle? Songs about compromise

June 13, 2019 Peter Kimpton
John, Yoko and Paul. Compromise is a divisive but potent issue …

John, Yoko and Paul. Compromise is a divisive but potent issue …

It’s all about the C-word in song, but does it strengthen or weaken us? Does it hold society together or kill artistic integrity? You can’t always get what you want, but can you give a little, take it a little? Can we work it out, or just do it my way?

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, compromise, politics, US politics, Brexit, Donald Trump, climate change, climate change denial, music, Film, books, football, sport, George Herbert, Henrik Ibsen, Edmund Burke, Janis Joplin, Bay City Rollers, Marc Bolan, punk, new romantics, goths, heavy metal, rockers, mods, Alain Prost, Scott Walker, PJ Harvey, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Abba, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Talib Kweli, T Bone Burnett, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Bat For Lashes, Peter Hook, New Order, Viv Albertine, Matt Dillon, Louis MacNiece, Irvine Welsh, Mike Leigh, Andrei Tarkovsky, Barack Obama, Mahatma Gandhi, Alan Greenspan, George Clooney, Angela Merkel
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Playlists: songs about crisis

January 23, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Kate Tempest – Europe is Lost?

Kate Tempest – Europe is Lost?

From personal turmoil of the human brain to total tumult of the planet, Temptations to Kate Tempest, this week’s playlist writer ParaMhor turns last week’s whole world of fabulous nominations into a cri de crisis par excellence

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In dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs Tags songs, playlists, crisis, The Temptations, New Order, Joy Division, Kenny Carter, Sagittarius, The Undertones, NIck Lowe, The The, Kate Tempest, The Poozies, Anohni, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Tom Waits, Pink Floyd, John Shuttleworth, Jesus & Mary Chain, Oxymoron, Negativland, Of Montreal, The Tiger Lillies, Sweet Honey In the Rock, The Housemartins, Randy Newman, The Candyskins, British Sea Power, Emmy The Great, The Ethiopians, The Carpenters, Hawkwind, ParaMhor, Tom Lehrer, Thomas Paine
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Spread the groove: 12-inch singles and remixes up to 1979

August 9, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Disco, funk, punk, soul, postpunk, pop, and more were all being spun on 12-inch in the 70s …

Disco, funk, punk, soul, postpunk, pop, and more were all being spun on 12-inch in the 70s …

Dub and reggae, funk and disco, hip hop, punk postpunk, pop, electronica and more, this week let's span the 60s-70s period that gave birth to this format and spin favourite records it highlighted

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Tags Songs, playlists, 12-inch vinyl, singles, music production, Tom Moulton, New Order, Peter Hook, Factory Records, dub, King Tubby, Kool Herc, Jamaica, hip hop, James Brown, The Incredible Bongo Band, Babe Ruth, Swamp Dogg, Buddy Fite, The Trammps, Al Downing, South Shore, Donna Summer, Atlantic Records, Double Exposure, Bob Marley, The Clash, The Spinners, Hamilton Bohannon, Eddy Grant, Gorgio Moroder, Marvin Gaye, Sister Sledge, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Chic, Ja-kki, The Droids, Mathematiques Modernes, Erotic Drum Band, Cloud One, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Tumblack, Manu Dibango, Prince, Sylvester, Space
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The art of noises: electronic music and songs up to 1983

May 31, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Krafty

Krafty

Early 20th-century experimentalists to MIDI, industrial, dance, new wave, French musique concrete, Japanese chiptune to German elektronische, let’s explore old-school noise and value those valves worldwide

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In pop, songs, electronica Tags Songs, playlists, electronic music, electronica, Shakespeare, Edgar Varèse, electronics, Futurists, Luigi Russolo, Francesco Pratella, Fernand Léger, art, Joseph Schillinger, Halim El-Dabh, Egypt, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Werner Meyer-Eppler, Robert Beyer, Herbert Eimert, Jikken Kōbō, Alan Turing, computers, Christopher Strachey, Ikutaro Kakehashi, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Milton Babbitt, Roland, Korg, Moog, Keith Emerson, Sheffield, Manchester, Joy Division, New Order, The Art of Noise
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I told it my way: songs with unusual narrators

February 22, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Leap of the imagination? As told by  … Black Beauty

Leap of the imagination? As told by  … Black Beauty

New perspective? Songs with storytellers that are different and on the fringes – repressed women, eccentrics, the mentally challenged, criminals, children, otherworldly spirits from gods to ghosts, animals, aliens, plant life, or even objects

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In playlists, music, songs Tags Songs, playlists, narrative, narrators, books, Film, fiction, animals, children, supernatural, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, Rockwell, Carole King, The Crystals, ghosts, Donald Trump, Sir David Attenborough, Mark Haddon, Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, David Fincher, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Eminem, Joni Mitchell, Ray Davies, The Kinks, Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, Tom Waits, paul simon, Arlo Guthrie, Loudon Wainwright III, T-Bone Burnett, Henry Chapin, Julie Brown, The Handsome Family, New Order, Leroy Pullins, The Misfits, Ozzy Osbourne, Richard Adams, Watership Down, Jack London, Ian McEwan, Laurence Sterne, Jenny Diski, Markus Lusaka, Alice Sebald, Stephen Chbosky, James Joyce, John Kennedy Toole, Italo Calvino, Tibor Fischer
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Hang on a minute … it's songs about waiting

August 10, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Which song or songwriter will take the lead on this topic?

Which song or songwriter will take the lead on this topic?

Anticipation, excitement or apprehension, for anything from the rapture to Robert De Niro, opportunity or a bus, the light, love or in limbo, place your songs in our waiting room and see what happens … 

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Tags songs, waiting, Amy Winehouse, Bertrand Russell, philosophy, Bob Hope, film, Mae West, Brexit, travel, work, sport, football, baseball, cricket, Ray Davies, The Kinks, Bob Marley, Donovan, Vietnam War, Foreigner, Noel Gallagher, Oasis, George Michael, Future Islands, David Letterman, Gretchen Peters, The Rolling Stones, Amelia Earhart, ZZ Top, Violent Femmes, Phil Lynott, Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner, New Order, Bernard Sumner, Glenn Gould, Jean Houston, Terry Pratchett, Samuel Beckett, theatre, Anna Neagle, animals
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Go ahead, punk, make my … songs about days of the week

March 9, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Band of the week: the performing planets

Band of the week: the performing planets

Blue Mondays to lazy Sundays, strange Tuesdays to Fridays on your mind, peruse your calendar of titles and lyrics to make it a cultural and musical week to remember 

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Tags Songs, days of the week, astronomy, myth, astrology, Robert Smith, The Cure, religion, work, history, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, time, Ozzy Osbourne, Sid Vicious, ancient gods, calendars, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams, books, Nilsson, John F Kennedy, financial crisis, retail industry, The Easybeats, Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Film, Albert Finney, Sam Cooke, John McNaughton, poetry, Margo Guryan, New Order, David Bowie, Anthony Newley, Charles Mingus
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Song Bar 1st Birthday special: songs about the number one!

February 9, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Tuck into some Song Bar 1st Birthday cake ...

Tuck into some Song Bar 1st Birthday cake ...

One-horse towns to the one you love, singularity to being single, this week we celebrate the bar’s first birthday with a topic that may be a one-off but may also see many things distilled into one

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Tags songs, numbers, one, Malala Yousafzai, Neil Armstrong, space, Britney Spears, Record Store Day, singularity, science, science fiction, nanotechnology, information technlogy, Isaac Asimov, film, robotics, genetics, New Order, birds, animals, animal behaviour, books, dance, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, U2, Mavis Staples, Joanna Newsom, Alexandre Dumas
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New Albums …

Featured
Spíra by Ólöf Arnalds.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Ólöf Arnalds: Spíra
Dec 5, 2025

New album: A gorgeous, delicate, ethereal first release in a decade by the Icelandic singer-songwriter, acoustic instruments and her gentle, high, pure voice, all in her native language, caressing this listening experience like pure waters of some slowly trickling glacial stream

Dec 5, 2025
Melody's Echo Chamber - Unclouded.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Melody's Echo Chamber: Unclouded
Dec 5, 2025

New album: A fourth album, here full of delicious uplifting, dreamily chic, psychedelic soul pop by the French musician Melody Prochet, with bright, upbeat, optimistic numbers and a title lifted from a quote by the acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, about achieving equilibrium

Dec 5, 2025
Devotion & The Black Divine by anaiis.jpeg
Dec 2, 2025
anaiis: Devotion & The Black Divine
Dec 2, 2025

New album: Following a summer Song of the Day - Deus Deus, a review of the autumn release and third LP by the London-based French-Senegalese singer-songwriter of resonantly beautiful, dynamic, sensual soul, gospel, R&B and experimental and chamber pop, with themes of new motherhood, uncertainty, religion, self-love and acceptance

Dec 2, 2025
De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
De La Soul: Cabin In The Sky
Nov 26, 2025

New album: The hip-hop veterans return with their first without, yet including the voice of, and a tribute to, founding member Trugoy the Dove, AKA Dave Jolicoeur who passed away in 2023, alongside many hip-hop luminary guests, with trademark playful skits, and all themed around the afterlife

Nov 26, 2025
The Mountain Goats- Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
The Mountain Goats: Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan
Nov 26, 2025

New album: An evocative musical journey of a concept album by the indie-folk band from Claremont, California, fronted by singer-songwriter John Darnielle, based on a dream of his in 2023 about a voyage to a fictional island by the titular captain, charting adventure, wonder and tragedy

Nov 26, 2025
Allie X - Happiness Is Going To Get You.jpeg
Nov 26, 2025
Allie X: Happiness Is Going To Get You
Nov 26, 2025

New album: A hugely entertaining, witty, droll, inventive, chamber and synth-pop fourth LP with a goth twist by the charismatic and theatrical Canadian artist Alexandra Hughes, who brings paradox and dark themes through sounds that include string quartet, harpsichord, classical and pure pop piano with killer lyrics

Nov 26, 2025
Tortoise - Touch.jpeg
Nov 25, 2025
Tortoise: Touch
Nov 25, 2025

New album: A welcome return with a cinematic and mesmeric groove-filled first studio LP in nine years, and the eighth over all by the eclectic Chicago post-rock/jazz/krautrock multi-instrumentalists Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker

Nov 25, 2025
What of Our Nature by Haley Heynderickx, Max García Conover.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover: What of Our Nature
Nov 24, 2025

New album: Beautiful, precise, poignant and poetic new folk numbers inspired by the life and music style of Woody Guthrie as the Portland, Oregon and New Yorker, now Portland, Maine-based singer-songwriters bring a delicious duet album, alternating and sharing songs covering a variety of forever topical social issues

Nov 24, 2025
Tranquilizer by Oneohtrix Point Never.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Oneohtrix Point Never: Tranquilizer
Nov 24, 2025

New album: Ambient, otherworldly, cinematic, mesmeric, and at times very odd, the Brooklyn-based electronic artist and producer Daniel Lopatin returns with a new nostalgia-based concept – constructing tracks from lost-then-refound Y2K CDs of 1990s and early 2000s royalty-free sample electronic sounds

Nov 24, 2025
Iona Zajac - Bang.jpeg
Nov 24, 2025
Iona Zajac: Bang
Nov 24, 2025

New album: A powerful, stirring, passionate and mature debut LP by the 29-year-old Glasgow-based Scottish singer with Polish and Ukrainian heritage who has toured as the new Pogues singer, and whose alternative folk songs capture raw emotions and the experience of modern womanhood, with echoes of PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Aldous Harding and Lankum

Nov 24, 2025
Austra - Chin Up Buttercup.jpeg
Nov 19, 2025
Austra: Chin Up Buttercup
Nov 19, 2025

New album: This fifth studio LP as Austra by the Canadian classically trained vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis brings beautiful electronica-pop and dance music, and has a bittersweet ironic title – a caustically witty reference to societal pressure to keep smiling despite a devastating breakup

Nov 19, 2025
Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World.jpeg
Nov 18, 2025
Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World
Nov 18, 2025

New album: A timelessly classy release by the veteran soul, blues and gospel singer and social activist from the Staples Singers, in a release of wonderfully moving and poignant cover versions, beautifully interpreting works by artists including Tom Waits, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, and Gillian Welch

Nov 18, 2025
Stella Donnelly - Love and Fortune 2.jpeg
Nov 18, 2025
Stella Donnelly: Love and Fortune
Nov 18, 2025

New album: Finely crafted, stripped back musical simplicity combined with complex melancholic emotions mark out this beautiful, poetic, and deeply personal third folk-pop LP by the Australian singer-songwriter reflecting on the past and present

Nov 18, 2025
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Nov 17, 2025
Picture Parlour: The Parlour
Nov 17, 2025

New album: Following last year’s EP Face in the Picture, a fabulously stylish, smart, swaggering glam-rock-pop debut LP by the Manchester-formed, London-based band fronted by the impressively raspy, gritty, vibratro delivery of Liverpudlian vocalist and guitarist Katherine Parlour and distinctive riffs from North Yorkshire-born guitar Ella Risi

Nov 17, 2025

new songs …

Featured
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Dec 4, 2025
Song of the Day: The Lemon Twigs - I've Got A Broken Heart
Dec 4, 2025

Song of the Day: Despite the title, this new double-A single (with Friday I’m Gonna Love You) has a wonderfully uplifting guitar-jangling beauty, with echoes of The Byrds and Stone Roses, but is of course the brilliant 60s and 70s retro sound of the Long Island brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario, out on Captured Tracks

Dec 4, 2025
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Dec 3, 2025
Song of the Day: Alewya - Night Drive (featuring Dagmawit Ameha)
Dec 3, 2025

Song of the Day: A sensual, stylish, dreamy electro-pop single by the striking British singer-songwriter, producer, multidisciplinary artist and model Alewya Demmisse, musically influenced by her rich Ethiopian-Egyptian heritage and early childhood upbringings in Saudi Arabia and Sudan

Dec 3, 2025
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Dec 2, 2025
Song of the Day: Radio Free Alice - Rule 31
Dec 2, 2025

Song of the Day: Stirring, passionate indie postpunk by the band based in Melbourne, Australia, with echoes of The Cure’s core sound, new wave, and 90s indie-rock influences, and out on Double Drummer

Dec 2, 2025
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Dec 1, 2025
Song of the Day: Sailor Honeymoon - Armchair
Dec 1, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy, punchy, fuzz-guitar indie rock with a droll lyrical delivery and some echoes of Wet Leg come in this new single by the trio from Seoul, South Korea, out on Good Good Records

Dec 1, 2025
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Nov 30, 2025
Song of the Day: Ellie O'Neill - Bohemia
Nov 30, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, poetic finger-picking debut folk single with a mystical, distantly stormy twist by the Dublin-based Irish singer-songwriter from County Meath, out now on St Itch Records

Nov 30, 2025
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Nov 29, 2025
Song of the Day: Danalogue - Sonic Hypnosis
Nov 29, 2025

Song of the Day: A full flavour of future-past with mesmeric, euphoric retro acid house and electronica in this new single by Daniel Leavers, producer and the founding member of The Comet Is Coming and Soccer96, out now on Castles In Space

Nov 29, 2025
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Nov 28, 2025
Song of the Day: Cardinals - Barbed Wire
Nov 28, 2025

Song of the Day: Another striking, passionate, punchy, catchy single by the Irish postpunk/indie-folk-rock band from Cork, heralding their upcoming debut album, Masquerade, out on 13 February via So Young Records

Nov 28, 2025
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Nov 27, 2025
Song of the Day: Frank Popp Ensemble (with Paul Weller) - Right Before My Eyes
Nov 27, 2025

Song of the Day: A strong, soaring, emotive, soulful release by the German artist co-written by British singer and former Jam frontman who here sings and plays guitar, the lyrics about witnessing the increasing injustices and demise of the world, out on Unique Records / Schubert Music Europe

Nov 27, 2025
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Nov 26, 2025
Song of the Day: Tessa Rose Jackson - Fear Bangs The Drum
Nov 26, 2025

Song of the Day: Using a musical metaphor, beautiful, crisply rhythmical, soaring piano and atmospheric indie-pop-folk about facing your fears by the Dutch/British singer-songwriter, heralding her forthcoming new album The Lighthouse, out on 23 January 2026 on Tiny Tiger Records

Nov 26, 2025
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Nov 25, 2025
Song of the Day: Melanie Baker - Sad Clown
Nov 25, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy, candid, cathartic indie-grunge-pop by the British singer-songwriter from Cumbria in a melancholy but oddly uplifting emotional work-through of depression, love and exhaustion, out now on TAMBOURHINOCEROS

Nov 25, 2025
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Nov 24, 2025
Song of the Day: Holly Humberstone - Die Happy
Nov 24, 2025

Song of the Day: Luxuriant, breathy, femme-fatale dream pop with a dark, southern gothic, Lana del Rey-inspired, live-fast-die-young theme, and stylish video by the 25-year-old British singer-songwriter from Grantham, out on Polydor/Universal

Nov 24, 2025
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Nov 23, 2025
Song of the Day: These New Puritans - The Other Side
Nov 23, 2025

Song of the Day: A delicate, tender, and unusually minimalist single, their first since this year’s acclaimed album Crooked Wing, by the Southend-on-Sea-born Barnett twins, here with Jack on improvised piano and George on drums and a soprano register wordless vocal, out on Domino Records

Nov 23, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
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Dec 4, 2025
Word of the week: crapulence
Dec 4, 2025

Word of the week: A term that may apply regularly during Xmas party season, from the from the Latin crapula, in turn from the Greek kraipálē meaning "drunkenness" or "headache" pertains to sickness symptoms caused by excess in eating or drinking, or general intemperance and overindulgence

Dec 4, 2025
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Nov 20, 2025
Word of the week: discalceate
Nov 20, 2025

Word of the week: A rarely used, but often practised verb, especially when arriving home, it means to take off your shoes, but is also a slightly more common adjective meaning barefoot or unshod, particularly for certain religious orders that wear sandals instead of shoes. But in what context does this come up in song?

Nov 20, 2025
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Nov 6, 2025
Word of the week: erythrophyll
Nov 6, 2025

Word of the week: A seasonally topical word relating to the the red pigment of tree leaves, fruits and flowers, that appears particularly when changing in autumn, as opposed to the green effect of chlorophyll, from the Greek erythros for red, and phyll for leaves. But what of songs about this?

Nov 6, 2025
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Oct 22, 2025
Word of the week: fennec
Oct 22, 2025

Word of the week: It’s a small pale-fawn nocturnal fox with unusually large, highly sensitive ears, that inhabits from African and Arab deserts areas from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. But has it ever been seen in a song?

Oct 22, 2025
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Oct 9, 2025
Word of the week: gongoozler
Oct 9, 2025

Word of the week: A fabulous old English slang term for someone who tends to stand or sit for long periods staring at the passing of boats on canals, sometimes with a derogatory or at least ironic use for someone who is useless or lazy. But what of songs about this activity and culture?

Oct 9, 2025

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