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Waving or drowning?
As Queen Elizabeth II reaches a record Platinum Jubilee, what has it all been about? Aside from any royal references, this week’s song theme is all about awkwardness, awkward moments, anything mortifyingly cringeworthy, or just a bit unseemly, bumbling, blundering and embarrassing
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Part hidden: one of this week’s artists revealed …
What is revealed? From cloaks of invisibility to unseen superpowers, mysterious animals or scents to the people who are never spotted, guest playlister Noodsy picks some outstanding songs that are truly out of sight but well in earshot
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Otis Redding - cut down in his prime
Relationship breakdown, devastating loneliness to shocking bereavement, from a huge response to last week’s topic, it’s all here in a set of supremely powerful playlists picked by guest magicman, where despite all the sorrow, the music brings release
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It’s a fragile thing, but we still drink it in
Sudden or slow-motion tragedy, from breakup to sudden loss of a loved one, or any other of life’s soul-destroying events, this week it’s time to drown all sorrows in the bar and find the most potent selection of heartbreak songs
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Bumblebee
Time to get busy! From honey to nectar, pollination to special dance moves, lyrics literal or metaphor, or in sounds, with World Bee Day coming up, it’s time to feel the musical buzz of these inspirational insects in all that they mean to humans, and how we should protect them
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Results are in the air tonight
Applications have been made, papers marked, but from last week’s many entries, which made the grade and will reach graduation to make the playlists? Examiner Marco den Ouden reveals the full results …
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Jarvis Cocker’s student pass for the art course he took when aged 25
Days of college, university, polytechnic, art school, institute or more, this week we examine education after secondary or high school and graduation, what it all means, from learning to social experience, captured though the prism of song
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Go deeper ...
Dig deep: it’s time to go downstairs, take the lift and explore songs in an underground setting - basements or lower, from tube and metro stations from servants in the kitchen, to sewers and pipes, this is often where society is run
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Handy: which band was inspired by the rather cutting-edge Struwwelpeter story?
Enchanting, mysterious, beautiful, crazy, or the downright cruel, the imagination doesn’t come any more vivid in fairytales. Woven from last week’s nominations, guest Loud Atlas spins a set of sharp tales into superbly absorbing playlists
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The famous Grimm’s edition illustrated by Arthur Rackham
They fuelled the fevered imaginations of our childhoods, and contain many adult themes of love and lust, violence and identity, but how are these characters and narratives used in song? Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin …
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A bigger splash: humpback whale breach
Cetaceans are dolphins, whales and porpoises – familiar yet mysterious, those large, intelligent water mammals that have inspired oceans of songwriters, but in what way? On freedom, tragedy, slaughter, or wondrous, otherworldly sounds?
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Smash hits: Donna Reed as Mary edits the collection in 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life
Hearts, bones, laws, bread, levees, glass, ice, records, lyrically as literal or metaphor, and so much more. It’s time to break new musical ground, from the destructive or creative, darker or lighter contexts of this topic
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Flemish harpsichord
Across all genres, it’s time to revive and bring out the delicate sound of this once popular, plectrum-triggering keyboard instrument – not just the harpsichord, but its smaller relatives – virginal, clavichord, clavicytherium, ottavino, pedal and other variants
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The common nightingale
The inspiration of poets and songwriters for thousands of years, advertising with infinite music invention and energy, it’s also the national bird of Ukraine, defending its territory. So let’s celebrate the nightingale, and thrush cousin, in music and lyrics
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Urban jungle? A growing trend …
Ugly or beautiful, hostile or friendly, boring or dynamic, urban environments are where people live but they are constantly in flux. This week it’s time to get a different sense of place in this potentially vast subject that also can do into tiny detail
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Preface to a translation of Nostradamus’s Prophecies
From Julius Caesar feeling the sharp end in the Roman Senate to Nostradamus and his verse of things to come that will make the world worse. But what predictions will come from this week’s quatrains? Some playlists, for sure …
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Avalon man: Mississippi John Hurt
Avalon to Cádiz, New York City to Paris, Mexico to West Indies, this week’s playlists make up a music journey of poetic proportions, an atlas d’amour perfectly prepared by guest picker Uncleben, jet propelled by last week’s huge topic
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The heart-shaped island, Galesnjak, Croatia
Where are we going, exactly? With lyrical or title references as specific and detailed as possible, let’s take a global trip of songs and music giving affection to particular towns, areas, viewpoints, streets, or even smaller nooks and crannies
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Martha, my dear: Rufus Wainwright with his beloved fellow singer sister
Deep affection, solidarity, loyalty, but also a variety of bittersweet melanges, this week, after a tsunami of perceptive suggestions, guest of the week George Boyland picks songs of deep emotion and variety that sing out for the sister
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Chet Baker: in search of the ideal
Days, nights or settings, love, relationships, words, compliments or phrasing, sounds, singing and so much more, guest of the week Loud Atlas comes up with all the aces with series of immaculate playlist choices reflecting last week’s perfect topic
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