Hard to beat? Not necessarily. While most songs are in 4/4 time, and others in 3/4 waltz, there are many fascinating variants that push the boundaries, often in a catchy way. It’s not necessary here to name the numbers, just how it feels when you count …
Read morePlaylists: songs with shaggy dog stories and tall tales
Leading you down the garden path and beyond? Taking liberties with the facts? After a flurry of fabulous stories from last week’s topic, guest playlister ParaMhor narratives a host of colourful tale tales that can’t help but pull you in …
Read moreAlways beyond: songs about horizons
It’s the inspiration for so many album covers, not to mention songs, and also an idea of infinity we never quite reach. From literal or metaphorical and lyrical, this week we reach for that imagined line where land, or sea, meets sky
Read moreWiccan work it out: pagan-themed songs – a Halloween special
Ritualism, celebration, sacrifice, worship of nature, sex and food? Ancient and 20th-century traditions come a procession of all kinds of colourful characters in this week’s theme that heralds horror or pleasure in equal measure
Read moreCome together: songs from supergroup albums
Collaborations, surprising or predictable, are of what music is made. But this week’s topic focuses on artists from different, already successful acts who collaborate not only on one song or performance, but a whole LP or more
Read moreSing out for unsung heroes: songs with great backing vocals
They're the brilliant singers who blend beautiful and really make the music. From Motown and soul to to church and gospel, barbershop to pop or even punk, suggest songs made backed brillliantly by the unknown or famous
Read morePlaylists: songs about snow and ice
Clearlake to Cocteau Twins, Tchaikovsky to Jethro Tull, last week's topic included an avalanche of nominations, from which this week's guest takeitawayGuru has sculptured two of fine flakes and frozen shapes
Read moreBrave, brilliant or embarrassing? ‘Uncharacteristic’ genre-switch songs
Rock band does reggae? Punk band goes country? Rapper does jazz? This week we explore genre-switching or surprise moments in artists’ careers that confounded fans’ expectations
Read moreAt the cemetery gates: elegies and other songs of remembrance
Away from all the political turmoil, it’s time for musical rest, something poetic. Honouring soldiers or victims of war to family, friends or lost fellow bandmates, suggest music that remembers the departed on a personal, profound and beautiful note
Read morePlaylists: songs about the apocalypse
Star date 9/11/2016, and in his final log, the admirable Admiral EnglishOutlaw records the last available data about humanity on the eve of election doomsday, with songs from last week's catastrophic topic
Read morePlaylists: songs with a gripping or intriguing narrative
Leading us first into the magical world of an Irish boozer via the portal of the great James Joyce, this week's guest writer Uncleben plays out a prize-winning tale of supreme storytelling in song
Read morePlaylists: songs that seem to fit every topic
They just keep coming back. What are they? Guest writer takeitawayGuru authentically defines 'asafarae' songs, great works that missed previous lists and cover many topics, all from last week's suggestions
Read morePlaylists: songs that finish where they began
Ever get the feeling you're going in circles? Check out this week's guest writer Flatfrog's fiendishly clever playlist from last week's topic, all defined by pithy palindromes
Read morePlaylists: songs about fighting
Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Liston, and Louis? You can bet this week's round of themed song selections by guest writer Ravi Raman packs a punch – and check out even more music moves with kung fu and karate …
Read morePlaylists: musically adventurous songs
From the dark, discordant and disturbing to the bright lights of virtuosity, this week's guru Flatfrog chooses playlists of cutting-edge creativity and evolutionary leap from your song suggestions
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