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Palace of Versailles courtyard
Real, fictional or metaphorical, these grand buildings have found inspiration across musical genres, opening the drawbridge to many fabulous narratives and sounds. Inspired by last week’s topic, guest Marco den Ouden takes us on a grand tour
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Lounge lizard
We live much of our waking lives in them – working and socialising, swivelling to dining to reclining, sofas and couches, ornate thrones to humble stools, beanbags, pouffes, to the office, barber’s, dentist’s and beyond, but how do they sit up in song?
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Tricky Ricky …
Lookin' for trouble? Then you've found the right place. Lotharios, vamps, tramps and troublemakers are truly in force as guest of the week tincanman brings us a brilliantly badass selection inspired by last week's topic
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Elvis snaps to it
Got that rhythm? This week, songs on which we hear prominently the body percussion rhythms of dexterous human extremities – of fingers, hands, feet and toes, snapping, tapping, and stamping, though not the more common hand-clapping which has been a separate topic
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Stack of 7-inches
Brutally, or mercifully truncated, radio-edited in musical mix or lyrical content, decorously tarted up with orchestra or other instruments, added or deleted solos, made dancier or more ethereal, it’s time to dig up some the contrasting versions that have surprised, delighted or frustrated you
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Mic King: Nat King Cole
How do you demonstrate the craft of crooning? It brings a broader range than you imagine. After the many nominations springing from last week’s topic, defining as all about style and using the microphone, guest playlister ParaMhor brings some perfect performance picks …
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Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse. But how many crooners are there in this photo?
This week it’s time to to get close to the microphone explore the evolution of crooning in the full range, the style, the technique, the good, bad and ugly, emotive, intimate and excellent, the creative, the cosy, and the cringeworthy, the sensitive and sentimental
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The Big If …
Where will it all lead? What are the conditions? Are they zero, first or second? All the ifs and thens are revealed in these wittily entertaining lists compiled by guest Severin, inspired by songs nominated in last week’s opening topic of 2024
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Fresh frozen? Give peas a chance …
Awash with ads for travel, clothing, leisure, painkillers, marijuana, vegetables, and even items to boost sex life? Well, it’s time to be entertained by a string of non-existent ones, framed in snappy marketing musical form, with playlists picked by guest magicman from last week’s topic
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Not lesser known, but definitely a revealing and true original …
This week it’s time to dig deep for those original songs overshadowed by hit or well-known covers. We can also include remixes and other reworkings, as well as lesser known songs so heavily sampled they make a prominent core more famous version
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Are you fur staying on the fence?
From the many various situations and vacillations of love to shopping, voting, moving or staying and more, it’s finally time to plump for indecisiveness on song lyrics. The choice of what to nominate is yours. If you can …
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Just the ticket: pricey or priceless?
Whether music, sport, film, travel, or wider culture, they mean different things to different individuals, but all are items that trigger or preserve memories, personal or more universal. Let’s explore these specific objects in song, overall or in specific lyrical detail
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Back in the bar: Erykah Badu
Lumbar numbers to vertebral verses, it’s time to run all the way up the spine to the nape of the neck in playlists that place all those discs without a single slip, musically massaged and written about by guest Loud Atlas from last week’s topic
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Esperanza Spalding
Supportive thrum, steady walking or free-flowing virtuosity, smooth or thumping, bowed or plucked, this big daddy of the stringed instruments is a beautiful beast, especially in these playlist plucked out by Loud Atlas from last week’s topic
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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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Eyewear icons: Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly
They correct or protect our vision, but can also change our appearance. But what do they signify and what happens to the wearer? Form distance to reading glasses, sunglasses to goggles to monocles, it's time to see how they look in lyrics
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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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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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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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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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