Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please!

As I said last December, half my earnings from the “Support” series go to Amnesty International.  Unfortunately, so far, that’s meant that Amnesty International has £14, so I’m plugging it again.  You can now buy the whole of the “Support” series on Kindle for £21.71.  Please do so.  It’s great.

As a further incentive, please accept this SPECIAL BONUS STORY, featuring a heartbroken DJ.

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A Note from Mala Voluntad

Playlist for the Ivory Bar, Saturday 1st May, 10:15am to 11:20am

 Friday I’m In Love- The Cure (3 minutes, 36 seconds)

An upbeat tune guaranteed to stir warmth in even the most jaded soul.  Its humorous, deceptively simple lyrics provide an interesting contrast to the plaintive, almost pleading melody, stirring memories of happier times.  And yet its very lyrics make it clear that this too will pass.  Doesn’t it always?

Mr Rock and Roll- Amy Macdonald (3 minutes, 40 seconds)

This song strikes a wistful note right from its introduction.  It tells a story of missed connections, missed opportunities, and regret.  In the end, Macdonald assures us that “there’s a happy ending every single day,” but don’t you believe it.

Wide Open Space- Mansun (4 minutes 31 seconds)

A stark, tense song that will make you shiver with nameless dread.  Few other songs capture the sheer bleakness of the first stages of heartbreak.  Sweeter, sadder, angrier break-up songs can come later, but for now, there’s nothing but cold isolation and sinister chants in the background.

Roads- Portishead (5 minutes, 7 seconds)

This song sounds like the burial of hope.  Where it is played, no grass can grow and no birds can sing.  Beth Gibbons’ voice sounds as fragile and doomed as life itself.

Introducing The Band- Suede (2 minutes, 37 seconds)

A song that struggles up from the humble beginnings of an instrumental warm-up, taking nearly a minute of its two-and-a-half-minute running time to actually get started.  As it builds to a determined close, it sounds like a vaguely robotic zombie rising from the dead.  No matter how stark and miserable life seems, there’s always hope for recovery, and don’t let anybody tell you any different.  Let the century die indeed.

Thank U- Alanis Morissette (4 minutes, 19 seconds)

A song about personal growth, acceptance, and letting go of your regrets.  With its allusions to a higher power, it comforts you with the knowledge that few things are so terrible that you can’t at least learn a thing or two from the experience.  Though I don’t know if anyone will ever learn what the “transparent dangling carrots” are.

Beyonce- Best Thing I Never Had (4 minutes, 15 seconds)

Screw you, I’m feeling emotional.

Besides, this song strikes a note of dismissive defiance, but the sheer level of vitriol suggests that the narrator just might be protesting too much.  The chorus is a lot of fun to sing in your angriest voice after a few vodkas.

Neil Young- Southern Man (5 minutes, 31 seconds)

Midnight Oil- Beds Are Burning (4 minutes, 36 seconds)

Pet Shop Boys- It’s A Sin (5 minutes, 11 seconds)

There’s a certain sense of danger to the best protest songs- a warning in the introduction working up to a near-scream in the chorus.  Turn up the music loud and belt it out like your life depends on it.  Genteel Southern racism, mistreatment of indigenous people, the suffocating double-standards of the church…  If you’re going to be angry, it might as well be about something that actually matters.

Natalie Merchant- Wonder (4 minutes, 16 seconds)

I’m really not sure what to say about this one.  Overcoming a disability?  Something about self-worth and confidence?  I dunno.  I’d have to look up what it’s actually about, and I’m far too lazy for that.  Still, it’s about time we played a song that actually sounds happy.

R.E.M.- Pilgrimage (4 minutes, 38 seconds)

Paired with the Natalie Merchant track for reasons, this is pure excitement distilled in song form.  The sheer joy of starting a long journey is clear from the guitar-infused bridge, building from the laid-back verse to the unbridled chorus.  It’s a great, big, beautiful world, and if you don’t start now, how will you ever get to see it all?

Pink- U + Ur Hand (3 minutes, 33 seconds)

Why yes, this is the second song on this list with “you” spelt as “U” in the title.  Once again, screw you.

This is a perfect teeth-gritted, blowing-off-steam kind of song, railing away at the sheer presumptuousness of those who’d disrupt a rare good mood just because they’ve decided that now is the moment to grace you with their presence.  As if your feelings don’t matter, and you’re just an object that exists for their convenience.  Who the hell do they think they are?

Two Birds- Regina Spektor (3 minutes, 20 seconds)

A gently sad song played on piano and drums.  It tells of the unfortunate necessity of letting go of what weighs you down, no matter how painful that might be.  After all, if you’re truly “two birds of a feather,” you’ll end up heading in the same direction anyway.

The Seahorses- Hello (2 minutes, 22 seconds)

The beginning of this song sounds like a sunrise after a long, miserable night.  Its tone of gentle contrition and reconciliation is hard to resist.  We’re all human, after all.  We’ve all made mistakes.  We can all make an effort to overcome them.  And we’re nothing without each other.

Friday I’m In Love- The Cure (3 minutes, 36 seconds)

The thing is, if the love only exists on Fridays, is it worth anything?  Is it best to enjoy the happiness while it lasts, or does it lead to an unpleasant rollercoaster of emotions in which you’re never sure where you are?  It’s a beautiful song, but it’s only three and a half minutes long.  What happens when it stops?  Do you ever actually think about these things?

The tune’s still nice and happy, though.  There is that.

(Off on break.  Back in an hour.)