Your Custom Text Here
A chance to dance …
Neither red nor purple, this very particular colour has a strong identity and effect, from changing cultural and gender associations to distinctive animals, plants or minerals, how does it come up in song? Read these verses for inspiration …
Read more
After the many posts … vintage posters
When last week’s topic launched, it went off like a rocket - with hundreds of nominations. Now, out of this musical astral shower, guest playlister Shiv Sidecar has mapped out a song constellation that’s out of this world …
Read more
Yuri’n the hotseat: Gagarin
After last week's orgasmic theme and playlists, it’s time for thrusting engines over another kind, rockets and space ships, real or fictional, fantastic, wondrous, frightening journeys of all kind, as we boldly go to new musical territory
Read more
Barbarella tries the musical ‘Excessive Machine’
Expressed in lyrics literally, euphemistically and metaphorically, or in the sheer sound the music or delivery of voice, promises of, or the act itself, few things concentrate the mind and body more. So how to they come together in song? First, enjoy a brief social history of the orgasm by hitting this button …
Read more
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
Read more
Quadrophenia (1979)
Crime, culture, music, identity, fashion? From family belonging to sheer survival, there are many reasons to join a gang, but how do you get out? From street kids to Mafia organisations, this huge and colourful subject has inspired many songs …
Read more
Judgement has arrived: scales played and gavel struck
The musical evidence has been weighed up, the scales balanced, and the verdict has arrived. Guest judge Lord Justice Nicko has made his full summary, and after forensic deliberations, has made supremely tasteful and sound judgement from last week’s submissions
Read more
Sing out the scales of justice …
It’s time for the musical scales of justice to sing out as we explore songs about trials, short or long, from or about any perspective of those present, accused or accusers, jurors or judges, or even lawyers, as long as as the action is in court
Read more
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
Who gets the crown? Hint: the bird is the word …
Feeling taxed? Get some relief here. Blues, reggae, funk, punk, post-punk and more, we’ve got a full revenue of great music in store with no duty to pay, courtesy of an excellent distribution by guest playlister Severin picked from last week’s topic
Read more
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
Bande à part: Roxy Music
Inspired by Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave cinema movement, music poses questions in all forms - in sound, form, structure, as well as lyrics. Picking from last week’s topic, guest playlister pejepeine has excellent answers by example
Read more
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
Read more
A wasteland of the imagination, as well as reality
It’s time to lyrically explore, literally or metaphorically, where almost no one or nothing lives, but where ideas are fertile: from scrub moorland to heath, barren lands or badlands, to urban concrete waste sites, places deserted or destroyed, unkempt, neglected, toxic, eroded, unused, overgrown, sparse or bleak
Read more
Back in the bar: Erykah Badu
Lumbar numbers to vertebral verses, it’s time to run all the way up the spine to the nape of the neck in playlists that place all those discs without a single slip, musically massaged and written about by guest Loud Atlas from last week’s topic
Read more
Man Ray’s Le Violon d'Ingres (1924)
Human or animal, literal or metaphorical, spines slender, broad, sexy, defined, fat, muscular, hairy, strong, weak, in pain, broken, bent, tough, rough, rippling or tingling, in any context, it’s time to put our backs into this song subject
Read more
Signs of their times
Contracts, bonds, anything to employment to marriage to loans, record deals and other business, putting our signatures to things governs personal and public lives. But how do any formal agreements get referenced in song?
Read more
Esperanza Spalding
Supportive thrum, steady walking or free-flowing virtuosity, smooth or thumping, bowed or plucked, this big daddy of the stringed instruments is a beautiful beast, especially in these playlist plucked out by Loud Atlas from last week’s topic
Read more
It’s all about the bass
Bowed or plucked, played gently or violently, this versatile instrument is the big daddy elephant of the orchestra, the tall, elegant 6-footer in the jazz bar, but is also in many other genres. Where does it featuring prominently and give a vital texture or solo?
Read more
Of all the bars ….
What’s your line, from chat-ups to marriage proposals that appear in the lyrics or tenets of songs? This is not just love songs in general, but must contain lines with some ice-breaking approach, declaring attraction or more, with the most immediate short- or longer-term intentions
Read more