They’re a very common part of our language, but in lyrics or titles where are they consciously and creatively used? With meaning instantly recognisable or more cryptically unpacked, their sound might perhaps be used musically or to help create memorable lines or rhymes
Read moreBookmark this: songs about reading
It’s an essential part of life - defined as a cognitive, active process of decoding these symbols to arrive at meaning, perhaps for a purpose to direct or extract information, to focus a goal, to simply to discover and escape, but how does it come up in song?
Read moreThink different: songs about using your imagination
From practical life problems, work, relationships, craft or crisis, to all sorts of creative problems, or even channelling dreams, it’s time to access the right hemisphere and see how the imagination can be used, as expressed in song lyrics. Read on for more stimulation …
Read moreLate, early, or right on time? Songs about punctuality
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
Read moreHappening now: songs about tomorrow
It’s linked to today and yesterday, but the anticipation or idea of tomorrow is the focus, and in this theme, not just word that appears somewhere in lyrics, but plays a central or prominent role or within it, expresses in many ways
Read moreTrumpet this: songs about elephants and mammoths
The big tusk ahead: actual or metaphorical, fictional, real, or idiomatic, in nature or captivity, it’s time to gather the herd, stroll or stampede through your musical collections and celebrate these magnificent huge creatures of trunk in song
Read moreGet your kicks: songs about fun
It comes in so many forms that this week’s topic has to mention fun, or its synonyms specifically, from getting your kicks to seeking your pleasure or leisure, frolic or merrymaking, carousing or joy. Let the games begin!
Read moreGoodbye 2020: songs for the spirit of 2021
Hope, fear, dreams, resolutions, giving the finger to 2020, but a welcome thumbs up to 2021? However you feel about this new chapter in the calendar of our lives, it’s time to express it in the form of song suggestions
Read moreHere's a thought: songs about the brain
Let’s celebrate the cerebrum and engage with the encephalon through lyrics and song subject, whether it is the biological makeup of this squidgy Tardis, or mindful thoughts and functions it can control. Worth a thought, anyway …
Read moreThe way you wear your ... songs about hats and other accessories
Let’s accessorise ourselves with songs about hats, gloves, scarves, sunglasses and the like, from a key lyrical moment to song as whole, with items that variously signify fashion, function, status, class, profession, character or era
Read moreSole power: songs about footwear
Shoes, boots, slippers, high-heels, trainers, loafers, brothel creepers, brogues, to clogs to spats and a whole lot more, from the sexy to the silly, the stylish to the smart, let’s get the sole of this subject in this lyrical theme
Read moreTime for this: songs about months of the year
This week we seek to search out and reclaim meanings for the months of the year, largely through the Gregorian calendar of the big 12 from January to December, whether that be by mood, setting, or different associations
Read moreWhizz, wham and wah-wah: songs with lyrical or musical onomatopoeia
Boing! Bash! Splash! Whoosh! This week it's time to get noisy with songs containing words that mimic the sounds they describe, but also those with conventional instruments that copy other sounds
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