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Just us and the penguins …
Beautiful, bleak and poetic, it’s a vast wilderness full of stories of life on the extreme. A hazardous journey becomes a musical adventure as guest Captain Shiv Sidecar returns triumphant from this voyage with fabulous playlists inspired by last week’s topic
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Coming up … sounds from another planet …
They’re full of the bleeps, beeps and strange sounds we associate with travel and life beyond Earth, and some are also about that theme. Inspired by last week’s theme, guest space captain ParaMhor takes us on fabulous a journey to the great musical beyond …
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The following songs will teach us a few things about popularity, but this film has nothing to do with any of them …
Nominations came, and votes were cast. It’s something dreamed about in school, but can also bite back at you. Love, being in a band, to local or global fame, and its paradoxes, here are the results in playlist form …
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Venezuala’s Hugo Chávez, whose story is a colourfully flawed tale of popularity and popularism …
It’s something we might crave when young, but then find it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. But some pursue it all their lives. With stories packed with plots and emotion, it’s time to suggest, but also vote for others’ suggested songs to see what come out as the most popular …
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Neat neat neat …
Spring cleaning season is in full swing - tidying, cleaning or paring back, from belongings to unwanted relationships, guest of the week Severin clears the bar with some very neat work inspired by last week’s topic
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Players enter. But where’s the Wurlitzer …?
Strange goings on and off occur this week as the curtain opens for a theatrical absurdity featuring cast of random characters including this week’s guest guru, Loud Atlas, inspired by last week’s topic and Samuel Beckett. Fish. Wurlitzer. Balloon.
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They call him Mr Tibbs: Sidney Poitier shows Rod Steiger how real detective work is done - In The Heat of The Night (1967)
There’s a body, but what’s the motive, and whodunnit? Gathering a cast of famous detectives and a pile of tracks about them to spin in the Bar, Chief Inspector Marco den Ouden solves the case with musical cues and keys, inspired by last week’s topic
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Cat scan?
They’re a very common part of our language, but in lyrics or titles where are they consciously and creatively used? With meaning instantly recognisable or more cryptically unpacked, their sound might perhaps be used musically or to help create memorable lines or rhymes
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Silence, knowledge, and lust - it’s all to be found in the library …
Objects of intellectual interest to persons of desire – it all goes on in the library. Picking from the shelves of last week’s nominations, guest playlister Loud Atlas presents a carefully crafted catalogue that captures the A-Zs of library’s social intrigue
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Late nights with a transcendent genius: Mark E Smith with Brix
Leading you down the garden path and beyond? Taking liberties with the facts? After a flurry of fabulous stories from last week’s topic, guest playlister ParaMhor narratives a host of colourful tale tales that can’t help but pull you in …
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“Recognise your age, it’s a teenage rampage.” Sweet!
Life’s SO unfair! NOBODY understands! After a huge outpouring of song suggestions on this angst-ridden subject, guest of the week Olive Butler picks out two wonderfully entertaining playlists that really reach for the inner child
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Search engines … Monty Python and The Holy Grail. The low-budget classic film was variously funded by among others, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Charisma Records, and possibly Elton John
Love, food, shelter, identity, meaning? Rare vinyl? Most of our existence is about searching for something, but in what ways is this expressed in song lyrics? Here’s some other forms of inspiration and, after all, what is the true holy grail?
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Sparks: the Mael brothers are simply married to their music
It’s time to see what resulted at last week’s Song Bar Singles Night. Sad, lonely to deliriously happy and free, the resultant songs go in many directions, all married together in poignant, perceptive and playful lists by guest picker pejepeine
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Airing the sound: MOMA’s Music Gallery
It’s a private view where all are invited. Led by our expert guest curator EnglishOutlaw, chosen from a range of musical hanging fruit, welcome to the grand tour reopening of an entirely unique grand expo - a canticular spectacular
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Koko Taylor: fun at work …
From various locations – in the bar, on the beach, down the street, and many forms – reggae to soul, rock to new wave. From a huge wave of fun nominations guest picker Olive Butler has a blast with brilliant set of playlists
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You never know who will turn up … Paul Robeson meets a fan or two in Moscow in 1958
You never know who you might encounter on these playlists - lovers, angels, snake oil salesmen, spaceships, ghosts, brigands, the supernatural, the suicidal and the ecstatic - all artfully picked by guest Suzi from a week of nominations
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Fragile, insecure synchronicity. Simon & Garfunkel.
What makes for a great duo and how does is that dynamic expressed? Perfect balance of sound? Unspoken understanding and harmony? Symbiosis of roles? Contrast in character? Fragility, insecurity and tension? It’s time for two’s company …
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Sparks are eating apparently nothing to do with what their song is about …
From the witty to the weird, the irreverent to the irrelevant, the poetic to the potty, after a huge outpouring of nominations, guest playlister severin serves up a superb menu of cutting-edge and classic musical conundrums
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The look of 2020
Writing from a viral hotbed of Covid-19 lockdown - New York - guest playlister magicman recounts isolation, social chaos, cohesion, anger and laughter with his infectious collection of superb songs nominated by a global Song Bar audience
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Slaves get stuck in, but it could get messy …
The many paints have been mixed, ladders climbed, and wallpaper glued. Now stand back, and admire the decorous musical result of these perfect playlists, as put up on our extensive walls, as chosen by guest George Boyland
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