Music

Playlist of the month: football songs

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A screenshot of the football songs playlist on Spotify.

In honour of the England Men’s team making the Football World Cup Semi-Finals for only the fourth time ever, this month’s playlist is all about football songs.

I haven’t been watching the games – mainly because they’re mostly on late at night or early in the morning UK time, but also because England tend to play better when I don’t watch. So hopefully the fact that I won’t be watching tonight’s game may mean that England qualify for only their second World Cup Final ever, and the first in 60 years.

Which brings me onto this month’s playlist. As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Three Lions” by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. It’s been thirty years since thirty years of hurt. This was the official song for Euro 96, when England hosted the UEFA European Football Championship two years after failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup (which was also in the USA). That year, England turned a corner and made it to the semi-finals, and have since qualified for every subsequent World Cup. The 1998 re-release was better in my view but this is the original.
  • “(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World” by England United. Controversially, the 1998 re-release of Three Lions beat this song, the official England anthem for the 1998 World Cup in France, to number one in the singles chart. ‘England United’ consisted of Echo & The Bunnymen, Ocean Colour Scene, Space and the Spice Girls, making it an interesting snapshot of late 1990s British pop music.
  • “Carnaval de Paris” by Dario G. Another 1998 World Cup song, this time featuring instruments from each country playing in the tournament. Including bagpipes, as this was one of the few years when Scotland qualified. Also re-released in 2002, but without the bagpipes. It’s worth watching the Top of the Pops performance.
  • “Vindaloo” by Fat Les. We’re still in 1998, heading to Waterloo with my mum, my dad and my gran and a bucket of vindaloo. A ridiculous song whose video satirises the video for The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony. Fat Les was a collaboration between Alex James from Blur, the actor Keith Allen (father to Lily Allen) and the artist Damien Hirst. Two years later, they would record a version of Jerusalem which was the official England anthem for Euro 2000.
  • “Wavin’ Flag” by K’Naan. This wasn’t the official song for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but was instead Coca-Cola’s promotional song. The official song was by Shakira, who is not from Africa, whereas K’Naan hails from Somalia and so it probably should have been the official song.
  • “Eat My Goal” by Collapsed Lung. Collapsed Lung were a bit of a one-hit wonder; they did record other songs, but this is the song most people would know them for. A former member of Collapsed Lung now performs as Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, who we would have seen in Leeds had it not been for me being in hospital.
  • “Sven Sven Sven” by Bell & Spurling. Sven-Göran Eriksson was the first England manager who wasn’t English and was a rather controversial hiring at the time. However, he led England through a reasonably good period in the early 2000s, including two World Cups in 2002 and 2006, and a 5-1 win over Germany in 2001. This song honoured that rather historic win.
  • “We’re on the Ball” by Ant & Dec. We’re back in 2002 and this was England’s official song for that year’s World Cup. Ant & Dec found fame as actors on the Children’s BBC series Byker Grove, but then had a music career in the mid 1990s. This, however, came out once they were well established as TV presenters.
  • “Southgate You’re The One (Football’s Coming Home Again)” by Atomic Kitten. “Whole Again” was one of Atomic Kitten’s better known singles from 2001; 20 years later, it was re-released for Euro 2020 – which, thanks to the pandemic, was delayed to 2021. This new version with changed lyrics honours Gareth Southgate, who managed England for 8 years between 2016 and 2024, including the last time England reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018. Maybe I shouldn’t mention his missed penalty at Euro 96.
  • “All Together Now” by The Farm. A song about the Christmas Day Truce in the First World War, where both sides ended up playing football against each other, and later used by Sky Sports for their football coverage in the 2000s.

Playlist of the month: I feel better

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Screenshot of the 'I feel better' playlist

Seeing as last month’s playlist was a bit of a downer, this month’s is all about feeling better and regaining strength as I slowly get back to normal. As usual, you can follow it on Spotify.

  • “I Feel Better” by Hot Chip. Honestly the main reason for including this is the bizarre music video, directed by Peter Serafinowicz.
  • “Stronger” by Britney Spears
  • “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” by Kelly Clarkson
  • “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by Daft Punk
  • “Fighter” by Christina Aguilera
  • “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child
  • “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
  • “Roar” by Katy Perry
  • “Faster” by Within Temptation (oh look, another Within Temptation song, I wonder how that got there…)
  • “The Power (of Bhangra)” by Snap! vs Motivo. This is a bhangra remix of the famous song and it works surprisingly well.

Playlist of the month: Ouch

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Screenshot of the Ouch playlist

I’m still in my recovery period – I’m not allowed to lift anything for another three weeks – but I am going to post a few, short blog posts again to get myself used to typing again. So, here’s this month’s playlist, which should give you an idea about how my recovery is going. Here’s the link to Spotify.

  • “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.
  • “Broken Bones” by Love Inc
  • “The Drugs Don’t Work” by The Verve
  • “Give Me Novacaine” by Green Day
  • “I Need A Painkiller” by Armand van Helden
  • “Wonderful Life” by Hurts
  • “Insomnia” by Faithless
  • “Can’t Sleep” by Above and Beyond

No extra analysis this month, I’m afraid. I can’t type at my normal speed, and my accuracy is lower than usual. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed next month.

Playlist of the month: London songs

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Screenshot of the Songs About London playlist

Okay, so here’s one last blog post about London, following our trip there last month. This time, it’s songs about London. As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “London Calling” by The Clash. If you asked most people to name a song about London, this is probably the first one that they would name and is one of The Clash’s most popular song (third most played on Spotify).
  • “London Bridge” by Fergie. This refers more to the traditional song about London Bridge falling down, but the music video is at least set in London. Even if it focuses on Tower Bridge, rather than London Bridge, which, to be fair, is comparatively boring.
  • “Londinium” by Catatonia. Catatonia are famously very Welsh, and so this song is about everything that is wrong with London. “I come alive outside the M25” indeed.
  • “London Boy” by Taylor Swift. Considering how many songs Swift has written over the years, it’s not surprising that she has written a song about London. Ostensibly an album track, like much of Taylor’s work, it charted in some countries.
  • “LDN” by Lily Allen. This is from Allen’s first album and is about her cycling through London. It describes the shiny veneer of London, and its sometimes grimy reality.
  • “Take Me Back To London” by Ed Sheeran featuring Stormzy. Ed Sheeran has collaborated with just about everyone in recent years and so it’s no surprise that he’s collaborated with Stormzy for this song about London.
  • “Waterloo Sunset” by The Kinks. Another classic pop song about London. It’s inspired by the view from St Thomas’ Hospital, looking along the River Thames by Waterloo Bridge.
  • “Warwick Avenue” by Duffy. Another Welsh pop act, this time singing about the famous street in West London, known for its markets.
  • “Brixton Briefcase” by Chase & Status featuring CeeLo Green. This song is about the Brixton riots of 2011, although having it sung by American singer CeeLo Green is certainly a choice.
  • “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant. Finishing with another song about Brixton is this classic song by Eddy Grant, about the first market street to be lit by electric lights. I prefer the 2001 Ringbang Remix, but this isn’t on Spotify unfortunately.

Playlist of the month: Uncredited guest vocalists

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A screenshot of the Uncredited Guest Vocalists playlist

This month’s playlist is all about uncredited guest vocalists. As in, songs released by bands and artists that feature another artist who doesn’t get a credit on the cover. Whilst collaborations are common in pop music – look at all the artists that have recorded with Ed Sheeran, for example – sometimes, the collaborating artist only receives a minor credit in the small print, if at all. That may be because the song was released before they were famous in their own right, due to contractual issues, or they may choose a pseudonym.

As usual, you can follow along with the playlist on Spotify.

  • “Wrap Her Up” by Elton John (featuring George Michael and Kiki Dee). Nowadays, George Michael is credited on Spotify, in this song where he sings in falsetto all the way through. However, Bradford’s own Kiki Dee, who famously collaborated with Elton on Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, doesn’t receive the same billing.
  • “Danger! High Voltage” by Electric Six (featuring Jack White). In the music video for this song, it’s presented as a duet between Electric Six’s lead singer, Dick Valentine, and the English actress Tina Kanarek. She doesn’t actually sing the vocals, however – they’re provided by Jack White, from the band The White Stripes, again in falsetto.
  • “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M. (featuring Kate Pierson). It was listening to this song which prompted me to create this playlist, as R.E.M. is an all-male band. The female vocals are from Kate Pierson, better known as the female vocalist in the band The B52s.
  • “Got Your Money” by ODB (featuring Kelis). Like with Wrap Her Up above, Kelis is now credited on Spotify, but she wasn’t at the time. This was released shortly before her debut single, and so she was a relative unknown back then.
  • “The Opera Song” by Jurgen Vries featuring CMC. Two pseudonyms here – Jurgen Vries is one of the many names used by Darren Tate (along with Angelic, DT8 Project, Citizen Caned and being one half of KOTA). CMC is a pseudonym used by Charlotte Church, who at the time was only a singer of classical music – her pop album, Tissues and Issues, had yet to be released.
  • “The Gathering” by Delain (featuring Marko Hietala). Marko popped up a few times in last month’s symphonic metal covers playlist, and here he is again, uncredited on this single from Delain’s first album. He’s subsequently collaborated on several other Delain songs, including Sing To Me and Your Body Is A Battleground, where he is credited.
  • “Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence (featuring Paul McCoy). I’ve mentioned in a previous playlist how the male vocal part was added to this song at the insistence of the record label; they’re not in the original demo version, or the re-recorded version from 2017. Paul McCoy, from the band 12 Stones, provides the additional vocals.
  • “Just Around The Hill” by Sash! (featuring Tina Cousins). Sash! are no strangers to collaborations, with most of their singles featuring credited guest vocalists. Just Around The Hill was their first attempt at a ballad, rather than the Eurodance that they were better known for, and features vocals from Tina Cousins who wasn’t credited on the cover. Which is odd, as she previously collaborated with Sash! on Mysterious Times, their sixth single, where she was credited.
  • “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by The Righteous Brothers (featuring Cher). Way back at the beginning of her music career, over 60 years ago, Cher recorded backing vocals for this song before she was well-known in her own right.
  • “Killer” by Adamski (featuring Seal). Nowadays, Seal is credited on Spotify, but at release in 1990 he wasn’t, as this was before he was established as an act in his own right. Seal later recorded his own version of the song for his 1991 debut album. ATB covered Killer in 2000, and that version also has uncredited vocals from Drue Williams (who, to be fair, isn’t famous enough to have his own Wikipedia page).

Playlist of the month: Symphonic Metal Covers

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A screenshot of the symphonic metal covers playlist on Spotify

Following last month’s playlist of ska covers, I’m going to do another playlist of covers – this time in the subgenre of symphonic metal. In my previous symphonic metal playlist, I included a couple of covers, so these are all different songs. You can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Summertime Sadness” by Within Temptation. Within Temptation did a whole album of cover versions, called The Q-Music Sessions, and this is a cover of the Lana Del Rey song. It’s at a faster tempo than the original and was later included on their sixth studio album, Hydra. When we saw Within Temptation for the second time, in 2014, they played an acoustic version of this.
  • “The Phantom of the Opera” by Nightwish. This a cover of the titular song from the musical, originally performed by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. This was recorded when Tarja Turunen was still Nightwish’s lead vocalist, with Marko Hietala performing the male part.
  • “Smalltown Boy” by Delain. Smalltown Boy, originally recorded by Bronski Beat in 1984, is a well-known song about being gay in a small town and wanting to move to a more welcoming city – a common experience for gay men in the 1980s. Delain is another band I’ve seen live more than once, and this was recorded with their original line-up with Charlotte Wessels as the lead vocalist.
  • “Enjoy the Silence” by Lacuna Coil. Italian band Lacuna Coil have recorded a few covers in their time, so I could have chosen their cover of REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’. Instead, here’s their cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’. This is probably my favourite song of theirs.
  • “Lay All Your Love On Me” by Amberian Dawn. Amberian Dawn have recorded more than one ABBA cover, so I could have shared “Gimme Gimme Gimme” as well.
  • “The Chain” by Evanescence. Considering that Evanescence have been around for well over 20 years now, this is actually one of their more recent recordings and is a Fleetwood Mac cover. However, it only covers the first bit of the song; famously, the second part of the original is used as the theme music for Formula 1 racing.
  • “Frozen” by Mortemia. A suggestion by Spotify that came up when I was compiling this playlist. This is a cover of the Madonna song and the first single from her Ray of Light album.
  • “Take on Me” by Northern Kings. Northern Kings is a supergroup, made up of, amongst others, the aforementioned Marko Hietala from Nightwish, who recorded two albums of covers. This is a cover of the famous A-Ha song.
  • “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Exit Eden. Whilst Northern Kings are a male supergroup, Exit Eden is a female equivalent who mostly (but not exclusively) record covers, including this one of the Bonnie Tyler classic. I could have chosen ‘Run!’ which also features Marko Hietala, again.
  • “Because the Night” by Domina Noctis. Another Spotify suggestion, this is a cover of the Patti Smith original (although I know it better for the earlier Eurodance covers by Jan Wayne and Cascada).

Playlist of the month: Ska covers

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Screenshot of the ska covers playlist on Spotify

This month’s playlist comes from me discovering the band Skameleon. They’re a German band who specialise in covering pop songs in the third-wave ska style.

I’ve long had a soft spot for ska music – a close friend of mine started to get into it when we were at college and so I passively listened to lots of his music. It was also popular when I get to university, as part of a broader alternative music scene along with metal and pop-punk. So, this month’s playlist starts with Skameleon, and includes various other ska cover versions by other bands. As usual, you can listen along on Spotify, and, if you want a longer playlist, here’s another one that I found.

  • “Rhythm Is A Dancer” by Skameleon. This is a cover of Snap’s 1992 dance hit. Skameleon have done a couple of albums of covers now and this is one of the better ones, but they’re all pretty good.
  • “Get Lucky” by Russkaja. Russkaja were a Russian-themed ska band from Austria, with some songs sung in Russian; they disbanded in 2023 following the war in Ukraine. This is a cover of the Daft Punk song with Pharrell Williams.
  • “Take On Me” by Reel Big Fish. You can’t have a third-wave ska playlist without at least one Reel Big Fish song on it, so here’s their cover of a-ha’s greatest hit.
  • “Hot N Cold” by Los Colorados. Speaking of Ukraine, this is a Ukrainian band that do covers – indeed, when they recorded this version of Katy Perry’s song, the lead singer didn’t actually speak English.
  • “Come On Eileen” by Save Ferris. This is a classic 2000s student union rock night staple, and a cover of the song by Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
  • “Chop Suey!” by King Punch. Speaking of 2000s student union rock night staples, you would often come across this System Of A Down song. Here’s a ska version of it.
  • “The Final Countdown” by Furillo. Apparently the band Europe have released 11 studio albums, so to call them a one-hit wonder would be inaccurate, but I’ll admit this is the only song of theirs I can name.
  • “I Will Survive” by Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. Another band that typify third-wave ska, this is their cover of the Gloria Gaynor classic.
  • “Hotel California” by Skadaddyz. The Eagles’ original is quite a laid back song that converts quite easily to ska, courtesy of the Skadaddyz.
  • “YMCA” by The Skunks. Again, the use of brass instruments in the Village People original makes this a relatively straightforward conversion to ska.

Playlist of the month: Novelty Christmas

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Screenshot of the novelty Christmas playlist

The last time I did a Christmas playlist, I included my favourite Christmas music. This isn’t quite the opposite of that, but instead it’s 10 novelty Christmas songs that wouldn’t really make sense to play at any other time of year. As per usual, you can listen along on Spotify – many of these songs are mercifully short and so the whole playlist is less than half an hour.

  • “Proper Crimbo” by Bo Selecta. Bo’ Selecta! was a British TV sketch show in the 2000s, which, at the time, I found hilarious but it really hasn’t aged well – especially its blackface depiction of Mel B, amongst others. This Christmas single was released at the height of its popularity where its creator, Leigh Francis, parodied Craig David, and was a hit in 2003. You may know Leigh Francis better as Keith Lemon.
  • “Mr Hankey the Christmas Poo” by South Park. It turns out there’s a whole album of South Park Christmas music, if you like that sort of thing. It also peaked at , in the 1999 Christmas singles charts.
  • “Gift Vouchers” by The Lancashire Hotpots. A brand new song for 2025! It’s all about what to get for someone when you don’t know what present to buy for them.
  • “Once Upon a Christmas Song” by Peter Kay. The 2000s were indeed a weird time for comedy, as Peter Kay dragged himself up to play Geraldine McQueen in a parody of TV talent shows. It reached in the 2008 Christmas singles chart.
  • “We Built This City (On Sausage Rolls)” by LadBaby. In 2018, LadBaby became the first YouTuber to get a Christmas single, and this was it – a parody of the Starship song. This was a feat repeated for four subsequent years, and so LadBaby has now had more Christmas singles in the UK than any other band or artist, beating even The Beatles. At least they were all charity singles for the Trussell Trust.
  • “Last Christmas” by Crazy Frog. Remember the days when people would pay to buy a ringtone? And yet, nowadays my phone is permanently on silent. This is a truly terrible cover version of the Wham! classic, the original of which finally made it to Christmas in 2023 (after the rein of LadBaby) and again last year.
  • “Jingle Bells (Goat Edition)” by ActionAid. It’s Jingle Bells, but made up of samples of screaming goats. Indeed, there’s a whole album of them, from the charity ActionAid who raises funds to provide goats to poor families in third world countries.
  • “The Very First Christmas” by Spongebob Squarepants. This song is awful. Sorry (not sorry).
  • “The Night Santa Went Crazy” by Weird Al Yankovic. We can’t have a playlist of novelty songs without a bit of Weird Al. This is one of his earlier songs, from 1996.
  • “Present Face” by Garfunkel and Oates. This is a song all about the face you have to make when opening a present that you actually don’t like, but don’t want to offend the person giving it to you.

Playlist of the month: Songs about Trains

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Screenshot of the Songs about Trains playlist

Inspired by Sunday’s blog post, this month’s playlist is all songs about trains.

There’s no shortage of songs about trains – Wikipedia has a list of almost 800 – but what I did notice when compiling this is that many are minor key laments. There don’t seem to be many songs about liking trains, but instead they’re metaphors for life not going well. In other words, the subject of the song is taking the train because they don’t have a car and can’t afford to fly. I was also surprised at how many American songwriters have written songs about trains, considering that the American train network is nowhere near as extensive as it could be.

On to the playlist. As always, you can listen to this on Spotify.

  • “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne. We sadly lost Ozzy earlier this year, although not until after a massive farewell gig for charity. As far as I’m aware, Ozzy never had a train named after him, crazy or otherwise, but there is a tram in Birmingham named after him.
  • “Urban Train (Wippenberg Remix)” by Tiësto featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw. I chose this remix over the original as I think it’s superior, but also because it has a clickety-clack feel as if you’re on a train going over jointed track.
  • “Slow Train” by Flanders and Swann. This was written in 1963, and laments the closure of railway stations and lines in Great Britain as part of the Beeching cuts. Wikipedia helpfully lists every station referenced in the song; not every station mentioned actually closed.
  • “London Underground” by Amateur Transplants. The Amateur Transplants were a musical comedy double act, consisting of two doctors: Dr Suman Biswas, now a consultant anaesthetist, and Adam Kay, who quit medicine and is now better known as the author of ‘This Is Going To Hurt’. This is a parody of ‘Going Underground’ by The Jam; released in 2005, it’s a complaint about Tube drivers going on strike. Notably, it complains about the drivers earning £30,000 per year – 20 years later and it’s closer to £80,000 per year. And this is why you should join a union.
  • “I Like Trains” by LilDeuceDeuce. I had to include at least one upbeat song in here. This probably makes more sense if you watch the video, and are familiar with TomSka’s asdfmovie series on YouTube.
  • “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey. “She took the midnight train going anywhere…” Fun fact – when originally released in the UK in 1981, it only reached number 62 in the singles charts. It wasn’t until 2009 that it broke into the top 20, but by 2014 it had sold a million copies in the UK.
  • “The Nightrain” by Kadoc. Not much to say about this, other than that I used to have it on audio cassette.
  • “The Train” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Another downbeat song about getting the train. See what I mean?
  • “Train Kept a Rollin'” by Aerosmith. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t come across this song until compiling this list. I think it’s notable that there’s three classic rock songs in here.
  • “King’s Cross” by Pet Shop Boys. Yes, another rather downbeat song about the station and the area of London surrounding it. This was before the massive regeneration that has taken place in recent years.

Playlist of the month: Rain

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Screemshot of the rain playlist on Spotify

This month’s playlist is coming a little earlier than usual. As I write this, Storm Amy is delivering lots of wind and rain, and I’ve had a complete change of clothes having got completely drenched merely by being outside for ten minutes. So, this month’s theme is rain, seeing as I did Halloween last year.

As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. A collaboration between two of America’s biggest music stars was bound to be the first song that came up when I searched Spotify for ‘rain’.
  • “Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) by Sash! featuring Stunt. This was a 2008 remix of the 1996 Sash! original, featuring additional vocals by Stunt. One half of Stunt, Molly Smitten-Downes, represented the UK at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.
  • “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls. By far the most recognisable song on this list and a staple at every wedding disco. This original is better than Geri Halliwell’s cover version.
  • “It’s All About Me (Rain)” by Amaranthe. I mentioned Amaranthe in last month’s symphonic metal playlist, and this is another single from the same album.
  • “Let It Rain” by Eliza Doolittle. Christine and I saw Eliza Doolittle play at Bingley Music Live in 2011 and she did a really good performance with a full live band. This is from her second album and is quite lovely.
  • “Kiss The Rain” by Billie Myers. This is top tier 1990s guitar pop. Billie Myers was something of a one-hit wonder; whilst she released several albums, this single is by far her biggest hit.
  • “The Day It Rained Forever” by Aurora. Aurora were a trance act which changed to pop. This was their fourth song, and is a great driving song.
  • “Sunshine After The Rain” by Berri. Berri is also from York, like me, and this was a big hit in 1995 thanks to this remix. Berri has recently started releasing new music.
  • “Nice Weather For Ducks” by Lemon Jelly. This is quite a delightful song that came out about the same time I started university.
  • “The Rain” by The Menagerie featuring Professor Elemental. Oh look, another Professor Elemental song has snuck into a playlist. He gets everywhere, doesn’t he?

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