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Japanese gramophone puzzle
A two-fold topic: first we’re seeking songs that initially produce a mix of incomprehension, wonder, bafflement, bewilderment, mystification, and game-changer amazement, or those about puzzles themselves, jigsaws and other mental and physical solution-solving challenges
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Crosstown traffic: he’s luckier even than Donald Trump …
This week it’s the almosts, the nearly happenings, the white-knuckle moments, the narrow escapes, for better or worse, however, and whatever way you look at them, the tiny marginal could-have-gone-either-way events that make you think, gasp, feel relieved, grateful, sorry, or change your perspective
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Un bout de souffle (1960): Under cover? How soon is now? Where did our love go?
Inspired by the recent death of a creative great and the movement he spurred, this week it’s time to pose questions of the listener, existential or otherwise, perhaps found lyrics or titles, but more than just in a random line, and perhaps also in often in form, structure and sound
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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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From 1920s speakeasy …
Even in the face of despair, it’s something in our DNA, focusing on the unknown immediate or distant future, where there's a feeling, a desire, a belief, or confidence that something good might happen that can be expressed in all sorts of lyrics and stories
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Ice work if you can get it …
Things are really hotting up, so it’s time to lower the temperature a bit. Whether that involves cooling off on your insides or outside, physical, visceral, mental or metaphorical, let’s cool off with some songs on the subject
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Turn it up to 11? Some decor is, well, quite loud
It’s time to take some artistic licence through enforced isolation, and pick from your palette of musical paints to harmonise, fix up, adorn, and help create playlists that decorate the Song Bar, as well as the mind
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Yoda. Seeing the lighter side
This week we’re not being clever,, simply seeking wisdom in individual lyrics or across a whole song. From philosophers to musicians to authors, how is is it gained, through humility, experience, courage, or a just turn of phrase?
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Frank Zappa chez parents' living room
Bluesy bathrooms to calypso kitchens, Britpop bedrooms to lovers rock lounges, whether big or small, green or blue, closet or cloister, suggest yours to create a whole building of musical adventure
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Dinner at Jack Rabbit Slims. Care to dance?
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, elevenses, afternoon tea or midnight snacks? This week it's time to serve up a musical smorgasbord that's as much about the social setting and time of day as the food
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