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But this one really can’t be put off, can it?
They are forced upon from an early age, and a key driver of human behaviour, a trick we play upon ourselves or others to get things done, but in song they have range of contexts and inspire all kinds of emotions
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Reflections on a musical fountain …
Spurting ornate symbols of eternity, youth, health and good fortune, some for drinking others just decoration, they’ve been a feature in villages, towns and cities for thousands of years, and some can be programmed to dance to music. How are they expressed in song lyrics?
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Here it comes …
Dramatic, extreme, they always come as a pair, if with delayed arrival, and may be a backdrop, or an expression of stormy relationships, a high charge of emotions, or of inspiration, change, turmoil or chaos, but it can also bring a state of cosy comfort
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One giant leap: Bob Beamon’s long jump record at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics stood for at an unusually lengthy 23 years
A Thursday on 29 February rarely happens, so let’s not skip it: Songs about jumps, leaps, bounds, hurdles, vaults of all kinds, literal and metaphorical, no t random occurrence of a related words, but where the leap in question is central to to the song's theme. Get inspired by many varied contexts and guests in the Bar …
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What goes around …
The end has to come, but how, in an outro or coda, does a song or piece offer something different, original, unusual or memorable, musically or even lyrical form, a twist, a mood change, upbeat, downbeat or even a sense of unresolved mystery?
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Un bout de souffle (1960): Under cover? How soon is now? Where did our love go?
Inspired by the recent death of a creative great and the movement he spurred, this week it’s time to pose questions of the listener, existential or otherwise, perhaps found lyrics or titles, but more than just in a random line, and perhaps also in often in form, structure and sound
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Velvet Underground, including John Cale and Lou Reed
It can be minimal, relaxing, and meditative, or disturbing, loud and challenging, but in its purest form or within any genre, drone music, played or sung, centres on a single sustained note or long chord that dominates the entire song or piece
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Get on the retro (dance) floor …
This week we look back to look forward with artists who wrote new songs with a style from the past, ignoring their zeitgeist and harking back to a former era or decade though musical stylings, choice of instruments, lyrics and more
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Norway’s popular Pulpit Rock or Preikestolen
Actual or metaphorical, from windows to riverbanks, doorways to cliffs, to mental or physical extreme places, this week let’s go to a variety of precipices, stare into the abyss, but also find astonishing new perspectives in song
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Correspondence captures time, place, culture and emotions …
Love letters to rejection replies, friendship, work or leisure, written correspondence are the preserved leaves of history, revealing human nature in all its states and culture, but how does it come up in songwriting? Reply here …
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Joseph Stalin: hero turned villain. Statue torn down in 1956 in Budapest during Hungary's October Revolution
Whether it’s figures of public renown in music, film, politics or history, or private – mentors, relatives and even lovers, this week we look into songs about how the once admired and revered can seriously disappoint and fall from grace
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Where to?
It’s time to give us all a lift, not only emotionally, but as Song Bar bus sets off on a road trip, picking up all sorts of musicians and other artists, in a quest to find for stories about hitching experiences – good, bad, scary or heartwarming
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Roy would …
This week’s topic takes a particular accent towards music inspired by the great British West Midlands city and its surrounding area, a rich cultural mix of ethnicities and styles, industrial history, upheaval and humour
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England is dreaming? … Who? Keith, Roger, Pete and John
Let’s take a musical trip around this strange, sceptr’d isle, this land of eccentric frontmen, this place of punk and flourishing fashion, to pick up lots of place names and perhaps also define the nature of being English
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Genuine lip syncers Milli Vanilli
Being true to yourself or others to genuine article in objects, this week we’re seeking songs that, in lyrics, are about searching for authenticity, but might sometimes find the opposite from forgery to falsehood, bootleg to bullshit
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Enjoy …
This week it's less about the reality TV competition, instead a much tastier treat into the world of lyrical bagels and brot, cupcakes and buns, breadlines and Bourbons. Take your pick and dig in …
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From the cover of The Slits' guitarist Viv Albertine's book Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys (2014)
Let me tell you a story … this week we're looking for songs that capture the narrative or arc of a person's life, about themselves or others, famous or unknown, whether that's in the first or third person
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Away from all the political turmoil, it’s time for musical rest, something poetic. Honouring soldiers or victims of war to family, friends or lost fellow bandmates, suggest music that remembers the departed on a personal, profound and beautiful note
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