Natural or handmade, animal or chemical, fast or slow, murderous or accidental, we inhabit a world of toxins and venoms, but how are they expressed in song? With inspiration here, the more specific and colourful the better but there’s also the mental and metaphorical …
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 moreFantastic, it's for real: songs about illusion
Visual, auditory, via media, rumour, or any other distortion of perceptions, from personal experience to the political, this week we search for songs about the interplay of the senses and idea of illusions as a primary focus
Read moreSpend it wisely: songs about tax and wealth distribution
During a time of fiscal crisis, while policy helps the wealthy avoid paying what’s due, here at Song Bar we’re open and pennywise with our playlists. So what contribution might you have on this taxing subject of social justice? Spend your time wisely …
Read moreThe undercurrent world: songs about quiet
Tranquillity, calm and serenity, or concentration, slow stirring, unrest, plotting and revolution? There are all kinds of quiet out there, and this week it’s time to explore these as described or captured in song lyrics
Read moreWhere did it all go wrong? Songs about crisis …
… and how can it all go right? This week let’s see if we can make musical manoeuvres in the current climate, causes and cures for crises, whether they be political social, economic or personal
Read moreMerry? Divided? Dreaming? It's songs about England
Let’s take a musical trip around this strange, sceptr’d isle, this land of eccentric frontmen, this place of punk and flourishing fashion, to pick up lots of place names and perhaps also define the nature of being English
Read moreNotes for the NHS: songs about nursing and healthcare
This week we’re giving it the special treatment to mark the NHS 70th anniversary, but also looking for music that mentions any kind of medical care, especially nursing, and its emotional effect in lyrics
Read moreKept in suspense? Songs about hanging – in all senses
Folk to rock, pop to hip hop and more, from grisly executions to leisure time with friends, to ending phone calls, let's hang out at the Song Bar and explore songs using these many idioms
Read moreNot merely playing it: songs about innocence
Innocence lost or regained, from childhood to animals, in fact or fantasy, lyrics or style, this week we enter less cynical world, one of wide-eyed wonderment and promise, all in the form of songs and more
Read moreWho can't handle the truth? Songs about propaganda, liars and lying
Mass campaigns to crowd manipulation, political U-turns to personal deception, suggest songs about the art and artifice of changing facts for dubious or other purposes, but here to make truthful playlists
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