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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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Back in the room: songs about hypnosis

June 5, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Playing along? A hypnosis entertainment poster from 1900

From medical, curative, psychological and mystical to magical, illusionary entertainment hypnotists and subliminal suggestibility, this week it’s time to go under and come back with song on the mesmerisers, mesmeric and mesmerised

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In African, avant-garde, blues, 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, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, hypnosis, psychology, Sigmund Freud, Derren Brown, Keith Barry, Milton H Erickson, Deepak Chopra, Jon Hopkins, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, history, social history, politics, US politics, advertising, magic, Étienne Félix d'Henin de Cuvillers, James Braid, John Fogerty, Stephen King, David McCullough, Alan Moore
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Just the right amount of ... songs about salt

January 30, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Guitar licks …

A staple of our diet, contained in the body, but also necessary be restocked for health, sodium chloride has thousands of uses, and has been a human obsession for centuries, seeping in our language, but how is it served up in song?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, experimental, exotica, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, salt, minerals, food, food industry, history, China, Mark Kurlansky, Antonio Tabucchi, Karen Blixen, Ancient Rome, Mahatma Gandhi, India, science, geology, Burls Art, Humphry Davy, chemistry
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What a carillon: songs and music featuring sounds of bells

December 19, 2024 Peter Kimpton

The bells! The bells! Handheld bells ...

They resonate through time, marking beginnings and endings, life and death, and have a host of meanings and contexts. Alone or in harmony, large or small, as instrument or sound effect, what tintinnabulum tickles your fancy in music?

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In African, avant-garde, blues, 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, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, music, playlists, bells, Emil Nolde, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Charles Lamb, Frances Goodrich, Colin Meloy, Annie Dillard, Film, film soundtrack, insruments, idiophones, history, China, Lithuania, Liberty Bell, Big Ben, Alice Cooper, Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Donne, Charles Laughton, Christopher Walken, Will Ferrell
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Ongaku! Songs from or about Japan

October 31, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Sleeve of Japrocksampler: How the Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll – by Julian Cope (2007)

It’s a huge market for the industry, inspired by outsider music, and this extraordinary land also delivers much of its own, but what songs captures the essence of Japanese people and culture? Here’s a tiny dish of metaphorical sushi to get your tastebuds tingling ….

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, comedy, dance, disco, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, jazz, lounge, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, music, Japan, art, poetry, books, Film, film soundtrack, anime, manga, Toshiko Mori, Homaro Cantu, Tadao Ando, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Matsuo Bashō, Kyoto, Toyko, Osaka, Buddishm, Shinto, history, Hiroshima, Shonen Knife, The Spiders, Fumio Nanri, The Hatano Jazz Band, Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Halloween
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Playlists: songs about D-Day

June 12, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Reflection on Omaha beach in the aftermath of D-Day battles on 6 June 1944

Following the 80th anniversary of one of the most significant events of the 20th century, guest playlister Maki picks poignant and powerful selections abuot that event as well as other do-or-die metaphors inspired by last week’s D-Day topic

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In blues, classical, country, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, jazz, metal, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, traditional, soundtracks, soul, songs Tags D-Day, history, war, second world war, Second World War, Maurice Jarre, Sabaton, Chumbawamba, Seth Lakeman, Chris De Burgh, Iron Maiden, Soulsavers, Dave Gahan, B-Squadron, Mavis Staples, The Charlesys, Sod's Opera, Tom Jones, Robert Wyatt, Nat King Cole, Dave Wright & The Midnight Ramblers, Woody Guthrie, Avett Brothers, Captain Beefheart, James Keelaghan, Bill Frisell, Spear of Destiny, Jim Bradford, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Benjamin Britten, Maki
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It's now or never: songs about D-Day (80th anniversary special)

June 6, 2024 Peter Kimpton

To mark 80 years since that key day, this song topic is not only about those events – the landings, the battles, the individuals, the big stories, but also in a wider sense about the very idea of D-Day, of those moments where it's really do or die, or in some cases do and die, where necessity means you must be decisive and take action

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Tags songs, playlists, second world war, D-Day, war, Dwight Eisenhower, Adolf Hitler, Barack Obama, history, Film, film soundtrack, television
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Song Bar Birthday Special: Pieces of eight? Seeking songs about treasure

February 8, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Eight? How many pieces do you have?

Precious, rare, valuable, timeless? Monetary or something more intangible? How do you define treasure? This week we celebrate eight years of of Song Bar from a phase from a Robert Louis Stevenson novel and seeking songs on this theme

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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, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, anniversaries, treasure, gold, coins, archaelogoy, books, art, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Walt Disney, Dale Carnegie, Rainer Maria Rilke, Charlotte Bronte, Dolly Parton, Johnny Depp, Film, film soundtrack, money, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, Captain William Kidd, pirates, The Detectorists, Mackenzie Crook, Toby Jones, television, Tintin, Hergé, history, JRR Tolkien, Andy Serkis, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lao Tzu, Christina Aguilera, Thornton Wilder, Joseph Campbell, Friedrich Schiller, Audrey Tatou, Sergio Leone, Ennio Morricone, Clint Eastwood
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Playlists: songs about tyranny and dictatorship

January 24, 2024 Peter Kimpton

Revolutionary warnings: Crass

Coercion, violence and suppression, it’s a recurring cycle through history. Spanning the globe with philosophy and genre, guest playlister Marco den Ouden examines the big questions about autocracy and anarchy, picked from last week’s topic nominations

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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, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags tyranny, dictators, dictatorship, democracy, politics, history, Eek-a-Mouse, Lousiana Red, Steppenwolf, Archie Roach, Smith & Mighty, Andy Scholes, Cult With No Name, Dub Syndicate, Tom Robinson, Negativland, Todd Rundgren, Donald Fagen, Crass, Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Hozier, Mavis Staples, The Beatles, The Winans, Robb Johnson, Catherine Graindorge, Iggy Pop, The Melodians, The Golden Gate Quartet, Rich Kids, Elektrisk Regn, Mercedes Sosa, Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel, The Pogues, Mark Stewart & the Maffia, Mark Lambert, Midnight Oil, Woody Guthrie, Sting, David Bowie, Randy Newman, Pop Will Eat Itself, Bob Marley, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Crystal Axis, Bruce Cockburn, Janis Ian, Nicko, Peter Tosh, Lucky Dube, Lord Invader, Arcade Fire, Curtis Mayfield, Raimon, Manhattan Transfer, Sweet Honey In the Rock, Nordic Giants, Marco den Ouden, Marconius, Isaiah Berlin
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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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It's your move: songs about board games

December 7, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Game on: all kinds of music are on board …

Not video or cards, this week it’s the turn of games played on a tabletop with moveable pieces, anything from chess to Monopoly, playing out the patterns of human life and behaviour in microcosm. But how are they expressed in song lyrics?

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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, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, board games, games, chess, Monopoly, Emo Philips, Steven Wright, Woody Allen, Ōtake Hideo, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Africa, India, China, history, social history, Gary Kasparov, Nigel Short, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer, Raymond Chandler, A.A. Milne, Stanley Kubrick, Wu-Tang Clan, GZA, Dizzee Rascal, Robert Kiyosaki, Ridley Scott
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Spinning yarns: songs about fabrics

November 30, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Original material: Sun Ra

Join this potentially long thread of a subject through time to capture the wonderful weft and warp of songs about all kinds of fabrics natural or otherwise – wool, cotton, hemp, linen, nylon, muslin, silk, and much more, clothing to curtains, their manufacture and industry, metaphor, colourful, darker, or lighter associations

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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, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, fabrics, cotton trade, cotton, wool, textiles, clothing, Ernest Lehman, Jane Birkin, Willie Nelson, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, history, Ancient Egypt, archeology, evolution, knitting, sewing, silk trade, China, India, William Lee, Queen Elizabeth I, Alec Guinness, Film, Ealing comedy, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Roisin Murphy
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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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Playlists: songs about pioneers

October 17, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Some of the groundbreaking cast of The Real Ambassadors, including Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong

Traversing not just wildernesses, this week’s topic celebrates those who found forms of new territory, land, sea, or space, to those who broke new ground in their specialist field. For these, guest of the week Marco den Ouden creates landmark playlists inspired by last week’s topic

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, metal, music, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, psychedelia, prog, reggae, rock, songs, soul, soundtracks, showtime Tags pioneering, history, Horrible Histories, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, James Taylor, Klaus Badelt, Public Service Broadcasting, John Stewart, John Denver, The Sweet, Dominique Moore, Katie Melua, Daft Punk, Syran Mbenza, Ensemble Rumba Kongo, Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, Split Enz, Roxette, Fess Parker, Ron Goodwin, Phil Lynott, Ani di Franco, Utah Phillips, Neil Young, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Simple Minds, Procul Harum, Jon and Vangelis, Bruce Cockburn, Blakie & The Rodeo Kings, Jen Cloher, Paul McCartney, New Christy Minstrels, High Llamas, The Long Ryders, Nick Cave, Dion, Smokey Robinson, Gap Band, Stevie Wonder, Tapper Zukie, Etta James, Bob Dylan, Janis Martin, Chick Corea, Max Richter, Vangelis, Allan Holdsworth, REM, Bill Conti, London Symphony Orchestra, Laika and the Cosmonauts, Yuri Honing, Embryo, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Groove Collective, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger
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Groundbreaking: songs about pioneers and pioneering

October 12, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Red Cormorant Woman, Olive Oatman and Biddy Mason from the history – Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West, by Katie Hickman (2022)

It’s a word that summons up a rich history of tough trails across the American west, but also of key figures in many other fields, from science and medicine to space, politics and civil rights to music and art. To it’s time to capture all sides of breaking new ground …

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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, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, pioneering, Katie Hickman, James Fenimore Cooper, Daniel Boone, Walt Whitman, William H Calvin, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Timothy Leary, Anna Olson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, history, Oregon Trail, Joni Mitchell, Ameen Rihani, Buzz Aldrin, Wilhelm Reich, Indira Gandhi, politics, India, suffragettes, Nancy Astor, Emmeline Pankhurst, Lewis Latimer, Alfred Wallace, Charles Darwin, Rosalind Franklin, DNA, science, Elizabeth Freeman, Jane Bolin, Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, Shirley Chisholm, Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin, Moms Mabley, Phillis Wheatley, Rose Marie McCoy
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Dear God! It's songs about prayers and praying …

September 28, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Eyes wide shut?

What does it mean, and what form does it take? From formal religion to private conversation, hope and supplication to comfort and meditation, and even parody of well-known prayers, it’s time explore this mysterious human activity 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, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, prayer, praying, religion, Ezra Furman, Margaret Mead, Martin Luther, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Soren Kierkegaard, Quentin Crisp, Jack Black, Film, film soundtrack, Sylvia Plath, Carol Ann Duffy, Vladimir Nabokov, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, history, Mahalia Jackson, Alicia Keys, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, Martha Reeves, Ravi Shankar, John Taverner, Jeff Buckley, Franz Kafka, Mary Quant, Henri Matisse, Leonard Cohen, Billy Graham, Joyce Meyer, Lily Tomlin, Raymond Moody, Vincent McNabb, Robert Frost, Margaret Atwood, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Meredith, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Bruce Lee, Frank Sinatra, John Bunyan, Saint Therese of Lisieux, William James, Garrison Keillor, George Herbert, Coen Brothers, George Clooney
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The comet is coming: songs about rare events and experiences

February 2, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Some activities are rarer than others … Thomas Rowlandson’s satirical work of 1811

Looking up or down, from sights of rare astrological bodies to unusual encounters with unusual or unique people or events, from birth to death, it’s time to capture the rare in song form, from personal or universal perspectives

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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, comets, asteroid, Space, Mark Twain, rare events, Battle of Hasting, William The Conqueror, 1066, Halley's Comet, Carl Sagan, Thomas Rowlandson, William Blake, Socrates, Aeschylus, Violet Jessop, Unsinkable Sam, second world war, history, Vesna Vulović
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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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Be here/there now: songs about the fear of missing out

November 3, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Fomo-sapiens

FOMO? A social phenomenon term derived in the last 30 years of internet culture and social media, but fear of missing out is nothing new. From big events to looking for love, don’t miss out on this fun topic with songs related to it

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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, fomo, fear of missing out, psychology, social media, internet, Alan Arkin, Etty Hillesum, Peter Ackroyd, Naved Abdali, David Bowie, Franz Liszt, Andrew Yang, Cavett Robert, Tony Blair, Fiona Apple, Elton John, Ray Parker Jr, Barry Humphries, Sex Pistols, Kate Bush, Johnny Marr, Woodstock, Glastonbury Festival, history, evolution
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New Albums …

Featured
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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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
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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
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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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