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Talkin' about ... songs about defined social generations

August 7, 2025 Peter Kimpton

À la Mod: a key book written in 1964 (before today’s Generation X were actually born) by Jane Deverson and Charles Hamblett that influenced the likes of British punk Billy Idol and later the Canadian author Douglas Coupland …

The Lost, the Silent, the Greatest, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y (Millennials), Gen Z, then Alpha and Beta, the last 125 years have generational labels now increasingly used in our language and culture. But what are their traits, and how are they reflected in song lyrics or even music?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, bossa nova, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, RnB, rock, rocksteady, samba, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags generations, baby boomers, generation x, millennials, Gen Z, Charles Hamblett, Jane Deverson, Karl Mannheim, social history, sociology, Neil Blumenthal, Terry Pratchett, Steven Spielberg, Jonathan Haidt, Weyes Blood, Douglas Coupland, Pete Townshend, The Who, technology, war, Family, history, Gertrude Stein, Tom Brokaw, second world war, CMAT, Daniel Lieberman, China, Northern Ireland, Russia, Australia, India
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A special shared space: songs about unusual or unexpected friendships

July 17, 2025 Peter Kimpton

A commemorative model of Apollo-Soyuz on 17th July 1975

To commemorate the Apollo-Soyuz space link up, exactly 50 years ago today, on 17th July 1975, let’s celebrate strange, unusual bonds of friendship in song lyrics and shake hands with the unexpected …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, bossa nova, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, music, metal, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, RnB, rock, rocksteady, samba, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags Apollo-Soyuz, space travel, Space, science, history, William Blake, WB Yeats, Henry David Thoreau, Socrates, Somerset Maugham, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Huxley, Abraham Lincoln, A.A. Milne, Russia, America, Alexei Leonov, Thomas Stafford, TS Eliot, Groucho Marx, Ella Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Alexander Graham Bell, Samuel Beckett, André the Giant, animal behaviour, animals
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Warning signs: songs about tyranny and dictatorship

January 18, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Rogues’ gallery, some of the many …

Notorious, violent, controlling, paranoid, ruthless, and excessive, history is filled with them, their rise supported by the fear and apathy. Constantly a threat, from history to the present and future, what are their traits, and how are they portrayed in song?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, 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, soundtracks, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, tyranny, dictatorship, dictators, politics, history, US politics, US presidents, US presidential election, Idi Amin, Uganda, Adolf Hitler, Germany, Colonel Gaddafi, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, William Blake, Philip Slater, Mahatma Gandhi, Emily Bronte, British Empire, Aesop, Lord Acton, Robespierre, Joseph Stalin, Russia, Martin Luther King, Voltaire, Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator, Percy Shelley, Scott Walker, Brady Corbet, Film, film soundtrack, China, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, Genghis Khan, Ivan The Terrible, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Cambodia, Africa, Ethiopia, Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mobutu Sese Seko, Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, Chad, Brazil, Paulo Coelho, Vik Muniz, Augusto Pinochet, Chile, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong-un, North Korea, Naomi Wolf, Hisham Matar, Libya, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Park Yeon-mi, A. N. Wilson, Steven Van Zandt, Marshall McLuhan, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Anthony Kennedy
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Toxic warning! Songs about poison

November 23, 2023 Peter Kimpton

The classic poisoner’s choice …

Natural or handmade, animal or chemical, fast or slow, murderous or accidental, we inhabit a world of toxins and venoms, but how are they expressed in song? With inspiration here, the more specific and colourful the better but there’s also the mental and metaphorical …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, psychedelia, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags poison, toxins, venoms, Paracelsus, Shakespeare, William Shakespeare, Robert Graves, Ancient Rome, history, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, August Strindberg, Thomas De Quincey, Ben Okri, Derrick Rose, Nancy Astor, Winston Churchill, Marshall Pinckney Wilder, Socrates, China, Germany, Adolf Hitler, Russia, KGB, Mary Ann Cotton, Tori Telfer, Graham Young, William Palmer, crime, Jim Jones, India, Bhopal, animals, Jonathan Swift, Pliny The Elder, Saint Augustine, Marianne Williamson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aeschylus, Henry Adams, Noam Chomsky, Henry A. Wallace, Richard Flanagan, MJ Carter, food, food industry, Umberto Eco, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, Gustave Flaubert, George RR Martin, Game of Thrones, Cary Grant, Film, television
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Fantastic, it's for real: songs about illusion

March 16, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Shadowplay: from the video for Come, by French singer-songwriter Jain

Visual, auditory, via media, rumour, or any other distortion of perceptions, from personal experience to the political, this week we search for songs about the interplay of the senses and idea of illusions as a primary focus

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, perception, illusions, Albert Einstein, Craig Bruce, Voltaire, Douglas Adams, Woody Allen, Jain, media, psychology, Herman Wouk, Noam Chomsky, Arthur Koestler, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alan Moore, John Steinbeck, Mario Vargas Llosa, George Lucas, Film, Juliette Binoche, Talib Kweli, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, US politics, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Kurt Vonnegut, James Turrell, Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali, Robert Gonsalves, Philip Treacy, Julian Casablancas, The Strokes, Estelle, Roger Daltrey, Rufus Wainwright, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, György Ligeti, SUUNS, MC Escher, David Bruce
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What goes around: share your 2022 reflections and musical discoveries

December 22, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Water year it’s been …

It’s time to reflect on an extraordinary year, about events public or personal, to celebrate those artists who have sadly left us, and also include in particular your discoveries in music old or new, here at the Bar or elsewhere

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, music, 2022, history, Karl Marx, Hegel, George Santayana, HG Wells, Norman Cousins, Elvis Costello, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, UK politics, Queen Elizabeth II, royalty, royal family, Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin, King Charles III, Paddington Bear, environment, climate change, Ronnie Spektor, Ronnie Spector, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mark Lanegan, Nicky Tesco, Taylor Hawkins, Vangelis, Paul Ryder, The Happy Mondays, Cathal Coughlan, Meat Loaf, Ricky Gardiner, Keith Levene, Wilko Johnson, Christine McVie, Jet Black, Martin Duffy, Mimi Parker, Low, Terry Hall
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Great exhibitions: songs about 19th century life and culture

August 4, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Early music recording attempts at the end of the 19th century

This global history topic takes in many events, inventions, people and social trends, but beyond dates and facts, it is particularly about life of the times, habits, attitudes and values, and can also include fictional and other artistic styles

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, instrumentals, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, showtime, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, Queen Victoria, 19th century, history, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, Mrs Isabella Beeton, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, William Wilberforce, Florence Nightingale, transport, trains, China, Russia, American Civil War, slavery, Harriet Tubman, Great Reform Bill, suffrage, Peterloo Massacre, Tolpuddle Martyrs, Ireland, migration, emigration, Irish diaspora, Humphry Davy, Michael Faraday, Alessandro Volta, Thomas Edison, Lewis Howard Latimer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, James Watt, Richard Trevithick, railways, London 2012 Olympics, Peter Durand, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron, William Whewell, Samuel Morse, Karl Benz, Elisha Gray, Alexander Graham Bell, Karl Marx, Hegel, Jane Austen, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Thackeray, John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, John Constable, JW Turner, Beethoven, Mahler, Pedestrianism, sport, The Great Exhibition
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Joy in repetition: songs about nightingales and song thrushes

March 24, 2022 Peter Kimpton

The common nightingale

The inspiration of poets and songwriters for thousands of years, advertising with infinite music invention and energy, it’s also the national bird of Ukraine, defending its territory. So let’s celebrate the nightingale, and thrush cousin, in music and lyrics

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, instrumentals, metal, music, musicals, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, nightingale, thrush, birds, animals, Edmund Spenser, Soren Kierkegaard, John Keats, Leonard Cohen, John Milton, Kristin Hannah, Taras Shevchenko, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Manning Sherwin, Eric Maschwitz, Ukraine, Russia, Thomas Hardy
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Give them a howl: songs about wolves

September 16, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Arctic wolves in full song

Arctic wolves in full song

Hunter or hunted, in a pack or working alone, in metaphor or myth, human connections from werewolf to dire wolf, this week they are all at the door, so it’s time to howl out your song suggestions referring magnificent canis lupus

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, showtime, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, wolves, wolf, animals, animal behaviour, Bela Lugosi, Margaret Atwood, Rudyard Kipling, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Farley Mowat, Jack London, JW Curran, Plautus, evolution, George RR Martin, Game of Thrones, mythology, fairy tales, Joseph Jacobs, Grimm Brothers, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Disney, Lon Chaney, John Landis, Film, film soundtrack, Michael Jackson, Neil Jordan, Angela Carter, JRR Tolkien, Shaun Ellis, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Russia, John Webster, theatre, Lana Turner, Jennifer Donnelly, FT McKinstry
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The sum of its parts: songs featuring choirs

August 27, 2020 Peter Kimpton
The Red Army Choir gives it some welly

The Red Army Choir gives it some welly

Time to sing out! This week, in any genre, music and songs featuring choirs, whether they are the main performers, or come alongside other musicians or singers and then play a prominent or pivotal role

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, folk, funk, gospel, indie, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, soul, songs, soundtracks, traditional, showtime Tags songs, playlists, choirs, choirboys, Paul McCartney, Vladimir Mayakovsky, John Keats, Brian Eno, Fred Allen, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Mavis Staples, Florence Welch, Tom Jones, Treorchy, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Mississippi Mass Choir, Red Army Choir, Russia, Mieskuoro Huutajat, Finland, The Number Nine Chorus, Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson, Mouths of the Tyne Community Choir, whales, Bill Drummond, Vokal Ansambl Gordela, Georgia, Werner Herzog, György Fehér, Kate Bush, Le Mystere des voix Bulgares, Reverend James Cleveland
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Heading for a fall: songs about September and October

September 26, 2019 Peter Kimpton
There is a light …

There is a light …

With this week’s topic cycle straddling two months, let’s capture both in songs that may be autumnal, seasonal, celebratory or mournful, during a time of year of change, activity and a strange red-tinged beauty

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In avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, colours, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, gospel, indie, instrumentals, jazz, music, musicals, playlists, pop, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, rock, rocksteady, reggae, punk, postpunk, prog, metal Tags songs, playlists, September, October, autumn, Christina Rossetti, Harry Warren, Al Dubin, George Cooper, weather, poetry, history, October Revolution, USSR, Russia, Cuban missile crisis, 9/11, festivals, climate change, food, Portugal, China, Vietnam, Japan, Alexander Theroux, Henry Rollins, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wallace Stegner, Johnny Mercer, Denis Norden, Caroline May, Susan Lendroth, Nova Schubert Blair, Elizabeth Chase Akers Allen, Trembling Bells, Earth Wind & Fire
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Fourth of July? Songs about parades and processions

July 4, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Onwards!

Onwards!

They express the joys, hopes, triumphs and tragedies of the human race coming together, – mixed emotions, war to civil rights, weddings to funerals, religious and sports to military might to floral festivals. But where do they come up in song?

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In avant-garde, blues, comedy, classical, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, pop, playlists, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, parades, processions, fourth of July, Independence Day, Philip James Bailey, Mike Ditka, FKA Twigs, US presidents, US politics, Russia, Philippines, First World War, Jack Johnson, boxing, Hawaii, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Will Smith, Donald Trump, France, Emmanuel Macron, Richard Nixon, John Naisbitt, China, Oliver Stone, Tom Cruise, Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bette Midler, Tom Wolfe, Adam Smith, New Orleans, Rio Carnival, London 2012 Olympics, Gilbert K. Chesterton, David Lee Roth, Prince, Super Bowl
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Exposed! Songs about photographs and photography

February 28, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Help! A knockout moment from Muhammed Ali and the Beatles in 1964

Help! A knockout moment from Muhammed Ali and the Beatles in 1964

Every picture tells a story, but this time let’s do it with songs inspired by, or about photographs or photography, and to help inspire here’s a selection of rare and usual shots to provoke memory, imagination, mystery and wonder

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, ska, soul, songs, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, photography, The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, Robert Frank, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Nan Goldin, Sebastião Salgado, Kodak, Film, Blondie, Frances Densmore, Sonny Clay, Big Jay McNeely, Louis Armstrong, Egypt, Australia, Brazil, Howard Carter, Tutankhamun, history, New York, Russia, Vietnam War, Prohibition, protest
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Strident in song: music that expresses the movement and feeling of walking

November 1, 2018 Peter Kimpton
No two walks are the same …

No two walks are the same …

We all walk slightly differently, so this week it’s all about music that expresses various strolls, swings, swaggers, ambles or strides, and whether in politics or personal, marching bands or military, let’s capture the movement of the people

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, 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, walking, biology, animals, The Beatles, Monty Python, John Cleese, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Locke, Mason Cooley, Billie Holiday, John Travolta, Lee Marvin, Julie Christie, Film, Ian Brown, Liam Gallagher, Mick Jagger, John Inman, Pink Panther, cats, fashion, Richard Dawkins, Jarrow March, Selma, Detroit, civil rights, Nelson Mandela, marching bands, New Orleans, Russia, military bands, James Vincent McMorrow, Matthew Henry, Hippocrates, Kamasi Washington, Bjork
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Foul play? Songs about conspiracy theories and paranoia

June 21, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Meeting of metaphor or the literal? Well, it's all a question of scale …

Meeting of metaphor or the literal? Well, it's all a question of scale …

No, it’s not the World Cup. Or is it? This week let’s delve into music’s interpretation of the murky world of imagined or otherwise undercover plots from Roswell to JFK, 9/11 to Russian interference, and er … lizards

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, rock, showtime, ska, songs Tags Songs, playlists, conspiracy theories, paranoia, politics, aliens, John F Kennedy, Howard Hughes, Hunter S. Thompson, John Buchan, Danny Bhoy, Comedy, Roswell incident, 9/11, Flat Earth Society, Paul McCartney, McCarthy era, Yuval Noah Harari, Jeff Greenfield, Peter Bergen, journalism, Felix Dennis, Marin Amis, David Icke, George HW Bush, The Queen, Kris Kristofferson, Theresa May, Michael Gove, Russia, Vladimir Putin, US presidential election, US presidents, Kardashians, science fiction, television, CIA, spying, smoking, cancer, James Baldwin, John le Carre, JD Salinger, William Burroughs, Mordecai Richler, Molly Ivins, Andy Grove, Thom Yorke, Ty Segall, David Sylvian, Cher, Billy Joel, Donald Trump, Louis Theroux, Kim Jong-un, Braindead (TV series), Star Trek, The Simpsons
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Kept in suspense? Songs about hanging – in all senses

January 18, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Hang out at the Bar. You'll enjoy it.

Hang out at the Bar. You'll enjoy it.

Folk to rock, pop to hip hop and more, from grisly executions to leisure time with friends, to ending phone calls, let's hang out at the Song Bar and explore songs using these many idioms

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In playlists, music, songs Tags Songs, playlists, hanging, execution, idioms, language, Douglas Adams, Aesop, Eve Arnold, art, photography, books, William Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci, Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Oliver Cromwell, Joseph Stalin, USSR, Russia, Roy Bean, Krzysztof Kieślowski, film, Aldous Huxley, George W Bush, Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky, Nikita Khrushchev, John F Kennedy, US foreign policy, Franklin D Roosevelt, Charlotte Bronte, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Stephen Milligan, autoerotic asphyxiation, INXS, Michael Hutchence, David Blaine, William Feather, JC Watts, Diana Princess of Wales, Keith Richards, Ice Cube, Adele, Danny Devito, Carl Jung, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Josh Homme, Oprah Winfrey, Patti Smith, Dale Chihuly, Victoria and Albert Museum, lights, Nick Cave
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Who can't handle the truth? Songs about propaganda, liars and lying

June 1, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Awkward … your life in their hands. May, Trump and poor old Washington

Awkward … your life in their hands. May, Trump and poor old Washington

Mass campaigns to crowd manipulation, political U-turns to personal deception, suggest songs about the art and artifice of changing facts for dubious or other purposes, but here to make truthful playlists

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Tags songs, music, liars, lying, truth, politics, Propaganda, Donald Trump, Theresa May, Sir David Attenborough, George Washington, John C Macrae, art, history, Robert Capa, photography, The O'Jays, Captain SKA, Alan Clark, Conservatives, Scott Inquiry, Paris Climate Agreement, climate change, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, public relations, spin doctors, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bambi, Alice Walker, Martin Parr, Edward Bernays, Adam Curtis, documentary, Sigmund Freud, psychology, psychotherapy, China, Russia, North Korea, Noam Chomsky, Brian Eno, Facebook, social media, Twitter, Evgeny Morozov, John Berger, Bernie Sanders, Republican Party, Rebecca MacKinnon, Nazi party, Josef Goebbels, second world war, Paul Robeson, Adolf Hitler, Sherlock Holmes, film, Basil Rathbone, Rosie The Riveter, Mrs Miniver, Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator, Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham, Tim Allen, Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, JD Salinger, books, Gunter Grass, Patrick deWitt, Samuel Butler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Jean Cocteau, Janice Dickinson, Kevin Bacon, Ryan Gosling, La La Land, Emma Stone, Luis Suarez, Greg LeMond, cycling, Tour De France, cheating, drugs, Logan Pearsall Smith, Aesop, Arcade Fire, The Dead Kennedys, advertising
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Movement of the people: songs about migrants, immigrants and refugees

February 2, 2017 Peter Kimpton
   Land of hope? The Big Apple beckons

   Land of hope? The Big Apple beckons

Bollocks to the ban. This week at the bar let's fly in the face of immigration policy ignorance and welcome everyone in – with musical tales of bravery against cruelty, and human spirit seeking its way to a better life

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Tags songs, immigration, migration, refugees, asylum, New York, United States of America, Germany, Donald Trump, Woody Guthrie, Holocaust, racism, religion, 9/11, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Film, Michael Winterbottom, Afghanistan, John Lydon, Stewart Lee, Ukip, Michael Franti, Led Zeppelin, Iceland, Knaan
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Playlists: songs and music from or about Russia

January 25, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Four of the Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble's finest

Four of the Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble's finest

Prokofiev to Prince to Pussy Riot, Mussorgsky to Marc Almond, east meets west in a perfect political and personal parade encoded by this week's secret agent, EnglishOutlaw, from last week's topic

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Tags Songs, EnglishOutlaw, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Al Stewart, Prince, Pig With the Face of a Boy, Robert Wyatt, Pussy Riot, Leningrad Cowboys, Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, Marc Almond, Pinkshinyltrablast, Punk TV, Nic Jones, Iron Maiden, Billy Joel, Katzenjammer, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Skyhooks, Aram Khachaturian, Boris Grebenshikov, Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra, Tchaikovsky
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Putin on the Ritz: songs and music from or about Russia

January 19, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Vladimir, in a gesture of true hospitality, is taking his friend Donald for a ride

Vladimir, in a gesture of true hospitality, is taking his friend Donald for a ride

Language need be no barrier. Let’s reveal, explore, inaugurate, even celebrate, from classical, film to pop, from inside and out, the rich musical heritage inspired by this vast, contradictory country

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Tags Songs, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Winston Churchill, Paul Robeson, Nikolai Gogol, US presidential election, Peter the Great, Catherine The Great, Andrei Sakharov, folk, classical, Eduard Khil, Leonid Kharitonov, Vitas, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Eisenstein, film, Anton Chekhov, Moscow, Blondie, The Vibrators, Ronald Reagan, Cold war, Otto von Bismark, marxism, Tony Benn, Pussy Riot, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Marc Almond, The Ramones, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Adam Curtis, Garry Kasparov, Rudolph Nureyev
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New Albums …

Featured
Tyler Ballgame - For The First Time Again.jpeg
Jan 30, 2026
Tyler Ballgame: For The First Time, Again
Jan 30, 2026

New album: With that sublime, soaring, soulful voice, and echoes of Roy Orbison, the Rhode Island-raised singer-songwriter’s truly gorgeous debut LP captures all the range of of the love – warmth, longing, tenderness and heartbreak through classy and crafted retro sound of 60s and 70s rock

Jan 30, 2026
Tessa Rose Jackson - The Lighthouse.jpeg
Jan 29, 2026
Tessa Rose Jackson: The Lighthouse
Jan 29, 2026

New album: Beautiful, intricate, understated, poetic and intelligent, this warm, inviting experimental folk by the Dutch-British singer-songwriter is the first LP under her own name, having previously released three as the artist Someone

Jan 29, 2026
Lucinda Williams - World's Gone Wrong.jpeg
Jan 28, 2026
Lucinda Williams: World's Gone Wrong
Jan 28, 2026

New album: The acclaimed veteran country, rock and Americana singer-songwriter and multi-Grammy winner’s latest LP has a title that speaks for itself, but is powerful, angry, defiant and uplifting, and, recorded in Nashville, features guest vocals from Norah Jones, Mavis Staples and Brittney Spencer

Jan 28, 2026
Clotheline From Hell.jpeg
Jan 27, 2026
Clothesline From Hell: Slather On The Honey
Jan 27, 2026

New album: His moniker mischievously named after a wrestling move, a highly impressive, independently-created experimental, psychedelic rock debut the the Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Adam LaFramboise

Jan 27, 2026
Dead Dads Club.jpeg
Jan 27, 2026
Dead Dads Club: Dead Dads Club
Jan 27, 2026

New album: Dynamic, passionate, heart-stirring indie rock in this project fronted by Chilli Jesson (formerly bassist of Palma Violets) with songs spurred by the trauma of losing his father 20 years ago, retelling a defiant and difficult aftermath, with sound boosted by producer Carlos O’Connell of Fontaines D.C.

Jan 27, 2026
The Paper Kites - IF YOU GO THERE, I HOPE YOU FIND IT.png
Jan 25, 2026
The Paper Kites: If You Go There, I Hope You Find It
Jan 25, 2026

New album: Warm, tender, gently-paced, calmly reflective, beautifully soothing, poetic, melancholic alternative folk and Americana by the band from Melbourne in their seventh LP in 15 years

Jan 25, 2026
PVA - No More Like This.jpeg
Jan 24, 2026
PVA: No More Like This
Jan 24, 2026

New album: Inventive, alluring, sensual, mysterious, minimalistic electronica, trip-hop and experimental pop by the London trio of Ella Harris, Joshua Baxter and Louis Satchell, in this second album following 2022’s Blush, boosted by the creativity of producer and instrumentalist Kwake Bass

Jan 24, 2026
Imarhan - Essam.jpeg
Jan 20, 2026
Imarhan: Essam
Jan 20, 2026

New album: A mesmeric fourth LP in a decade by the band from Tamanrasset, Algeria, whose name means ‘the ones I care about’, their Tuareg music mixing guitar riffs, pop melodies and African rhythms, but this time also evolves slightly away from the desert blues rocky, bluesy influence of contemporaries Tinariwen with electronic elements

Jan 20, 2026
Courtney Marie Andrews - Valentine.jpeg
Jan 20, 2026
Courtney Marie Andrews: Valentine
Jan 20, 2026

New album: Emotional, beautiful, stirring, Americana, folk and indie-pop by singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona, in this latest studio LP in of soaring voice, strong melodies, love, vulnerability and heartbreak, longing and bravery

Jan 20, 2026
Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore - Tragic Magic.jpeg
Jan 18, 2026
Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic
Jan 18, 2026

New album: Delicate, beautiful, ethereal, meditative new work by the two American experimental composers in their first collaborative LP, with gentle understated vocals, classic synth sounds, and rare harps chosen from from the Paris Musée de la Musique Collection

Jan 18, 2026
Sleaford Mods- The Demise of Planet X.jpeg
Jan 16, 2026
Sleaford Mods: The Demise of Planet X
Jan 16, 2026

New album: The caustic wit of Nottingham’s Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn return with a 13th LP of brilliantly abrasive, dark humoured hip-hop and catchy beats, addressing the rubbish state of the world, as well as local, personal and social irritations through slick nostalgic cultural reference, some expanded sounds, and an eclectic set of guests

Jan 16, 2026
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Jan 14, 2026
SAULT: Chapter 1
Jan 14, 2026

New album: As ever, released suddenly without fanfare or any publicity, the prolific experimental soul, jazz, gospel, funk, psychedelia and disco collective of Cleo Sol, Info (aka Dean Josiah Cover) and co return with a stylish, mysterious LP

Jan 14, 2026
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Jan 14, 2026
The Cribs: Selling A Vibe
Jan 14, 2026

New album: A first LP in five years by the likeable and solid guitar indie-rock Jarman brothers trio from Wakefield, now with their ninth - a catchy, but at times with rueful, bittersweet perspectives on their times in the music business

Jan 14, 2026
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Jan 9, 2026
Dry Cleaning: Secret Love
Jan 9, 2026

New album: This third LP by the London experimental post-punk quartet with the distinctive, spoken, droll delivery of Florence Shaw, is packed with striking, vivid, often non seqitur lyrics capturing life’s surreal mundanities and neuroses with a sound coloured and polished by Cate Le Bon as producer

Jan 9, 2026

new songs …

Featured
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Jan 30, 2026
Song of the Day: Robber Robber - The Sound It Made
Jan 30, 2026

Song of the Day: Striking, dynamic, noisy stop-and-start, stylish experimental post-rock and post-rock by the band from Burlington, Vermont, fronted by Nina Cates, heralding their new album, Two Wheels Move the Soul, out on 3 April via on Fire Talk

Jan 30, 2026
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Jan 29, 2026
Song of the Day: Holly Humberstone - To Love Somebody
Jan 29, 2026

Song of the Day: Shimmeringly catchy and singalong, effervescent Abba-esque and Fleetwood Mac-ish piano and synth pop with an eye-catching, vampiric-themed video by the British singer-songwriter from Grantham, heralding her second album Cruel World out on 10 April via Polydor/Universal.

Jan 29, 2026
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Jan 28, 2026
Song of the Day: Nathan Fake - Slow Yamaha
Jan 28, 2026

Song of the Day: Hypnotic electronica with woozy layers of smooth resonance and a lattice of shifting analogue patterns by the British artist from Norfolk, taken from his forthcoming album, Evaporator, out on InFiné Music

Jan 28, 2026
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Jan 27, 2026
Song of the Day: Charlotte Day Wilson - Lean (featuring Saya Gray)
Jan 27, 2026

Song of the Day: Stylish, striking, sensual experimental electro-pop and R&B in this fabulous collaboration between the two Canadian singer/ multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, out on Stone Woman Music/ XL Recordings

Jan 27, 2026
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Jan 26, 2026
Song of the Day: Lime Garden - 23
Jan 26, 2026

Song of the Day: Wonderfully catchy, witty, quirky indie pop about age and adjustment by the Brighton-formed quartet fronted by Chloe Howard, heralding their upcoming album Maybe Not Tonight, out on So Young Records on 10 April

Jan 26, 2026
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Jan 25, 2026
Song of the Day: Madra Salach - The Man Who Seeks Pleasure
Jan 25, 2026

Song of the Day: A powerful, slow-simmering and gradually intensifying, drone-based original folk number about the the flipsides of love and hedonism by the young Irish traditional and alternative folk band, with comparisons to Lankum, from the recently released EP It's a Hell of an Age, out on Canvas Music

Jan 25, 2026
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Jan 24, 2026
Song of the Day: Adult DVD - Real Tree Lee
Jan 24, 2026

Song of the Day: Catchy, witty, energised acid-dance-punk with echoes of Underworld and Snapped Ankles by the dynamic, innovative band from Leeds in a new number about a dodgy character of toxic masculinity and online ignorance, and their first release on signing to Fat Possum

Jan 24, 2026
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Jan 23, 2026
Song of the Day: Arctic Monkeys - Opening Night (for War Child HELP 2 charity album)
Jan 23, 2026

Song of the Day: A simmering, potent, contemplative new track by acclaimed Sheffield band, their first song since 2022’s album The Car, with proceeds benefiting the charity War Child, heralding the upcoming HELP (2) compilation out on 6 March with various contributors

Jan 23, 2026
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Jan 22, 2026
Song of the Day: White Denim - (God Created) Lock and Key
Jan 22, 2026

Song of the Day: The Austin, Texas-formed LA-based rockers return with an infectiously catchy groove fusing rock, funk, dub, soul, and down-dirty blues with some playful self-mythologising and darker themes, heralding 13th album, 13, out on 24 April via Bella Union

Jan 22, 2026
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Jan 21, 2026
Song of the Day: Holy Fuck - Evie
Jan 21, 2026

Song of the Day: The Canadian experimental indie rock and electronica quartet from Toronto return with a pulsating new track of thrumming bass and shimmering keyboards, heralding their forthcoming new album Event Beat, out on 27 March via Satellite Services

Jan 21, 2026
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Jan 20, 2026
Song of the Day: KAVARI - IRON VEINS
Jan 20, 2026

Song of the Day: Exciting, cutting-edge electronica and hardcore dance music by innovative the Birkenhead-born, Glasgow-based artist Cameron Winters (she), with a stylish, striking video, heralding the forthcoming EP, PLAGUE MUSIC, out digitally and on 12-inch vinyl on 6 February via XL Recordings

Jan 20, 2026
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Jan 19, 2026
Song of the Day: A$AP Rocky - Punk Rocky
Jan 19, 2026

Song of the Day: The standout catchy hip-pop/soul/pop track from the New York rapper aka Rakim Athelston Mayers’ (also the husband of Rihanna) recently released album, Don’t Be Dumb, featuring also the voice of Cristoforo Donadi, and out on A$AP Rocky Recordings

Jan 19, 2026

Word of the week

Featured
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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Dec 24, 2025
Word of the week: bellonion (or belloneon)
Dec 24, 2025

Word of the week: It sounds like a bulbous, multi-layered peeling vegetable, but this obscure mechanical musical instrument invented in 1812 in Dresden consisted of 24 trumpets and two kettle drums and, designed to mimic the sound of a marching band, might also make your eyes water

Dec 24, 2025
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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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