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

Song Bar

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

Your Custom Text Here

Song Bar

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

Not quite as it seems: songs about tricksters, trickery and fakery

August 28, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Who the Puck? A 1629 depiction of the traditional English and Celtic trickster

It’s everywhere in the modern world, particularly in politics, but the dark arts of the trickster have been around in folklore and mythology for thousands of years, so a starting point, let’s back to go forward …

Read more
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 tricksters, mythology, folklore, Lewis Hyde, Thomm Quakenbush, Byrd Gibbens, George Carlin, Terry Pratchett, Tom Robbins, Christopher Paolini, Seneca The Younger, Sun Tzu, Leonardo Da Vinci, Martin Farquhar Tupper, Robert Higgs, Bill Press, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Greek mythology, Norse mythology, Celtic mythology, indigenous culture, animals, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Squeeze, OK Go, Michel Gondry, Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali, The White Stripes, Bonobo
Comment

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?

Read more
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
Comment

Playlists: songs about darkness

July 29, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Facing the dark: Find out who below …

Death, fear, the unknown, but most of all affecting beauty - darkness brings a breadth of scenarios and emotions, all brought to light by guest of the week ParaMhor with powerful picked lists inspired by last week’s theme

Read more
In African, avant-garde, blues, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, gospel, indie, jazz, instrumentals, 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 songs, playlists, Terry Pratchett, William Shakespeare, Loreena McKennitt, Peter Gabriel, The Police, The Herbiliser, The Human League, Sharon Van Etten, Joni Mitchell, Lael Neale, Emmit Rhodes, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, KT Tunstall, Bruce Springsteen, Songs: Ohia, Blind Willie McTell, Dinah Washington, The Alan Bown Set, Mike Oldfield, Tricot, Black Uhuru, Tito and Tarantula, McCarthy, The Shop Assistants, Mr Flood's Party, The Cure, Boyharsher, Pere Ubu, Boy Harsher, David Sylvian, Mo-Dettes, Conor Oberst, Gillian Welch, ParaMhor, Emitt Rhodes
Comment

Pulling power: songs about gravity

November 2, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Falling yet floating? Frozen gravity …

Mass attraction? Or falling in love? This week it’s a fusion of science and art topic, with lyrical fact or metaphor, as we examine one of the most vital and biggest physical interactive forces in our lives (but oddly the weakest of the science big four). But how will this float up or fall in the world of song?

Read more
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, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, gravity, falling, Albert Einstein, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Confucius, John Milton, Brian Greene, Michio Kaku, Roy H. Williams, Terry Pratchett, David Soul, Marilyn Monroe, Mick Rock, Miles Davis, Neil deGrasse Tyson, science, astrophysics, Domingo de Soto, Galileo Galilei, Stephen Hawking, Priyamvada Natarajan, Anna Þorvaldsdóttir, black holes, MC Escher, Alan Cohen, Marcel Duchamp, Caitlin Moran, Léon Foucault, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bjork, Andy Cavatorta, Matthew Barney, Jackass, Thomas Carlyle, Space, John Burroughs, space travel, Alan Stern, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Buzz Aldrin, Nasa, Peggy Whitson, Scott Kelly, Kathleen Rubins, biology, Mötley Crüe, Mick Mars, Jack Valentine, Buddy Rich, Tommy Lee, Hieronymous Bosch, Buckethead
Comment

Pussy-footing? Perhaps it's songs about indecision. Is it?

March 2, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Are you fur staying on the fence?

From the many various situations and vacillations of love to shopping, voting, moving or staying and more, it’s finally time to plump for indecisiveness on song lyrics. The choice of what to nominate is yours. If you can …

Read more
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 Oscar Levant, indecision, Jane Austen, Marianne Moore, TS Eliot, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Willie Nelson, Tommy Cooper, Elvis Presley, Imelda Marcos, psychology, cats, animals, animal behaviour, Hergé, Helen Eustis, Seneca, Cicero, William James, Bertrand Russell, Terry Pratchett, Napoleon Hill, Cherie Carter-Scott, Martin Luther King, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, WC Fields, Jimmy Buffett, Shirley Temple, Drew Barrymore, Jean Baudrillard, William Arthur Ward, Ariel Pink, John Cleese
Comment

Like a butterfly: songs about the meaning of life

October 6, 2022 Peter Kimpton

The monarch butterfly: a profound life cycle, and ‘a rainbow of chaos’

It’s a big question. But how might it be answered in song lyrics? Not merely through broad definition or metaphor, but also through philosophy, practical advice or experience. See many inspirational ideas here, but it’s also time to let your answers take flight …

Read more
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, meaning of life, philosophy, Bob Marley, Douglas Adams, Bob Dylan, Maya Angelou, Charlie Chaplin, Paul Cezanne, Marcus Aurelius, Keith Richards, Groucho Marx, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Conan Doyle, E.M. Forster, Craig Venter, science, biology, Joseph Campbell, Anais Nin, Socrates, Albert Camus, Mark Haddon, Irving Berlin, Lou Holtz, Woody Allen, Mark Twain, Elbert Hubbard, Jim Carrey, Will Rogers, Stephen Hawking, Jean Cocteau, Katherine Hepburn, Sigmund Freud, Arthur Schopenhauer, H Jackson Brown Jr, William Wallace, Anton Chekhov, Thomas Hobbes, Vladimir Nabokov, Dale Carnegie, Leonardo Da Vinci, GZA, Wu-Tang Clan, Albert Einstein, Kenneth G Ross, Soren Kierkegaard, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matthew McConaughey, Emily Dickinson, George Herbert, Jimi Hendrix, George Eliot, Emile Zola, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Bernard Shaw, Terry Pratchett, Jim Henson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Samuel Butler, Tom Lehrer, George Gershwin, David Bowie, Slavoj Žižek, Rufus Wainwright, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Roy T. Bennett, William Wordsworth, Thomas Aquinas, Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Morgan Freeman, Monty Python, Film, film soundtrack, books, art
Comment

Spend it wisely: songs about tax and wealth distribution

September 29, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Trickle down economics, all the way down to …

During a time of fiscal crisis, while policy helps the wealthy avoid paying what’s due, here at Song Bar we’re open and pennywise with our playlists. So what contribution might you have on this taxing subject of social justice? Spend your time wisely …

Read more
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, money, economics, tax, Marty Rubin, Benjamin Franklin, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan, Herman Wouk, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ronald Reagan, Leona Helmsley, Ken Dodd, Liz Truss, Conservatives, Kwasi Kwarteng, Boston Tea Party, poll tax, Margaret Thatcher, William Pitt The Younger, East India Company, American War of Independence, Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, The Beatles, Thomas Piketty, Noam Chomsky, Nicholas D. Kristof, Donald Trump, Judith Martin, Jimmy Carr, David Cameron, George Carman QC, Chuck Berry, Gary Barlow, Willie Nelson, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Judy Garland, Al Capone, The Rolling Stones, Albert Einstein, Bauvard, Sean Kernan, HL Mencken, Lysander Spooner, Adam Smith, Thomas Paine, George Lakoff, Vanessa Williamson
Comment

Surf this: songs about crowds

December 2, 2021 Peter Kimpton

It’s Coney Island, baby

Good mass gatherings to bad, random or organised, peaceful marches to riots, gigs, sports events, and even songs that feature crowd noises, join the in-crowd and suggest your songs that describe and capture the behaviour of the collective conscious

Read more
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, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soundtracks, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, crowds, psychology, human behaviour, animal behaviour, animals, protest, sport, live music, William Wordsworth, Terry Pratchett, Rachel Cohn, George Carlin, Charles MacKay, Flannery O'Connor, David Sedaris, Covid-19, music festivals, Thomas Fuller, BF Skinner, Gustave Le Bon, Carl Jung, Elias Canetti, Aldous Huxley, Jean Cocteau, Jack Black, School of Rock, poll tax, Martin Luther King, Darnell Lamont Walker, refugees, Dobie Gray
Comment

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

Read more
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
Comment

Take a bow: songs about knots, ties and untying

December 17, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Loops and more, what musical weaves might come up this week?

Loops and more, what musical weaves might come up this week?

Nautical to metaphorical, clothes to emotional, knit to tapestry, crafts to industry, what binds and joins us, from love’s loose ends to heart string fastening, let's untangle, as well as lace up some lyrical threads and loops

Read more
Tags songs, playlists, music, knots, crafts, sailing, weaving, knitting, William Shakespeare, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, MC Escher, JS Bach, Maria Mannone, TS Eliot, George Harrison, George MacDonald Fraser, Terry Pratchett, Charlotte Bronte, Edith Wharton, Gabriela Mistral, AE Houseman, James Clerk Maxwell, John Donne
Comment

Get cartography: songs about maps

May 14, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Living maps? Leo Belgicus by Hondius & Gerritsz, 1630

Living maps? Leo Belgicus by Hondius & Gerritsz, 1630

Accurately marked with facts and perfect proportions? Or fuel for fantasy and the imagination? Maps make stories, and stories make maps, and their fascination leads to where X marks the spot. So let’s go there and start digging …

Read more
In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, instrumentals, music, musicals, playlists, pop, punk, prog, postpunk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags songs, playlists, maps, cartography, geography, history, books, Film, Nicholas Crane, Judith Schalansky, Roseanne Barr, Mark Haddon, Miles Harvey, Ptolomy, Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, China, Babylonia, Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Louise Penny, Charles H. Hapood, Lennart Meri, Muhammad Ali, Lech Walesa, Poland, European Union, Charles Darwin, Gerald Durrell, Marion Cotillard, Andrew Bird, Bill Bryson, Ken Jennings, Bill Dedman, Roisin Murphy, Google, GPS, Google Earth, Google Maps, Carlo Ratti, Eric Schmidt, Yuval Noah Harari, Catherynne M. Valente, Gilles Deleuze, Charles Frazier, Reif Larsen, David Mitchell, Terry Pratchett, JRR Tolkien, Stanislav Grof, psychiatry, Alexander McCall Smith, Nelson DeMille, Debbie Lee Wesselmann, Lisel Mueller, Mark Jenkins, Bea González, Amie Kaufman, Christopher Barzak, Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Gina Greenlee, Rebecca Solnit, Christopher Columbus, Noam Bardin, Dean F. Wilson, Bangambiki Habyarimana, John Steinbeck, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, Humphrey Bogart, Monty Python, Joni Mitchell, Bjork, Luke Abbott
Comment

Vote labour: choose songs about different jobs

November 14, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Panda nanny, anyone? Hours may be long …

Panda nanny, anyone? Hours may be long …

Habitual to unusual, the professional or the manual, the skilled or the basic, gig economy to obscure and hidden, this week we look at a variety of job titles and what they all entail, all evoked through song

Read more
In avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, soul, songs, soundtracks, traditional, ska Tags songs, song titles, jobs, work, careers, Lena Horne, Neil Young, Kathy Skaggs, Charles Bukowski, Jimmy Webb, Glen Campbell, Al De Lory, Ken Loach, Richard Dawson, Pablo Picasso, Mehmet Murat ildan, Michelle Obama, Jessie Belle Rittenhouse, Frederick Herzberg, David Graeber, Ken Poirot, Mokokoma Mokhonoana, Terry Pratchett, Studs Terkel, service industry, poetry, art, books
Comment

I know why the caged bird sings: songs about or expressing empathy

August 15, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Maya Angelou: “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”

Maya Angelou: “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”

I feel for you. Reach out and I’ll be there. This week we’re seeking song-related understanding and connection the form of songs about empathy, and though it’s different perhaps also little secondary sympathy, in form or content

Read more
In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, metal, jazz, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, songs, ska, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, empathy, sympathy, relationships, Maya Angelou, William Blake, Leslie Jamison, Brené Brown, RIchard Louv, science, neurology, psychology, music, Brian Eno, Jay Griffiths, Gloria Steinem, Conor Oberst, Mary Gauthier, Viv Albertine, Anohni, Antony and the Johnsons, politics, Nathan Englander, Theodore Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Ben Harper, Steve Martin, Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker, Margaret Atwood, Marty Rubin, Yann Martel, Morgan Neville, Film, books, Justin Simien, Roger Ebert, Harper Lee, Joseph Conrad, Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Sterling K. Brown, James Baldwin, Mehmet Oz, John Connolly, Mohsin Hamid, Neil Gaiman, Rumaan Alam, Terry Pratchett, Nitya Prakash, Elizabeth Goudge, Paul Auster, Eric Micha'el Leventhal, Gustave Flaubert, Elizabeth Bowen, Walt Whitman, Jorge Luis Borges, William Shakespeare
Comment

Put in a spell on this: songs about witches and witchcraft

April 11, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Sorceress Siouxsie Sioux

Sorceress Siouxsie Sioux

Good, bad, beautiful or ugly, purveyors of black or white magic, and the effect they have on others, from witch-finders to fans, this week we explore the culture of witchery, but which way, and what magic will this conjure up in songs?

Read more
In avant-garde, blues, classical, country, comedy, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, ska, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, witches, witchcraft, William Shakespeare, Johnny Mercer, Siouxsie Sioux, superstition, Radiohead, Lotte Lenya, Lene Lovich, Kate Bush, religion, pagan rituals, Devil, Heinrich Kramer, The Bible, Salem witch trials, Arthur Miller, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, League of Gentlemen, Vincent Price, Film, television, Mark Gatiss, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon, Jack Nicholson, Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett, Aleister Crowley, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, André Breton, Peter Grey, Sam Ervin, politics, McCarthy era, Cass McCombs, Anthony Horowitz, Yoko Ono, Florence Welch, Margot Adler, Paulo Coelho
Comment

Just keep on dancing: songs about staying and remaining

July 19, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Last four couples in a 1930s dance marathon

Last four couples in a 1930s dance marathon

We’re not leaving, but showing endurance, fortitude and steadfastness. There’s a whole lot of staying power going on in this week’s topic, from physical to mental strength …

Read more
In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags Songs, playlists, staying, remaining, staying power, stamina, Christopher Marlowe, Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys, Dolly Parton, Sly & The Family Stone, Oliver Reed, Brexit, Mick Jones, The Clash, evolution, Sir David Attenborough, biology, history, Film, Stephen Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Neil Peart, John Lee Hooker, Martin Freeman, Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, The New York Dolls, Terry Pratchett, Patrick Swayze, Al Green, The Bee Gees
Comment

Grand openings: great tracks to begin albums, mixtapes or radio shows

January 4, 2018 Peter Kimpton
It's a 2018 curtain raiser …

It's a 2018 curtain raiser …

Songs or instrumentals, suggest music that sets a tone, a pace, a mood or is a statement of intent, and makes a great start to an album, at the top of a radio show or any other work or event

Read more
In playlists, music Tags Songs, playlists, opening tracks, Film, TV themes, television, radio, Bob Dylan, Paul Weller, The Jam, TS Eliot, Terry Pratchett, Pink Floyd, Rick Wakeman, AC/DC, Beyonce, Big John's Rock 'N' Roll Circus, The Grand Opening, John Roger Olsson, Kenny Everett, Barry Levinson, Good Morning Vietnam, Robin Williams, Adrian Cronauer, HBO, The Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta, James Bond, Shirley Bassey, Adele, Dick Dale, Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction, Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver, Bernard Herrmann, Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing, Public Enemy, Rosie Perez, Roy Budd, Get Carter, Michael Caine, Harold and Maude, Cat Stevens
Comment

Would, could or should? Songs about alternative outcomes

October 19, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Planet of the Apes. Already happened or may yet occur? Still a gobsmacking idea.

Planet of the Apes. Already happened or may yet occur? Still a gobsmacking idea.

Songs of regret, in retrospect or about the 'if only'? This week we look at lyrics that imagine other pasts, presents or futures caused by different decisions, actions, circumstances and chains of events

Read more
Tags songs, past, present, future, time, film, books, poetry, television, Comedy, TS Eliot, John Greenleaf Whittier, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sliding Doors, Oedipus Rex, Marlon Brando, On The Waterfront, Elia Kazan, Philip K Dick, Bladerunner, Total Recall, Terminator, The Man In The High Castle, second world war, Robert Harris, Fatherland, history, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Terry Pratchett, The Simpsons, Planet of the Apes, Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Matrix, Keanu Reeves, Cypher, espionage, Erwin Schrödinger, multiverse theory, Talking Heads, animals, birds
Comment

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 … 

Read more
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
Comment

Arrr! It's songs about pirates and piracy

June 29, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach

Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach

Golden Age rogues from Blackbeard to Anne Bonny, Calico Jack to Treasure Island, from the Caribbean to modern marauders of Somalia, in folk to rock, metal to reggae, set sail with your song suggestions

Read more
Tags songs, Music, pirates, piracy, history, books, film, folk, metal, rock, reggae, indie, classical, Blackbeard aka Edward Teach, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Lessig, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Terry Pratchett, Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp, Ian McShane, Scissorfight, Barbarossa brothers, Captain Kidd, Sir Francis Drake, John 'Calico Jack' Rackham, Henry Morgan, Mary Read, Anne Bonny, Captain Pugwash, television, Tin Tin, The Night Pirates, Deborah Allwright, Peter Harris, Captain Charles Johnson, Somalia, pollution, environment, Steve Goodman
Comment
music_declares_emergency_logo.png

Sing out, act on CLIMATE CHANGE

Black Lives Matter.jpg

CONDEMN RACISM, EMBRACE EQUALITY


Donate
Song Bar spinning.gif

DRINK OF THE WEEK

Napue dark gin


SNACK OF THE WEEK

crudités platter


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
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

new songs …

Featured
Flea - A Plea.jpeg
Dec 5, 2025
Song of the Day: Flea - A Plea
Dec 5, 2025

Song of the Day: A striking, powerful new single by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers bassist (aka Michael Balzary), who brings a fusion of jazz and spoken word with a fabulous band on an impassioned number about the state of the US in a culture of hatred, social and political tensions, out now on Nonesuch Records

Dec 5, 2025
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

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

Song Bar spinning.gif