due to having a five year old and you can guarantee that the Ipod chooses the most sweary song at full volume (usually The Streets for some reason) However when delivering children to grandma's so we could decorate then go out for a grown up evening as a reward the first song to pop up was Oasis "Rock & roll star" and this evening we literally "headed out to the city.." So all good!

lead me to have them on shuffle for the last few days. "Just Who Is The 5 O'clock Hero"? That's me that is

Hello darlin' - I'm home again
Covered in shit and aches and pains
Too knackered to think so give me time to come round
Just gimme the living room beat to the TV sound -
My hard earned dough goes in bills and the larder
And that Prince Philip tells us we gotta work harder!
It seems a constant struggle just to exist
Scrimping and saving and crossing off lists -

From this window I've seen the whole world pass
From dawn to dusk I've heard the last laugh laughed
I've seen enough tears to wash away this street
I've heard wedding bells chime and a funeral march
When as one life finishes another one starts -
Alright then love so I'll be off now
It's back to the lunchbox and worker/management rows
There's gotta be more to this old life than this
Scrimping and saving and crossing off lists

As I type, I'm listening to The The's Heartland. I'm enjoying the Sonos chart archives. Autumn 1986 at the moment. Ask by The Smiths next.

Shameless nostalgia for my first term at uni.

Nostalgia. As we know, it's not as good as it used to be.

They say that the left side of the brain
Controls the right
They say that the right side
Has to work hard all night

Maybe I think too much for my own good
Some people say so
Other people say no no
The fact is
You don't think as much as you could

...the heavens opened and an absolute downpour ensued.

At precisely the moment that the rain started in earnest, Prefab Sprout's 'Hey Manhattan' came on. I had to smile at its first line...'Guess what, summer's arrived'!

It's the Finn Brothers, "Won't Give In"

"You call me up and I'll say a few words
But I'll try not to speak too long
Please to be kind and I'll try to explain
I'll probably get it all wrong.

What does it mean when you promise someone
That no matter how hard or whatever may come:
It means that I won't give in, won't give in, won't give in
'Cause everyone I love is here."

Rather sums up how I feel about myself. I do tend to awkwardly bumble my way through life, but even through some terribly hard times I keep going because I'm surrounded by people I love.

I feel trapped by mutual affection
And I don't know how to use freedom

That's me, that is.

And I cannot lie

This one gets me every time...

Ring the bells
Wake the town
Everyone is sleeping
Shout at the crowd
Wake them up
This anger's deeper than sleep.
Got to keep awake to what is happening.
I can't see a thing through my ambitions,
I no longer feel like God is watching over me
Got to tell the world we've all been dreaming
This is not the end, a new beginning
I no longer feel my God is watching over me.

Liberation from childish hang-ups. New beginnings, instead of false dawns.

... I've always loved Suzanne Vega's song Gypsy:

"You have hands of raining water
And that earring in your ear
The wisdom on your face
Denies the number of your years
With the fingers of the potter
And the laughing tale of the fool
The arranger of disorder
With your strange and simple rules
Yes now I've met me another spinner
Of strange and gauzy threads
With a long and slender body
And a bump upon the head."

She was still in her mid teens when she wrote that, I believe. Many songs I wish I had the talent to write but this is one I wish I could have inspired.

No shuffle-related content here, but the general topic reminded me of the early days of mixed CDs, when a friend mentioned the topic above as a theme. I waggishly countered with "From birth to the present? Or beyond?" and didn't contribute. But get this, I've re-run the idea a million times in my mind since. I still dunno how it would all play out, but as an introduction - and, I must admit - a general character profile - I'd use this:

Stevie Wonder - Uptight (Everything's Alright)