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New Year’s Eve fireworks with Tom Waits
Song of the Day: An annual theme from a perennial Song Bar favourite - Tom Waits’ and Kathleen Brennan’s gentle song captures some of the chaos, fireworks, fights, arguments and emotional turmoil as the year unstoppably turns
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Tracy Chapman
Song of the Day: The next song in min-series of brain theme is this prophetic number by the Cleveland, Ohio singer from her 2002 album Let It Rain, highlighting the effect technology has on our most precious and complex organ
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PJ Harvey and autoharp
Song of the Day: Continuing on the First World War Armistice Day centenary, a trio of some of the finest songs about war from the British singer and composer from her acclaimed 2011 album Let England Shake
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Lest we forget …
Song of the Day: Simply a song, a piece of music and a poem to mark 100 years since Armistice Day 11 November 1918, the end of the First World War, in which there were 40 million casualties
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Robert Redford and Paul Newman making their last stand in the 1969 film
Song of the Day: Today’s date, 7 November, is significant in all sorts of ways - elections, revolutions, births, deaths, but it’s the day in 1908 when two of America’s most famous outlaws were reportedly killed on the run in Bolivia
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Harry Chapin
Song of the Day: Next in the taxi line is this wistfully beautiful 1972 song from the American singer-songwriter’s debut album, Heads & Tales, about a driver who picks up a glamorous woman who turns out to be an old flame
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Jens Lekman
Song of the Day: From Tim Buckley’s driver perspective to one from the customer, this time in the dry humour of the Swedish singer-songwriter who finds it a haven after missing the last tram home
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Lead Belly
Song of the Day: Also known as In The Pines, and Black Girl, today we move onto another traditional song variously interpreted, dark and brooding, haunting in its melody, and simmering with suspicion and jealousy
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The Animals may have done the best-known cover version, but there are arguably others than better it
To some it’s a masterpiece, to others a dirge, but from 17th century England to 20th century New Orleans, with artists that include Woody Guthrie, Nina Simone, The Animals and alt-J it’s a song that keeps evolving
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Some of the many musicians collaborating on the Playing For Change project
Song of the Day: Yesterday's pick was Cuban played by Africans, today's is an even richer blend with artists from Morocco, Hungary, Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Senegal, Egypt, India, USA, France and Serbia
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Cesária Evora
Song of the Day: Moving now to and artist from Cape Verde and one of the most beautiful songs, from the singer's her 1992 album Miss Perfumado
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Sona Jarbarteh
Song of the Day: Moving from Ivory Coast and Mali to The Gambia, and the singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer who hails from a long line of Griot kora players with a song to mark her country's 50th independence anniversary in 2015
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Go home, you fuckwit
Song of the Day: To mark the unwelcome visit of the current US president to the UK, two ironic versions of the famous Bob Dylan song that capture the falsehood, narcissism, hypocrisy and divisive racism of the Donald
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From the cover of Bringing It All Back Home, Bob Dylan's fourth album (1965)
Song of the Day: Some songs for Independence Day are patriotic, others heavily critical, but this American dream number sees the then great young lyricist capture his country with surreal, vivid, humorous irony
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Nico. Teutonic stony sadness.
Song of the Day: After Sibylle Baier yesterday, a better known, but in her own way, equally mysterious German singer, best recognised in the Velvet Underground, but here from her own 1967 solo album, Chelsea Girl
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Judy Collins with Leonard Cohen
Song of the Day: After a couple of nun-related songs, let's turn two ethereal songs written by Leonard Cohen, but performed by the singer better known for covering Stephen Sondheim's Send In The Clowns
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Jake Thackray
Song of the Day: From yesterday's Ye Nuns, a gem from the Yorkshire chansonnier from his about a nun who wasn't really one, filled with playful, suggestive images and written in a mock-innocent style
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Who is Joan of Arc?
Song of the Day: After recent songs about the famous who died at a prematurely young age, four very contrasting numbers about the legendary French military heroine who was burned at the stake age 19 in 1431
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Van the man
Song of the Day: After James Carr's soul classic, let's turn down down an unusually upbeat route written by by the Belfast legend for his 1979 album Into The Music, which includes a lyric inspired by it
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Sixto Rodriquez in the early 70s
Song of the Day: After yesterday’s Vashti Bunyan, another inspirational story of obscurity to long-sought recognition fro the mysterious Detroit-born Mexican immigrant singer-songwriter, made famous in the documentary Searching For Sugar Man
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