By The Landlord
“A blend of prediction and surprise seem to be at the heart of the best art.” – Wendy Carlos
“Art must take reality by surprise.” – Francoise Sagan
“People tend to play in their comfort zone, so the best things are achieved in a state of surprise.” – Brian Eno
“Occasionally, you get a nice surprise when someone covers your song in an extraordinary way.” – John Barry
“The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy.” – Carl von Clausewitz
“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” – Boris Pasternak
“This is the last show we'll ever do.” – David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, London Hammersmith Odeon, 1973
What on Earth is going on? And what might be the biggest surprise that could happen to any of us today? That a huge meteor suddenly appears in our atmosphere? Or an alien spaceship? But perhaps we shouldn't, because they'd both come right out of thin air.
Imagine my surprise then, when this week, at our very own Song Bar, a philosophical book-reading horse kept arriving and ordering multiple rounds of strong drinks. Cautiously I decided to enquire: "You're very thirsty, Mr Horse. I'm sorry to ask, but are you an alcoholic?" The horse replied: "Neigh! I don't think I am," but then, having left a copy of philosophical maxims at his table, he suddenly vanishes. Rationally speaking, he put Descartes before the horse.
But of course, if a horse really walked into a bar, everyone would simply jump out of the way because it would be dangerous. Or if three conspiracy theorists came in to order drinks, I'd think that was no coincidence. And if a priest, a rabbi and an imam walked into a bar, my immediate response would be to ask if this were some joke.
Apologies then, for all of this silliness, but suddenly out of nowhere, our beloved Song Bar is 10 years old! How did this happen? Like all landmarks, it was always potentially on the horizon, but also suddenly seems to have arrived out of nowhere. So I'm sort of springing a surprise party on myself, as well as all of you ...
What do we mean by surprises? They could come in many forms, good or bad, pleasant or shocking, death or falling in love, but not so much simply the word 'surprise' in the title, but lyrically with narrative twists, or surprising turns of phrase, and musically bizarre sounds, odd instruments, strange key changes, or structures designed to take the listener by surprise.
Are surprises always surprising? Retrospectively, arguably no. But life throws up surprises because human beings are imperfect, distract themselves, and often ignore predictable signs of what is to come. From relationship breakups to wars and weather events to financial crashes, many bad surprises perhaps would have been avoidable. Events such as the lending crisis and crash of 2008, which still hangs over us, and has fuelled other events in society, to the now unfolding chaos of climate change have been on the cards for years, but remain surprising due to continual culture of short-termism.
One current, very clever, fascinating and important American academic, J Doyne Farmer, now a complex systems scientist at Oxford University, in his early days in the late 1970s, developed the first wearable computer, partly hidden in his shoe, as part of a sneakily clever project to predict the unpredictable in the form of balls landing in a casino roulette and to win money. Through clever, painstaking computing and undercover technology he and his team managed to do so and win money, and also wisely quit before they were discovered by casino heavies beating them up. The project was known as the Eudaemonic Pie.
J Doyne Farmer’s Eudaemonic Pie, making surprises less surprising at casino roulette wheel
Of course it wasn't possible to predict that exact number where the roulette ball might land, but considerably shorten the odds, based on speed of wheel and timing of release, where it might. Computing power allowed this to happen. Since then he has moved to much bigger and more complex areas of surprise and unpredictability.
“Financial markets are supposed to direct economic activity and provide goods and services. However, they often function like a casino, creating instabilities for the economy as a whole,” he writes. Last year I read his brilliant 2024 book, Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World. Doyne Farmer is now proposing a computing project to tackle the climate crisis through clean energy economics. It's a fantastic idea and I can only hope business and politicians can take him seriously.
Having said that, we also love surprises, whether they are birthdays or sporting twists. Mohammed Ali knocking out George Foreman in the Rumble In the Jungle? A huge shock and Foreman was knocking ten bells out of him for almost the entire eight rounds, but then again, the great Ali always threw surprises.
Last minute goals? Of course. But then again, not always, as it is bound to happen sometimes, from years of practice. Eric Cantona's goals? Surprising, but kung-fu kicking a racist, the National Front hooligan Matthew Simmons in the Crystal Palace crowd in January 1995? Even more so. But then again, that's Eric for you. A true one-off, never predictabel. As he later said at the press conference, before walking off, much to the bemusement of all present: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”
Why this theme? As often happens it comes from spontaneity (or in other words, the pressure of a deadline), either from a guest suggestion, or my imagination. I had considered more predictable ideas for this auspicious occasion - such as parties, celebrations, or playlists themselves (our 5th birthday party theme was songs about jukeboxes), but then it occurred to me that surprises are very much part of the fabric and magic of this place.
Each week the theme is a surprise to pretty much every reader apart from me, and sometimes even to one of our guest gurus who will ultimately pick songs into playlists. Springing that surprise is part of the joy for me, and then that effort is returned with further pleasures in the collective, fertile brilliant hive mind of song nominations that always bring unpredictable surprises we can all enjoy.
After all, this metaphorical global bar that we run, would, in a physical world, match what goes on here, with its mix of many regulars, but also occasional surprise newcomers or even long-time-no-see old friends. There is also a massive passing footfall of readership, in hundreds of thousands, which really surprises me, coming from almost every country in the world, as well as what they read.
Who would have thought, for example, that as well as all the western countries, we'd also have fans from all over, from Mozambique to Nepal, Lebanon, to the Northern Mariana Islands? That as well as all the most recent topic and new releases in New Songs and Albums and even Word of the Week (humpenscrump is particularly still popular), people would also poring of older topics from songs about absurdity or anxiety, bees to bears, butterflies or with bells, oddballs or owls, moving on (our first topic launched on 11th February 2016), or renewal, rebirth and starting over, to nudity and nakedness (OK, maybe less surprising that one), dictators, dancing, old electronic music, time travel and much more. In a sense revisiting old playlists is itself travelling in time.
A check on our Index page (and the Marconium) seems to reveal that this will be the 513th playlist topic. It's a musical universe of connections becoming ever richer and more fertile.
It's also a surprise, realistically, that we are still going after 10 years. But that's down to a lot of hard work, persistence, stubbornness, enthusiasm and creativity. After all, this is not a place that runs on money, but passion, interaction and sheer love of ideas, connections, words and music.
So it's on that note that I'd like to thank heartily all of the many fabulous contributors – nominating, but especially those who have gone the other side of the flap to guest guru, pick and write the weekly thematic playlists, and whose work is continually enjoyed around the world right now. We've also had many great contributors in the past I'd also like to mention, and hopefully they still visit and read and will occasionally return. Some of whom are sadly no longer with us, but overall we've created a wonderful, eccentric and beautiful family.
So who will pick from this week's nominations? For now, see what happens. Maybe that could be a surprise too. Deadline is the usual 11pm UK time on Monday, for playlists published next week.
And to finish ...
Imagine my surprise then, when a man walked into our Bar with a huge slab of concrete under his arm, and ordered two beers, drinking the first down immediately but leaving the other one alone. “What's with the slab of concrete?” I ask. “And who is the second beer for?”
“Oh,” he smiles. “It's just one for the road.”
Helping all that go down, it also happens to be my birthday today... so let's also all share a big slab of cake...
Now we are 10. Have some cake
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