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Playlists: songs about using your imagination

March 1, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Aldous Harding: intense imagination … about her man

Childhood dreams to grownup fantasy, emotional flowering to practical, creative necessity, this week’s playlists, picked from last week’s topic by guest Shiv Sidecar, perfectly stimulating our brains and ears, cerebrally and musically

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In African, avant-garde, blues, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, indie, hip hop, instrumentals, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul, traditional Tags songs, playlists, imagination, Superorganism, Sweet Baboo, Simon & Garfunkel, paul simon, Milton Nascimento, Lupe Fiasco, Jill Scott, Everly Brothers, The Everly Brothers, Aldous Harding, Talking Heads, Wednesday Campanella, Lou Reed, John Cale, Bob Dylan, Peter Blegvad, Everclear, Johnny Cash, Kaleidoscope (US), bread, Crosby Stills & Nash, Okkervil River, Lucinda Williams, Ty Segall, Will Powers, David Bowie, David Werner, Prince, Robert Glasper, H.E.R., Me'Shell NdegéOcello, The Cranberries, Foster The People, Leon Rosselson, The Salvation Army, The Green Pajamas, The Long Ryders, Argosy, The Teardrop Explodes, Swell Maps, Ian Dury, ShivSidecar
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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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Playlists: songs about outlaws and rebels

November 2, 2021 Peter Kimpton

Ned Kelly: tough Irish teenager to infamous Australian armour-plated outlaw – inspiration for many song nominations, but which survived?

From an infamous armour-plated Australian to a whole rogues’ gallery of bandits, buccaneers, and highwaymen, a huge response to last week’s topic brought forth musical guest gang leader Maki who made rich pickings with everything from folk to reggae and rock

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In African, blues, calypso, country, folk, gospel, indie, music, musicals, musical hall, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags The Grateful Dead, Paul Kelly, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Haze, José Mercé, The Cimarons, John Legend, Prefab Sprout, Justin Townes Earle, The Dogs D'Amour, Loreena McKennitt, Aswad, Gregory Isaacs, David Rovics, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Gene Clarke, Carla Olsen, Los Tigres del Norte, Scritti Politti, The Teardrop Explodes, Peter Frampton, Chumbawamba, Lila Downs, Maki
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Playlists: adult lullabies and other songs about inducing sleep

June 3, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Berceuse ballad: the Pogues can do a beautiful lullaby

Berceuse ballad: the Pogues can do a beautiful lullaby

Restless? Don’t worry, this is worth staying up for. Enjoy a countdown in the first of several lists perfect picked by guest amylee from hundreds of suggestions over the week, which in all contexts help a perfect night’s sleep

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In avant-garde, blues, classical, colours, country, disco, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, indie, jazz, instrumentals, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, rock, songs, showtime, soundtracks, traditional Tags lullaby, songs, playlists, My Bloody Valentine, Aqualung, Ella Fitzgerald, Eliza Carthy, The Pogues, James Taylor, Magnolia Electric Company, Songs: Ohia, The Pretenders, The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, Low, Leonard Cohen, Alternative TV, The Teardrop Explodes, Los Lobos, The Harmonians, Lou Reed, Cornershop, Samingad, Mischief Brew, James Yorkston, Kate Rusby, U2, Janis Ian, James, Queens of the Stone Age, Dua Lipa, The Taxpayers, The Smiths, Airiel, Lamb, Alt-J, The Waterboys, The Doors, Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars, Counting Crows, Husker Du, The Verve
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Playlists: songs using idioms, common phrases and expressions

October 10, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Elvis Costello: rich in idioms, allusions, vernacular phrases and rictus-inducing puns

Elvis Costello: rich in idioms, allusions, vernacular phrases and rictus-inducing puns

How do you reduce more than 1,000 song suggestions into two perfectly phrased playlists of just 26 songs? If that feels beyond the pale, then the play’s the thing for this week’s superb guest ShivSidecar

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In dance, disco, dub, electronica, folk, country, blues, hip hop, indie, jazz, music, playlists, pop, postpunk, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul Tags songs, playlists, idioms, The Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope, Peter Hammill, Orange Juice, Edwyn Collins, The Mission, Wayne Hussey, Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, The Temptations, Norman Whitfield, William Bell, Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazelwood, Todd Rundgren, Propaganda, Terence F. Clark, Me'Shell NdegéOcello, Daouda Koné, Bob Marley, Rita & The Tiaras, Viva Voce, King Creosote, Jon Hopkins, Colourbox, The Mother Hips, Mary Gauthier, Gary Louris, Max Romeo & The Upsetters, Easterhouse, Cock Sparrer, Ronnie Burns, John Greaves, Peter Blegvad, Lisa Herman, Black Box Recorder, Sidecar Shiv
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Playlists: songs with arresting opening lines

August 2, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Joan's not in love, but …

Joan's not in love, but …

Madness to metaphor, the sacred to the profane, there are many ways to start a song. Inspired by last week's many nominations, guest writer severin creates two cleverly crafted playlists of examples

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Tags songs, opening lines, Dave and Ansell Collins, Priests, Pulp, Carmen McRae, Joan Armatrading, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, Lindisfarne, Bleach, Happy Mondays, The Grateful Dead, Shaan & Saurav Moni, The Teardrop Explodes, David Bowie, Tom Waits, The Beatles, Etta James, Me'Shell NdegéOcello, Captain Beefheart, The Smiths, Jacques Brel, Frank Sinatra, Beck, Scott Walker, Katzenjammer, Severin
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Take a deep breath: songs with arresting opening lines

July 27, 2017 Peter Kimpton
The art of the opening

The art of the opening

Profound statements to emotional exclamations, sexual provocation to oddball situation, suggest your favourite and outstanding starter lyrics as we examine a host of musical and literary examples at the bar

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Tags songs, lyrics, opening lines, books, Dodie Smith, Chuck Palahniuk, Neil Gaiman, James Joyce, Charles Dickens, Rose Macaulay, George Orwell, Stephen Crane, LP Hartley, Iain Banks, The Carpenters, Chuck D, Public Enemy, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen, Suede, Brett Anderson, Roy Orbison, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Silver Jews, LL Cool J, Beck, Julian Cope, The Teardrop Explodes, The Fall, Mark E Smith, Bob Dylan, The Bee Gees, Barry Gibb, The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Morrissey, The Smiths, Paul Simon, St Vincent, Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner, Shaun Ryder, The Happy Mondays, Mucclusky, Prince, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Jacques Brel, Scott Walker, The Pogues, David Bowie, Patti Smith, Nick Cave, The Doors
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My log saw something … songs about the strange, disturbing and surreal

April 27, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Time to log on …

Time to log on …

Log Lady to Blue Velvet, Beefheart and fantasy fish, doppelgängers and all-seeing owls, this week we delve in an alternative world where lyrics and music capture an area between dream and reality

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Tags Songs, Surrealism, Dada, Twin Peaks, David Lynch, Rene Magritte, John Lennon, Salvador Dali, David Bowie, Mark Frost, television, Film, film soundtrack, Andre Breton, art, poetry, lyrics, owls, animals, William Burroughs, books, Tristan Tzara, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Silver Jews, The Killers, Robbie Williams, Captain Beefheart, The Black Eyes Peas, The Beatles, Oasis, Noel Gallagher, The Who, Pete Townshend, The Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunnymen, Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, Monsters and Men, Barnes & Barnes, Meret Oppenheim, Dorothea Tanning, Kikuji Yamashita, Alejandro Jodorowsky
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

cocoa hot toddy


SNACK OF THE WEEK

penguin biscuits


New Albums …

Featured
Austra - Chin Up Buttercup.jpeg
Nov 19, 2025
Austra: Chin Up Buttercup
Nov 19, 2025

New album: This fifth studio LP as Austra by the Canadian classically trained vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis brings beautiful electronica-pop and dance music, and has a bittersweet ironic title – a caustically witty reference to societal pressure to keep smiling despite a devastating breakup

Nov 19, 2025
Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World.jpeg
Nov 18, 2025
Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World
Nov 18, 2025

New album: A timelessly classy release by the veteran soul, blues and gospel singer and social activist from the Staples Singers, in a release of wonderfully moving and poignant cover versions, beautifully interpreting works by artists including Tom Waits, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, and Gillian Welch

Nov 18, 2025
Stella Donnelly - Love and Fortune 2.jpeg
Nov 18, 2025
Stella Donnelly: Love and Fortune
Nov 18, 2025

New album: Finely crafted, stripped back musical simplicity combined with complex melancholic emotions mark out this beautiful, poetic, and deeply personal third folk-pop LP by the Australian singer-songwriter reflecting on the past and present

Nov 18, 2025
picture-parlour-the-parlour-album.jpeg
Nov 17, 2025
Picture Parlour: The Parlour
Nov 17, 2025

New album: Following last year’s EP Face in the Picture, a fabulously stylish, smart, swaggering glam-rock-pop debut LP by the Manchester-formed, London-based band fronted by the impressively raspy, gritty, vibratro delivery of Liverpudlian vocalist and guitarist Katherine Parlour and distinctive riffs from North Yorkshire-born guitar Ella Risi

Nov 17, 2025
FKA twigs - Eusexua Afterglow.jpeg
Nov 16, 2025
FKA twigs: EUSEXUA Afterglow
Nov 16, 2025

New album: Springing from her much lauded third LP Eusexua, out in January this year, and following a hugely successful and spectacular tour, the innovative British experimental pop artist, dancer and producer extends her palette of ethereal, otherworldly and sensual creations in this new, more carnal, harder, beat-filled parallel release

Nov 16, 2025
Celeste - Woman of Faces.jpg
Nov 15, 2025
Celeste: Woman of Faces
Nov 15, 2025

New album: The outstanding British singer returns, a long four years after her acclaimed debut Not Your Muse, with a classy, passionate set of nine, simmering, smoky, rippling dramatic, timeless numbers in which her vocal prowess is magnificently on show on songs playing on the theme of self and identity

Nov 15, 2025
Clark - Steep Stims.jpeg
Nov 14, 2025
Clark: Steep Stims
Nov 14, 2025

New album: The prolific British experimental electronica artist, Christopher Stephen Clark, who works on film and games music as well as albums, returns with a collection capturing the sprit of making music on old samplers and equipment, whipping up the rising, whooshing wave and piano styles of 90s dance music as well as more intricate sounds

Nov 14, 2025
Danny Brown - Stardust.jpeg
Nov 12, 2025
Danny Brown: Stardust
Nov 12, 2025

New album: The seventh album by the Detroit experimental, eclectic hip-hop and hyper-pop artist pushes the envelope with some extraordinary, dynamic sounds, dance music with warp-speed, slick rapping and multiple guests through an invented “90s-era pop star” persona called Dusty Star

Nov 12, 2025
Hatchie - Liquorice.jpeg
Nov 12, 2025
Hatchie: Liquorice
Nov 12, 2025

New album: With distinct echoes of Cocteau Twins and The Sundays, the third album from Australian indie pop singer-songwriter Harriette Pilbeam is beautifully awash with dream pop guitar effects and her high, sensual breathy vocals, largely co-written with her partner Joe Agius and produced by Jay Som

Nov 12, 2025
Paul Kelly - Seventy.png
Nov 11, 2025
Paul Kelly: Seventy
Nov 11, 2025

New album: The acclaimed, prolific Australian singer-songwriter (and perennial Song Bar playlist favourite) returns with his distinctive, Dylan-esque folk-rock-country with a landmark of age and his 30th studio album, with profound ballad, poetic detail and reflections on age, regrets, lust, love and death

Nov 11, 2025
Midlake - A Bridge To Far.jpeg
Nov 9, 2025
Midlake: A Bridge To Far
Nov 9, 2025

New album: The Denton, Texas band make a welcome return with their distinctively warm, rich, psychedelic folk-rock, marked by close vocal harmonies, acoustic and pedal steel, keyboards and flute, this sixth studio album themed around hope, humility and perseverance, all as a human necessity

Nov 9, 2025
Sorry - COSPLAY.jpeg
Nov 8, 2025
Sorry: COSPLAY
Nov 8, 2025

New album: Consistently excellent singles before and heralding this brilliantly odd, clever third album by the London indie band all cement their reputation for a truly original sound filled with a variety of styles, captured in the experimental title of their third LP following 2022’s Anywhere But Here

Nov 8, 2025
Juana Molina - Doga 2.jpeg
Nov 8, 2025
Juana Molina: DOGA
Nov 8, 2025

New album: A wondrously mesmeric, clever and quirky eighth album of experimental pop by the Argentinian singer, musician and comedian composed largely of analogue synths, originally from improvisations and recorded over several years in her home studio surrounded by her pets

Nov 8, 2025
Rosalía - Lux.png
Nov 7, 2025
ROSALÍA: LUX
Nov 7, 2025

New album: Grandiose, dramatic, passionate, with extraordinary soaring vocals, melodies and string arrangements, multi-lingual lyrics, the London Symphony Orchestra and with guests including Björk, the Catalan superstar’s fourth LP is a fabulous extravaganza, broadly themed around female saints through history, religion, sex and violence

Nov 7, 2025

new songs …

Featured
David Byrne T Shirt.jpg
Nov 21, 2025
Song of the Day: David Byrne - T Shirt
Nov 21, 2025

Song of the Day: In addition to his acclaimed latest album Who Is The Sky?, with which he is now touring to rave reviews, the former Talking Heads frontman releases a new, catchy electro-pop, humorous but pointed political number co-written with old friend and collaborator Brian Eno, and out now on Matador Records

Nov 21, 2025
Hen Ogledd - Scales will fall - video still.png
Nov 20, 2025
Song of the Day: Hen Ogledd - Scales Will Fall
Nov 20, 2025

Song of the Day: A strikingly different, wonderfully odd, eccentric and alternative folk and protest song by the British quartet of Richard Dawson, Dawn Bothwell, Rhodri Davies and Sally Pilkington, heralding their upcoming third album Discombobulated, out on 20 February 2026 on Weird World / Domino Records

Nov 20, 2025
Lisa O'Neill - The Wind Doesn't Blow This Far Right.jpeg
Nov 19, 2025
Song of the Day: Lisa O'Neill - The Wind Doesn't Blow This Far Right (EP)
Nov 19, 2025

Song of the Day: This beautiful title track from the new EP by the Irish folk singer-songwriter from Cavan is a powerful original about man-made, greed-motivated unnatural disasters, joining with five other poignant numbers, including a new version of The Bleak Midwinter, out now on Rough Trade

Nov 19, 2025
contratulations - fought 4 love.jpg
Nov 18, 2025
Song of the Day: congratulations - Fought 4 Love
Nov 18, 2025

Song of the Day: Following This Life, another fun-filled single, here with a floor-stomping glam-style riff, by the Brighton quartet who embrace 80s pop and 90s rock plus a dash of Field Music, Electric 6 and Devo with this stylish anti-love song with entertaining video, heralding their debut LP Join Hands, out on 13 February via Bella Union

Nov 18, 2025
Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Eden.jpeg
Nov 17, 2025
Song of the Day: Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Eden
Nov 17, 2025

Song of the Day: Following a series of tracks collectively titled Perpetual Emotion Machine, this separate new release by the New York artist is a breezy, shimmery indie-pop love song with a funky bassline, and out on Dead Oceans

Nov 17, 2025
Elanor Moss.jpg
Nov 16, 2025
Song of the Day: Elanor Moss - Again, My Love
Nov 16, 2025

Song of the Day: Exquisite, intimate folk with finger-picked guitar and gentle brass accompaniment by the London-based singer-songwriter in this wintry song about how loss and change are necessary for transformation, her first new music for three years, out on Merge Records

Nov 16, 2025
Night Swimming - Submarine.jpeg
Nov 15, 2025
Song of the Day: Night Swimming - Submarine
Nov 15, 2025

Song of the Day: Unfolding with a quiet intensity, layered guitars and restrained urgency, this latest single about loss and shock by the Bath/Bristol indie dream-pop/ shoegaze band is a striking way to announce their recent signing to Venn Records

Nov 15, 2025
The Dears - Life Is Beautiful!.jpeg
Nov 14, 2025
Song of the Day: The Dears - Doom Pays
Nov 14, 2025

Song of the Day: A pulsating new track with a political message and a sound reminiscent of early Roxy Music by the Montreal indie-rock band from their latest album Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! out on Next Door Records

Nov 14, 2025
Bill Callahan 2.jpeg
Nov 13, 2025
Song of the Day: Bill Callahan - The Man I’m Supposed to Be
Nov 13, 2025

Song of the Day: Resonant, poetic, moody, profound, the acclaimed American singer-songwriter returns with a song exploring feelings of a life that was lived and one that's meant to be, heralding his latest album, My Days of 58, out on 27 February 2026 via Drag City Records.

Nov 13, 2025
charl xcx and john cale.jpeg
Nov 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Charli xcx - House (featuring John Cale)
Nov 12, 2025

Song of the Day: A potent, surprise collaboration comes all aswirl in this dark, haunting, gothic, cinematic piece of jagged strings and nightmarish, crashing sounds with a spoken monologue by the Velvet Underground Welsh legend dominating this song by British pop superstar best known for Brat, taken from the soundtrack to director Emerald Fennell’s forthcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Nov 12, 2025
Pictish Trail - Life Slime.jpeg
Nov 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Pictish Trail - Another Way
Nov 11, 2025

Song of the Day: A mesmeric, slow-build psychedelic-electronica-pop eight-minute number of gradual transformation rising to a krautrock-inspired crescendo by the isle of Eigg-based Scottish musician Johnny Lynch heralding his sixth LP Life Slime, produced by Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP, out on 14 November on Lost Map / Fire Records

Nov 11, 2025
The Twilight Sad - Waiting For The Phone Call.jpeg
Nov 10, 2025
Song of the Day: The Twilight Sad - Waiting for the Phone Call (featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith)
Nov 10, 2025

Song of the Day: The Scottish post-punk/indie rock band return with a powerful new single about grief, love and mental illness, their first in six years, with guest Robert Smith of The Cure on guitar, and out on Rock Action Records

Nov 10, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
Running shoes and barefoot.jpeg
Nov 20, 2025
Word of the week: discalceate
Nov 20, 2025

Word of the week: A rarely used, but often practised verb, especially when arriving home, it means to take off your shoes, but is also a slightly more common adjective meaning barefoot or unshod, particularly for certain religious orders that wear sandals instead of shoes. But in what context does this come up in song?

Nov 20, 2025
autumn-red-leaves.jpeg
Nov 6, 2025
Word of the week: erythrophyll
Nov 6, 2025

Word of the week: A seasonally topical word relating to the the red pigment of tree leaves, fruits and flowers, that appears particularly when changing in autumn, as opposed to the green effect of chlorophyll, from the Greek erythros for red, and phyll for leaves. But what of songs about this?

Nov 6, 2025
Fennec fox 2.jpeg
Oct 22, 2025
Word of the week: fennec
Oct 22, 2025

Word of the week: It’s a small pale-fawn nocturnal fox with unusually large, highly sensitive ears, that inhabits from African and Arab deserts areas from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. But has it ever been seen in a song?

Oct 22, 2025
Narrowboat.jpeg
Oct 9, 2025
Word of the week: gongoozler
Oct 9, 2025

Word of the week: A fabulous old English slang term for someone who tends to stand or sit for long periods staring at the passing of boats on canals, sometimes with a derogatory or at least ironic use for someone who is useless or lazy. But what of songs about this activity and culture?

Oct 9, 2025
migrating-birds.jpeg
Sep 17, 2025
Word of the week: hiemate
Sep 17, 2025

Word of the week: Pronounced “Hiya Mate”, this is in fact not a friendly informal greeting, but an Old English word, derived from Latin, meaning to spend the winter elsewhere, sounding a bit like hibernate, but different as it requires moving to another place rather than sleeping in the same

Sep 17, 2025

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