Playlist of the Month: Ikea

Screenshot of the Ikea playlist on Spotify.

‘Good grief’, you may be thinking, ‘how can there be enough songs about Ikea to make a playlist?’. Well, I was aware of four, and found several more while creating this playlist. Seeing as it’s September, which is a time when many 18-year-olds are dragged around Ikea to get furniture, bedding and utensils before setting out on their own for the first time, I thought it would make a good theme.

Also, for some reason our eight-year-old has developed a hatred of Ikea. Which is a shame because we do need to go sometime soon.

As usual, you can follow the playlist on Spotify.

  • “Ikea” by Grace Petrie. “It’s Wednesday evening in Ikea; There’s just two kinds of people here; And in my life, I have been both”. I can relate this, as I too have been both. It’s a sad little song from the phenomenal Grace Petrie, who I’ve blogged about before. Also available on Bandcamp.
  • “I Fear Ikea” by The Lancashire Hotpots. Sung to the tune of ‘The Wild Rover’, this laments the labyrinthine layout and that you have to pick the boxes out of the warehouse yourself, which then don’t fit in the car. The Hotpots are well worth listening to if you like musical comedy and have a northern English sense of humour, like I do.
  • “Ikea” by Jonathan Coulton. JoCo is probably best known for the song ‘Still Alive’ which plays during the credits of the game Portal. This is from his 2003 debut album, Smoking Monkey.
  • “Ikea” by Mitch Been and the Distractions. Mitch originally recorded this for BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, and I seem to remember him playing it dressed as a Viking in an Ikea car park for the one-off BBC Two show ‘Ikea Drives Me Crazy’. Also available on Bandcamp.
  • “Ikea” by Urban Cone. This is the first of the songs that I found whilst researching this playlist.
  • “Ikea Date” by SWMRS. This was the second, where the singer is recalling a dream set in an Ikea.
  • “Ikea Strikes Back” by CLIFFDIVER. This was the third. I actually quite like this song despite not having heard of the band before.
  • “Ikea” by Suman Biswas. I actually own this CD and never realised this track was on it. Suman is a consultant anaesthetist who used to be part of a double act called the Amateur Transplants with Adam Kay. Also available on Bandcamp.

In brief

Bit of catching up to do, I think…

Friday

Went to Ikea again to pick up more stuff for university, such as crockery, cutlery and storage. Last time we went I didn’t know which university I was going to, and if I ended up at UMIST, I wouldn’t have needed quite so much stuff to take with me. On the other hand, most of the stuff I’m getting would have been needed in the second year at UMIST anyway (I’ll probably move into rented accommodation since I’m taking a sandwich year), and Bradford’s accommodation is £500 cheaper for the year :).

My auntie and uncle (from my mum’s side this time) arrived that evening to stay over for the weekend.

Saturday

The 5 of us went to Whitby for the day. Although I’ve been quite a few times recently, this was the first time I’d visited Whitby Abbey, which has recently seen the opening of a new visitor centre. It’s quite good actually – instead of reading panel after panel of information, they have touch-screen computers which play videos of actors representing people who were involved in the abbey’s history.

We then went back down into the town for a pub lunch, and then had a wander around the town taking photos.

Sunday

It was a nice day so we went to Brimham Rocks and then had lunch at The Half Moon Inn in Fell Beck near Pateley Bridge, before coming home to a barbecue.

Monday

Didn’t really do much…