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Playlists: songs about life in the 19th century

August 10, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Let’s dance through some 19th century history ….

It brought enduring global change, from the Industrial Revolution to the American Civil War and abolition of slavery. Inspired by last week’s song nominations, guest Shiv SideCar captures the century in a series of historic playlists

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, comedy, country, dance, dub, experimental, folk, electronica, indie, jazz, music, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, psychedelia, prog, punk, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, United States of America, American Civil War, slavery, Babe Ruth, London, Merthyr Rising, emigration, Ireland, Germany, France, Paul Cezanne, Battle of Waterloo, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Burning Spear, Woody Guthrie, RIchie Havens, Clutch, Sound Experience, Elton John, Rosanne Cash, Etta James, Billy Joel, XTC, The Fall, Chumbawamba, Megson, The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Pogues, David Bridie, Amon Düül II, Jonathan Richman, The Modern Lovers, Neil Innes, Brigitte Fontaine, Abba, Ed Harcourt, The Charlatans (US), Warren Zevon, The Unthanks, Public Image Limited, Titus Andronicus, Dead Moon, Culture, Lake Ruth, Jad & David Fair, Thee Headcoatees, Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Long Ryders, Blyth Power, Al Stewart, Madness, Paul Roland, Meic Stevens, The Would-Be-Goods, The Teardrop Explodes, New Model Army, ShivSidecar, Sidecar Shiv
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Great exhibitions: songs about 19th century life and culture

August 4, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Early music recording attempts at the end of the 19th century

This global history topic takes in many events, inventions, people and social trends, but beyond dates and facts, it is particularly about life of the times, habits, attitudes and values, and can also include fictional and other artistic styles

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Playlists: songs with music as nutrition

August 3, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Mahlathini & The Mahotella Queens: undeniably beneficial

Some music feels so good you can just eat it. With a whole shopping spree of tasty ingredients and treats about the nutritious benefits of song, guest of the week ParaMhor prepares a three-course meal that’s bound to boost your health

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Food for the soul: songs about music as nutrition

July 28, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Musical minerals?

Music is indisputably good for you, but how is this expressed in song, for improvement of mood, brain and body? Firstly this might come up lyrics, but also this topic can get more subjective and more impressionist with songs that really hit the spot

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Playlists: songs about owls

July 26, 2022 Peter Kimpton

The eyes have it, but what songs will this week’s keen ears pick up?

Haunting, beautiful, otherworldly, very much coming alive at night – and that’s just the music. Inspired by these mesmeric birds, guest of the week Maki creates two gorgeous and entrancing playlists picked from last week’s nominations

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In blues, classical, folk, indie, jazz, music, musical hall, playlists, pop, psychedelia, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, owls, birds, Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, Clogs, Shara Worden, Death and Vanilla, The Strawbs, Gerry Rafferty, Gene Chandler, Dick Dale, Canned Heat, Devendra Banhart, Elis Regina, Ma Rainey, Kevin Ayers, The Lovin' Spoonful, Silver Apples, Laurie Anderson, Sparklehorse, TV On The Radio, Agnes Obel, Saint Etienne, The Dead Kennedys, Antonio Machado, Enrique Montoya, Paco de Lucia, Maki
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Never too witty: songs about owls

July 21, 2022 Peter Kimpton

The eyes have it: Great horned owl

Nocturnal, silent, spooky and mysterious, or curious, wise and cute? Owls represent richly contrasting associations in culture, but how are they used and portrayed in song, whether in lyrics or in sampled calls. Let’s explore and have a hoot

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Playlists: songs about eyewear

July 19, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Musical vision: double-bass player Charlie Haden and friends gets eyes and ears firmly on the topic

Protective sunglasses to corrected vision, what songs are in the frame? They are often about what is hidden, but also what is revealed, especially in love, and guest Marco den Ouden brings everything into focus with fabulous playlists inspired by last week’s topic.

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Playlists: songs about paradise

July 13, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Lost Horizon (1937), based on James Hilton’s 1933 novel

Heaven can wait, so they say, but there’s no longer a need, but a musical utopia is here in a fabulous collection of playlists picked by guest of the week Nicko, taking us to a better place and inspired by last week’s topic

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Lost or found? Songs about paradise

July 7, 2022 Peter Kimpton

One man’s personal paradise … what is yours?

What is yours? From Arcadia to Utopia, how can we create or find it? Where is it, and what does it look like? This week, after previously doing the impossible, we find the unfindable in the form of song, inspired my many books, art and films …

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Mission? Songs about the impossible

June 30, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Evel Knievel attempts to jump 13 buses in London, 1975. What could possibly go wrong?

Love, death, survival, creativity – at times they all seem impossible or insurmountable. After a seemingly inconceivable recent world history, it’s time to play with the idea of impossible in song, and work out what really is from what isn’t. Is it all down to perception?

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Playlists: songs about punctuality

June 29, 2022 Peter Kimpton

What time will love flower? The Foundations 1968

Something changed around the Enlightenment, with the advent of universal timepieces, but how did that affect human relationships? Inspired by last week’s nominations, Marco den Ouden clocks in with perfectly timely playlists

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, jazz, instrumentals, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, punctuality, time, The Charioteers, Billy Paul, Joni Mitchell, The Foundations, Dinah Washington, Tyler The Creator, David Bowie, The Kinks, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Bonnie Raitt, Violent Femmes, Mana Negra, Prince Buster, Lee Dorsey, The Big Bopper, Everly Brothers, Swaee Lake, Drake, Brewer & Shipley, Battlefield Band, Buddy Holly, The Grateful Dead, Paul Kelly, The Monkees, Mick Harvey, Long John Baldry, Nilsson, Kevin Morby, Vernon Dalhart, Sandie Shaw, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Dorsey Burnette, Rock Vito, Marshall Crenshaw, Ted Mulry Gang, Angus Stone, Julia Stone, Lord Creator, Tex Ritter, Hector Lavoe, George Faith, Robb Johnson, Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton, Blondie, Elvis Presley, Marco den Ouden, Marconius
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Late, early, or right on time? Songs about punctuality

June 23, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Better late then never?

It’s something attempted to be trained into us from school to to the work place, and appears to be both necessary, but perhaps also unnatural. This week it’s time to pin down the essence of punctuality in song, with all the tensions and consequences of being early or late

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Playlists: songs about perspiration

June 22, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Sweatiest video? Alewya

It’s more than warm in here. Sexual arousal to hard labour, cold sweats to night sweats, picked from all the nominations from last week’s hot topic guest of the week pejepeine’s playlists will leave you perspiring with excitement

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Sweat bands: songs about perspiration

June 16, 2022 Peter Kimpton

What will pour out into this week’s hot landings? Meanwhile here’s Ted Striker

As heatwaves spread around many parts of the world, it’s time to turn the perspiration into inspiration. Sweating covers many contexts, from work, to exercise, fear to sex, but how are its process and emotions expressed in song?

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Playlists: songs about swimming, bathing and showering

June 15, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Dive in …

Come on in, the music’s lovely. Inspired by all the many excellent nominations from last week’s watery topic, guest of the week Severin makes big splash with a set of playlists perfect for all the rules of the pool. Take a delicious dip

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Wet legs: songs about swimming, bathing and showering

June 9, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Get your swimming high: Sky Pool at Embassy Gardens, Vauxhall, London

It’s time to dip into your music collections and then immerse more deeply. From bubbling tub soaks to cold water swims, Turkish baths to rubber ducks, hot springs to icy adventures, let’s soak up this topic in lyrics and sounds

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Playlists: songs about awkwardness

June 8, 2022 Peter Kimpton

Tribe 8 have got themselves into an awkward position. Explore the playlist to find out where …

Inspired by last week’s history of royal awkwardness and a host of songs nominated, guest of the week Loud Atlas presents a superb Musical Self-Help Guide on How To Be Awkward. Follow its 14 steps and beyond for further entertaining embarrassment

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We are not amused: songs about awkwardness

June 2, 2022 Peter Kimpton

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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Playlists: songs about the invisible and unseen

May 31, 2022 Peter Kimpton

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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Playlists: songs about heartbreak

May 25, 2022 Peter Kimpton

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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DRINK OF THE WEEK

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New Albums …

Featured
Ego Ella May - Good Intentions.jpeg
Mar 26, 2026
Ego Ella May: Good Intentions
Mar 26, 2026

New album: Beautifully crafted but effortlessly performed, a wonderful release of delicious, classy, smooth and smoky soul, jazz and RnB by the London singer-songwriter who has vocal and stylistic qualities reminiscent of Erykah Badu and Sade

Mar 26, 2026
Time of Fallow by Ellie O’Neill.jpeg
Mar 25, 2026
Ellie O'Neill: Time of Fallow
Mar 25, 2026

New album: A gorgeous, delicate debut folk LP by the Dublin-based singer-songwriter from County Meath with an exquisite voice, not unlike that of Joni Mitchell, that hovers and rises with expressive control, with themes of memory, grief, desire, and self-reckoning

Mar 25, 2026
Paradises by Ladytron.jpeg
Mar 25, 2026
Ladytron: Paradises
Mar 25, 2026

New album: Following 2023’s Time’s Arrow, the Liverpool synth-pop band fronted by Helen Marnie, now a trio, return with substantial 16-track eighth LP that combines simplicity of chord progressions with rich textures, styles retro and futuristic with classic, catchy pop melodies

Mar 25, 2026
Girlfriend by Grace Ives.jpeg
Mar 25, 2026
Grace Ives: Girlfriend
Mar 25, 2026

New album: Best known as a bedroom pop artist on her DIY produced first two LPs, the New Yorker returns with an expanded sound of eclectic, striking synth-pop, fuelled by a sense of personal and musical rebirth, inspired by some Californian sunshine where she recorded, and referencing an escape from addictions

Mar 25, 2026
Hoggar by Tinariwen.jpeg
Mar 23, 2026
Tinariwen: Hoggar
Mar 23, 2026

New album: After 2023’s Amatssou, the collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of southern Algeria and of northern Mali return with a 10th LP iteration of their signature desert blues style sung in Tamasheq, and joined this time by younger younger musicians from the bands Imarhan and Terakaft, as well as guests José González and Sulafa Elyas

Mar 23, 2026
Avalon Emerson - Written Into Changes album.jpeg
Mar 23, 2026
Avalon Emerson & The Charm: Written Into Changes
Mar 23, 2026

New album: A fabulous, bright, catchy and expanded, more live sound by the innovative New York multi-instrumentalist of experimental indie and synth-pop, moving on from the more bedroom feel of her first self-titled & The Charm LP, and here with lyrical themes of personal and relationship evolution

Mar 23, 2026
Anna Calvi - Is That All There Is?.jpeg
Mar 22, 2026
Anna Calvi: Is This All There Is?
Mar 22, 2026

New EP: A powerful, passionate, dynamic return by the extraordinary singer-songwiter and guitarist on a four-track EP, in which she duets with Iggy Pop, Perfume Genius, Laurie Anderson and The National’s Matt Berninger, and the first of a trilogy

Mar 22, 2026
Book of Churches.jpeg
Mar 19, 2026
Book of Churches: Book of Churches
Mar 19, 2026

New album: Beautiful, tender, melancholic and poetic, a walking-pace acoustic folk and Americana debut solo release by the singer-songwriter Felix Mackenzie-Barrow, co-lead singer with the Nottingham alternative indie band Divorce

Mar 19, 2026
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Mar 18, 2026
The Black Crowes: A Pound of Feathers
Mar 18, 2026

New album: Following 2024’s resurgent release Happiness Bastards, Atlanta, Georgia brothers Chris and Rich Robinson return with their 10th album in four up-and-down decades, with a belting release packed with Stones/ Keith Richards-style riffs, and a full-blooded, full-throttle classic and catchy rock

Mar 18, 2026
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Mar 18, 2026
Alexis Taylor: Paris In The Spring
Mar 18, 2026

New album: The clarity and high range of the distinctive Hot Chip lead singer returns with his seventh solo LP, packed with personal, candid, philosphofical and sometimes melancholy lyrics allided with bright, melodic leftfield electro-pop, a dash of country, elegant disco-house, and Vangelis-inspired soundscapes, and a title echoing a psychological test where things are not as they seem

Mar 18, 2026
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Mar 18, 2026
Diagonale Des Yeux: Madeleine
Mar 18, 2026

New album: Wonderfully weird, wonky, woozy, avant-garde, absurdist oddness by the French duo of Laurène Exposito and Théo Delaunay, with their lo-fi, ramshackle, DIY postpunk and retro-electronica, sharing sung and spoken vocals across French, German, English and Spanish

Mar 18, 2026
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Mar 18, 2026
Yebba: Jean
Mar 18, 2026

New album: Following 2021’s Dawn, a second LP by the American singer and songwriter from West Memphis, Arkansas, aka Abigail Smith, moves towards an eclectic mix of gentler, more understated pop, folk, gospel, R&B, and soul, is named after her late grandmother, and has candid, personal themes of mourning and spiritual healing

Mar 18, 2026
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Mar 17, 2026
The Sophs: Goldstar
Mar 17, 2026

New album: A fairytale story of a debut for the Los Angeles six-piece fronted by Ethan Ramon, who cold-emailed demos to Rough Trade Records before even playing a live gig and were signed – that instinctive leap of faith rewarded by this stylish, bold, mercurial, confident, darkly humorous, eclectic debut leaping between rock, indie, pop, hoedown country, delta blues and beyond

Mar 17, 2026
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Mar 13, 2026
Kim Gordon: Play Me
Mar 13, 2026

New album: Following 2024’s The Collective, the former Sonic Youth frontwoman’s fourth solo LP continues her extraordinary experimental, innovative journey, moving to more melodic beats and shorter tracks with a motorik krautrock-style driven coloured by strange sounds, intense emotions and sharply angled, dark, droll social commentary

Mar 13, 2026

new songs …

Featured
Lee Scratch Perry and Mouse on Mars.jpeg
Mar 28, 2026
Song of the Day: Lee "Scratch" Perry & Mouse On Mars - Rockcurry
Mar 28, 2026

Song of the Day: A stylish, eclectic, cross-genre single from the late, great, legendary Jamaican producer and performer’s ongoing legacy, heralding his last official album - the project in Berlin with electronic pioneers Mouse on Mars (aka Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma) and the LP - Spatial, No Problem on on 5 June via Domino Records

Mar 28, 2026
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Mar 27, 2026
Song of the Day: Soulwax - Perfect We Are Not
Mar 27, 2026

Song of the Day: Following last October’s album All Systems Are Lying, Belgium’s Dewaele brothers David and Stephen return with a vibrant electro-pop dance standalone single with droll lyrics, from their recent Abbey Road After Hours project which included a live event at the iconic London studio

Mar 27, 2026
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Mar 26, 2026
Song of the Day: Lykke Li - Lucky Again
Mar 26, 2026

Song of the Day: Bright, uplifting, singalong, big sound pop in this welcome return from the enigmatic Swedish singer-songwriter and model, heralding her upcoming new album The Afterparty, out on 8 May via Futures Music Group

Mar 26, 2026
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Mar 25, 2026
Song of the Day: Model/Actriz - Glassman
Mar 25, 2026

Song of the Day: Violently sensual, truly alternative and viscerally arresting experimental noise/ industrial rock with guitar sounds unlike any other band, all conjured up by the Brooklyn quartet from their new EP Swan Songs out on Dirty Hit Records

Mar 25, 2026
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Mar 24, 2026
Song of the Day: Death Cab For Cutie - Riptides
Mar 24, 2026

Song of the Day: With a gradual, powerfully growing intensity, this new indie-rock single about personal and universal challenges by the Washington band fronted by Ben Gibbard, heralds the upcoming 11th album, I Built a Tower, produced by John Congleton, and out on 5 June via ANTI- Records

Mar 24, 2026
Ed O'Brien - Blue Morpho.jpeg
Mar 23, 2026
Song of the Day: Ed O'Brien - Blue Morpho
Mar 23, 2026

Song of the Day: An orchestral, atmospheric, textured, gently serene new number with background birdsong by the Radiohead co-founder and guitarist with the title track heralding his second solo album, out on 22 May via Transgressive

Mar 23, 2026
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Mar 22, 2026
Song of the Day: MRCY - Better Days (featuring Yazmin Lacey)
Mar 22, 2026

Song of the Day: Fabulous, uplifting, classic soul by the British duo of producer Barney Lister and vocalist Kojo Degraft-Johnson, joined by the soaring voice of the London singer, out now on Dead Oceans

Mar 22, 2026
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Mar 21, 2026
Song of the Day: Eaves Wilder - Mountain Sized
Mar 21, 2026

Song of the Day: Stirring, dynamic indie-shoegaze by the breathy, sensual-voiced North London artist, expressing a fomenting anxiety morphing into a cathartic, explosive chorus to escape real-world restrictions, and after a series of singles and EPs, heralding her debut album Little Miss Sunshine, out on 17 April via Secretly Canadian

Mar 21, 2026
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Mar 20, 2026
Song of the Day: Jorja Smith - Price Of It All
Mar 20, 2026

Song of the Day: Sumptuous, soaring, classic soul/R&B/pop by the British smooth-voiced singer-songwriter from Walsall, West Midlands, in this number from the soundtrack for new TV series, Bait, starring Riz Ahmed, and released on FAMM

Mar 20, 2026
Liza Lo - Birdsong.jpeg
Mar 19, 2026
Song of the Day: Liza Lo - Birdsong
Mar 19, 2026

Song of the Day: Following her acclaimed debut album Familiar, a beautiful, warm, intimate, tender folk number featuring guitar, fiddle and double bass by the Amsterdam-born, London-based producer and singer-songwriter, Liza Lo Hoek, out on Gearbox Records

Mar 19, 2026
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Mar 18, 2026
Song of the Day: Rostam - Like A Spark
Mar 18, 2026

Song of the Day: A beautiful new acoustic folk-pop single with echoes of early 70s Van Morrison by the US musician, producer and former member of Vampire Weekend, heralding his upcoming third solo album American Stories out on 15 May via Matsor Projects

Mar 18, 2026
Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell.jpeg
Mar 17, 2026
Song of the Day: Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell
Mar 17, 2026

Song of the Day: A catchy, witty, innuendo-filled new number about being and single and lonely, with some stylistic echoes of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, heralding the acclaimed Grammy-winning Texas country singer-songwriter’s upcoming seventh album, Middle of Nowhere, out 1 May on Lost Highway

Mar 17, 2026

Word of the week

Featured
Veena player.jpg
Mar 27, 2026
Word of the week: veena
Mar 27, 2026

Word of the week: This ornate, curvaceous, south Indian classical instrument, the saraswati veena, is a special bowl lute with a rich, resonant tone, has 24 copper frets with four playing strings and three drone strings, and is used for Carnatic music

Mar 27, 2026
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Mar 12, 2026
Word of the week: wallfish
Mar 12, 2026

Word of the week: It sounds like the singing finned picture ornament Big Mouth Billy Bass that became popular in the late 1990s, but this is a much older noun, derived in Somerset, England, pertains to the climbing gastropod that can slowly climb up any surface

Mar 12, 2026
Swordfish.jpg
Feb 25, 2026
Word of the week: xiphias
Feb 25, 2026

Word of the week: Get the point? This is the scientific name for the swordfish, in full Xiphias gladius (from the Greek and Latin for sword), that extraordinary sea creature with the long, pointy bill. But what of it in song?

Feb 25, 2026
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Feb 12, 2026
Word of the week: yanggeum
Feb 12, 2026

Word of the week: A form or hammered dulcimer, this traditional Korean instrument, with a flat and trapezoidal shape, has seven sets of four metal strings hit by thin bamboo stick

Feb 12, 2026
Zumbador dorado - mango bumblebee Puerto Rico.jpeg
Jan 22, 2026
Word of the week: zumbador
Jan 22, 2026

Word of the week: A wonderfully evocative noun from the Spanish for word buzz, and meaning both a South American hummingbird, a door buzzer, and symbolic of resurrection of the soul in ancient Mexican culture, while also serving as the logo for a tequila brand

Jan 22, 2026
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