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Playlists: songs about fingers and thumbs

May 14, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Everything Everywhere All At Once … but in which direction do this week’s song choices point?

With a digital delivery stretching many fascinating directions and contexts, this week’s guest playlister ajostu finds his touch with all sorts of musical and lyrical fingersmithing and thumb skills, inspired by last week’s topic

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, gospel, krautrock, lounge, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, RnB, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, fingers, thumbs, hands, The Creatures, Silver Apples, Jackie Leven, Editors, Black Francis, Ruby, Phyllis DIllon, Danny Kaye, Abba, Thomas Lang, Cult With No Name, Cocteau Twins, Crowded House, Lucy Dacus, Pearl Jam, Dorothy Ashby, Hiatus Kaiyote, The Eleventh House, Larry Coryell, The Choice Four, Donna Summer, Airto, Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker, Wes Montgomery, Clarion Fracture Zone, Maurice Ravel, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jean Martinon, Claude Debussy, Elephant Gym, Radwimps, ajostu
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Playlists: songs about fabrics

December 6, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Let the needle drop … it’s darned good

The needle might normally drop on to spinning vinyl, but it’s also embroidered a wonderful tapestry of songs in playlists – superbly knitted together by guest of the week Tatanka Yotanka, who picked up the threads from last week’s topic

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In African, avant-garde, blues, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, music, musicals, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, fabrics, Donovan, Jeanne Pruett, The Mighty Two, Pulp, Turbonegro, Prince, James Cotton, Liz Phair, Stephen Ameohi and His Empire Rhythms Skies, Rosetta, Rosetta Howard, Cathal Coughlan, Carole King, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Wanda Jackson, Lee Scratch Perry, The Pogues, Felt, Pearl Jam, Seals & Crofts, Sam Lightnin' Hopkins, Estrella Morente, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound, Ultra Cindy, Joni Mitchell, Philip Jeays, Michael Nesmith, Lorraine Bowen, TatankaYotanka
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Playlists: songs about illusions

March 22, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Spellbinding Siouxsie ...

Can you believe your eyes? You’d better believe your ears, as, from mirages to tricks of the light, we reveal playlists inspired by last week’s illusion topic, as chosen by the sharp senses of guest picker Maki

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In dance, country, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, indie, jazz, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, ska, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, illusions, imagination, Say She She, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Siouxsie Sioux, Talking Heads, Shelagh McDonald, Santana, Pearl Jam, Jah Wobble, Jah Wobble Presents PJ Higgins, Omara Portumondo, Ondara, Eric Burdon, war, Marlene Dietrich, Herman's Hermits, Buzzcocks, Shellac, Peter Hammill, Kid Cudi, Sinead O'Connor, Orange Juice, Leyton Buzzards, Altered Images, Keith Richards, Norah Jones, Anni B Sweet, Maki
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Playlists: songs about hitchhiking

July 3, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Who will get a pickup this week?

Who will get a pickup this week?

Breakdowns to what’s around the bend, picking up from last week’s topic’s many passengers, our guest driver takeitawayGuru takes us on a fabulous rockin’ rollin’ journey with his pick of songs that really catch a musical ride

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In blues, comedy, country, dance, folk, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, hitchhiking, Sheryl Crow, Tom Robinson, Savoy Brown, Boston, Vanity Fair, Bruce Springsteen, Earl Wright and his Orchestra, Dolly Parton, David Allan Coe, Lyle Lovett, Travis Tritt, Attila The Stockbroker, Simon & Garfunkel, Pearl Jam, The Ramones, Gov't Mule, The Grateful Dead, Tom Waits, The White Stripes, The Mutton Birds, Roger Waters, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Red City Radio, Heart, Black Ace, Green Day, takeitawayGuru
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Playlists: songs about conspiracy theories and paranoia

June 27, 2018 Peter Kimpton
The men from CIA? Fugs-style.

The men from CIA? Fugs-style.

Who are they? Where are they? And what are they doing? Are the answers in songs nominated? It’s time to burrow deep with our mystery guest playlister Deep Throat-Singer to see how the plot plays out …

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In blues, comedy, dance, electronica, folk, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, rock, songs, soul Tags Songs, playlists, paranoia, conspiracy theories, CIA, The Dead Kennedys, The Fugs, Green Day, Rockwell, Garbage, Pearl Jam, Rubella Ballet, Michael Franti, Spearhead, Public Enemy, David Peel & Death, Johnny Bragg, Mojo Dixon and Skid Roper, Tom Waits, 10cc, Cheap Trick, Blink-182, M.I.A., Kraftwerk, Boomtown Rats, Robert Cray, The Testors, The Business, Dr. Alimantado, The Simpsons, Fleetwood Mac, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, television, drama, comedy, Deep Throat-Singer
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Playlists: songs about the rough and the smooth

May 17, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Silky smooth: Count Basie

Silky smooth: Count Basie

Van Morrison's spiritual journey to rough seas with Gordon Lightfoot, Aretha Franklin's lover to smooth silk via Count Basie, this week's guest writer TakeitawayGuru creates two tantalisingly touching playlists 

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In music, playlists, songs Tags songs, playlists, song, Van Morrison, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Aretha Franklin, Tom Petty, Gordon Lightfoot, Mark Knopfler, Pearl Jam, Lucinda Williams, Led Zeppelin, Sibelius, Ohia, Count Basie, The Moody Blues, Bobby Vinton, Queens of the Stone Age, Jethro Tull, Sun-Ra, Roger Daltrey, Santana, Don Cox, Sade, Alien Ant Farm, Gene Pitney, Susan Tedeschi, Bloc Party, Ryan Bingham, Johnny Cash, Kilburn and the High Roads, Mischief Brew, takeitawayGuru
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Playlists: songs about the first and last time

February 1, 2017 Peter Kimpton
The first, the last, or has Grace Jones simply done it again?

The first, the last, or has Grace Jones simply done it again?

A classroom kiss to a strange encounter, leaving town to a final continental farewell,  guest writer takeitawayGuru creates playlists from last week's topic that move and entertain from first to last

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Tags Songs, playlists, Hot Chocolate, Mary Wells, Frank Sinatra, The Four Seasons, Grace Jones, Wil Wagner, Dixie Chicks, Fine Young Cannibals, Isobel Campbell, Mark Lanegan, Bobby Paris, Lonnie Johnson, Spike, Europe band, Black Box Recorder, The Walker Brothers, PP Arnold, Impressions, Buddy Guy, The Contours, The Waifs, Boss Caine, Bryan Adams, Roger Whittaker, Tom Petty, The Monkees, The Electric Flag, John Martyn, Led Zeppelin, Guy Clark, Pearl Jam, takeitawayGuru
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Playlists: songs about the colour or term yellow

November 2, 2016 Peter Kimpton
Bessie's got the Yellow Dog Blues, but it's not getting her down

Bessie's got the Yellow Dog Blues, but it's not getting her down

From double lines on road or rail, to fruit, teeth, eyes, dog, or snow, guest writer treefrogdemon's choices of songs from last week's topic will have you feeling sunny side up and mellow

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Tags songs, treefrogdemon, The Neville Brothers, Nizlopi, Rayland Baxter, Ivor Cutler, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Deep Freeze Mice, The View, Bessie Smith, Jocelyn Pook, Fela Kuti, Frank Zappa, Donovan, Dorothy Ashby, Pearl Jam, Captain Beefheart, Randy Newman, Peaking Lights, Bobby Darin, Throwing Muses, Sheila E, Louis Jordan, Ditty Bops, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Low, Traveling Wilburys, colours
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Playlists: songs featuring male names

August 10, 2016 Peter Kimpton
HI! I'm Andy Kaufman. Where am I? Who sang about me?

HI! I'm Andy Kaufman. Where am I? Who sang about me?

Andy to Billy, Carey to Terry, this week's guest writer treefrogdemon does a roll call through hundreds of your song suggestions from last week's topic to show how lyrics define far more than just a name

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Tags songs, treefrogdemon, The Coasters, Pearl Jam, Joni Mitchell, Drive-By Truckers, Veda Hille, REM, T Rex, Twinkle, Goosehouse, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Dusty Springfield, Fairport Convention, Del Shannon, Abba, NoMeansNo, Dillinger, Band of Horses, Andre Williams, The Fall, Wunmi, Patti Smith, Johnny Otis, Simon & Garfunkel, Sister Sledge, Tom Petty
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New Albums …

Featured
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
picture-parlour-the-parlour-album.jpeg
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
FKA twigs - Eusexua Afterglow.jpeg
Nov 16, 2025
FKA twigs: EUSEXUA Afterglow
Nov 16, 2025

New album: Springing from her much lauded third LP Eusexua, out in January this year, and following a hugely successful and spectacular tour, the innovative British experimental pop artist, dancer and producer extends her palette of ethereal, otherworldly and sensual creations in this new, more carnal, harder, beat-filled parallel release

Nov 16, 2025
Celeste - Woman of Faces.jpg
Nov 15, 2025
Celeste: Woman of Faces
Nov 15, 2025

New album: The outstanding British singer returns, a long four years after her acclaimed debut Not Your Muse, with a classy, passionate set of nine, simmering, smoky, rippling dramatic, timeless numbers in which her vocal prowess is magnificently on show on songs playing on the theme of self and identity

Nov 15, 2025

new songs …

Featured
The Lemon Twigs - I've Got A Broken Heart.jpeg
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
Alewya - Night Drive.jpeg
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
Rule 31 Single Artwork.jpg
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
Sailor Honeymoon - Armchair.jpeg
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
Ellie O'Neill.jpeg
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
Danalogue.jpeg
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
Cardinals band.jpeg
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
Frank-Popp-Ensemble and Paul Weller.jpeg
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
Tessa Rose Jackson - Fear Bangs The Drum 2.jpeg
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
Melanie Baker - Sad Clown.jpeg
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
Holly Humberstone - Die Happy.jpeg
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
These New Puritans brothers.jpg
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
Hangover.jpeg
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
Running shoes and barefoot.jpeg
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
autumn-red-leaves.jpeg
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
Fennec fox 2.jpeg
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
Narrowboat.jpeg
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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