A playlist of the 2020 winners of my weekly Golden Discs voucher competition.
Compiled by Andy Pikin, who writes:
The Broadsheet community came up with thousands of brilliant suggestions, resulting in a brilliant playlist ever week. With some of the results more controversial then the US election.
So enjoy 2020’s playlist of the winners…
An incredible diverse and eclectic mixture of music, but brilliant at the same time.
A playlist that amazingly enough only has one artist getting two songs on the list, the brilliant Townes Van Zandt!
Thanks to too everyone who contributes every week, I’ve learned a lot of new/old music and some brilliant videos. I remember someone saying it’s like been in the pub on a Friday with your mates talking about music, and that’s exactly how I feel!
Thank You Nick! And Thank you Golden Discs for their continued support for Irish artists and this competition!! And thank you all.
Last week, with a snow blown €25 Golden Discs voucher on offer, I asked you to name your favourite song about or which mentions Winter?
You answered in your dozens creating a brrriiliant playlist of chily classics.
But there could be only one winner.
Third Place:
Winter by Tori Amos
‘A Galaxy Very, Very Near’ writes:
‘Snow can wait I forgot my mittens
Wipe my nose get my new boots on
I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter
I put my hands in my father’s glove
I run off where the drifts get deeper.’
A haunting and beautiful song about the relationship between a father and his daughter and the inevitable passing of time.
Runner-up:
If We Make It Through December by Merle Haggard.
Stephen Moran writes:
From the school of “we’ve got both types of music: Country AND Western” comes the original outlaw Merle Haggard with “If We Make It Through December” teaching us a way to live within the law. Surely the ballad of the current Covid lockdown.
Winner:
January Hymn by The Decembrists
Millie Bobby Brownie writes:
Now I know this might seem a bit early in the season for this pick, but January Hymn by the Decembrists is a really lovely little tune, very mellow and easy to listen to. I highly recommend listening to it of a cold miserable winters evening (not unlike this one). As it is, winter in Ireland gets worse after Christmas and continues into mid April, when suddenly it’s summer again.
That means another weekly music competition. With the solstice almost upon us, it seems an apt time to ask: What’s your favourite song about or which mentions winter?
Reply below to be in with a chance of winning a tinsel-strewn €25 Golden Discs voucher.
Last week, with a McTacular €25 Golden Discs voucher on offer, I asked for your favourite song by a Scottish artist.
The competition brought another generous response from our readers so that any number of entries would have been worthy winners.
Having mulled it over, I thought it would make sense to share the voucher between Rosette of Sirius and Slightly Bemused for their shared love of ‘Year Of The Cat’.
Their interaction showed the enduring emotional bonds we can form with a piece of music down all the days and also how this little corner of Broadsheet seems to bring out the best in our readers.
FIGHT!
Third Place:
Paul Buchanan – Mid Air
Specific Gravity writes:
‘Impossible to select just one of his/Blue Nile’s masterpieces, but this needs no justification.’
Runner-up:
The First Weekend by Arab Strap
Clampers Outside writes
‘A song that takes you, gently at first…Then the music kicks in… and you’re off on a hedonistic weekend of booze, parties and drugs…t’s a track you can listen to before going out, when out, or chill to when you get home after a night out :)
Sets you up for the story as it unfolds, just like those “roll over” weekends from my own twenties in the 90s when the moment was all that mattered…. And I cannot let this go without mentioning Aidan Moffat’s beautiful accent. As the song is pretty much spoken, its easy to appreciate it …’
Winner:
Year Of The Cat by Al Stewart
Rosette Of Sirius writes:
We’ll, let’s go with one of the greatest opening lyrics of all time…. in my opinion that is….
“On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don’t bother asking for explanations
She’ll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat.”
Al Stewart’s masterpiece.
Slightly Bemused replied:
That was my now dear departed brother’s favourite song. My sister and another brother were with him as he slipped away, and had this on for him so he would go to his favourite music.
I remember once this was on the radio as I studied in my room (amusingly on a portable radio cassette player he had given me) and he came storming in thinking I had pinched his record. He was immediately apologetic, but would not leave until the song was over.
I cannot hear this without thinking of him, and for that I do thank you.
Rosette replied:
I did not grow up in a house gifted with musical ability. My dad could play the piano but the rest of us were tone deaf as they say. Save for one thing. We all love music. And between us we grew up In a house what was open to new ideas, genres, sounds, artists and that in turn left an indelible mark on me. On my taste, appreciation and desire to grow as large a repertoire of artists as I could.
My father was an opera and classical buff. He also appreciated the great crooners and jazz musicians of the last century. My mother lived for the Beatles and 60’s pop. I possess today most Beatles original singles releases and all all their albums as heirlooms. Not all in the best of shape, but none the less original. And mine.
My two older sisters were the most influential. One consumed by pop – Bay City Rollers, the Jackson Five, the Osmonds, Abba and later the sounds of Disco.
The other, and the biggest musical influence was more artsy. It was Bowie, bolan, Roxy Music and later punk and early new wave that was my foundation and her record collection that I treasure.
She died about fifteen years ago now from cancer.
It’s a very, very strange thing when a sibling dies so young. It’s a thing you’ll perhaps never come to terms with. I haven’t. It really affected me in many ways and I’m humbled that a simple song I suggested from the 70s evoked such an emotion because I get it. I really do…
Last week, with a wintry €25 Golden Discs voucher on offer, I asked: What’s your favourite song by a Canadian artist?
You replied in your dozens – creating a collection of genuinely fine Canadian choonage. Thank you.
But there could be only one winner.
Third Place:
Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Specific Gravity writes:
‘I absolutely adore this evocative and v moving song by the remarkable Buffy Sainte-Marie. The wonderful Katell Keineg did a cover version of it on NIghthawks with Shay Healy in the early nineties and it still haunts me. Love it.’
Runner-up;
The Needle And The Damage Done by Neil Young
Ragamuffin writes:
‘My favourite Neil Young track, a poignant song about the desolation caused by heroin addiction in the 70s. Undoubtedly a great song, but the reason I particularly love it is because it reminds me of driving in the car as a kid with my dad. A deadpan RTÉ Radio 1 presenter ended an otherwise boring segment about oul ones knitting with this track and my dad nearly crashed the car he was laughing so hard. The next day he went out and bought me Harvest on CD, and to this day its one of my all time favourite albums.’
Winner:
River by Joni Mitchell
Henry Porter writes:
‘A melancholy Christmas song. Perfect for these times.’
Malahide Road, Swords Demesne, Swords, County Dublin.
Driven by the vinyl revival, our friends at Golden Discs (home of Nick’s voucher) are opening their newest store in Swords Pavilions Shopping Centre.
Situated on the ground floor next to Supervalu. it will employ twelve new staff and takes the company to 22 stores in total across the country.
CEO Stephen Fitzgerald says:
“We’ve had lots of time to perfect the Swords offering with a particular empathise on Vinyl and turntables. The resurgence of the format over the last few years has been simply extraordinary. Whether its older fans dusting off the old collection from the attic, or younger fans listening to music for the first time how it’s supposed to be enjoyed, we have something for everyone in-store this Christmas.”
Last week, with an EU-friendly €25 Golden Discs voucher on offer, I asked you to name your favourite song whose title features a European city?
You answered in your dozens.
But there could only be one winner.
Third Place:
Das Ist Berlin by Marlene Dietrich
Harry writes:
‘The fabulously glamorous Marlene Dietrich. Captures Berlin beautifully.’
Runner-up:
Barcelona by Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé
Frilly Keane writes:
‘Ye’ll know it – most likely as the Barcelona Olympics (92) Grand Opener. But it was actually completed in 88 to meet the Olympic deadline. Caballé was originally invited by the Barcelona Bid Team – her home city, soon after they won the games in 87. But she immediately reached out to Freddy Mercury. And this is the result + an album. It definitely set the tone for the games. Anyone remember the diving events from Barcelona ’92? Of course Freddy never got to see the reaction as he passed in 91 But to me this is his Masterpiece. Play it at full blast.’
Winner:
Paris Match by The Style Council & Tracey Thorn
Eamonn writes:
‘By a fortuitous turn of events I was listening to Café Bleu by The Style Council only yesterday. It is as if the gods of my record collection were directing me. My choice number 1 would be this…”The gift you gave was desire – the match that started my fire”… Weller showing no fear – swapping Monkey Boots and Lonsdale tops for Penny Loafers,fine knits and galouise – Ooh La La – confusing and conflicting many acolytes – no power chords, no anger, no bite. New beginnings. And Tracey Thorn. what a voice.’
‘From the 1994 sophomore album “Bewitched”. A slice of dream pop heaven. Fun fact: main man Dean Wareham was firmly an East Coast kinda guy, after moving from his New Zealand birthplace he spent most of his life in New York (plus a spell in Boston). But a few years ago re relocated to Los Angeles as his son was in college there. So he made it… All the Way… to California, eventually.’
Runner-up:
Reno Dakota by The Magnetic Fields
Specific Gravity writes:
“Reno Dakota, there’s not an iota of kindness in you, You know you enthral me and yet you don’t call me, It’s making me blue, Pantone 292.”
‘69 Love Songs is a hell of a collection of impeccable songs, running the full emotional gamut. Would be great to see them back in Dublin.’
Winner:
Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen
Johnny writes:
‘Recorded on a Teac Tascam 144 Portastudio, in his living room, with a simple tape recorder, instead of the studio, he then ran these recording through a Gibson Echoolex to add reverb and echo, sent the tapes in.
It’s an essential record in the history of home recording – he wrote the songs, put them down on a demo, that demo became the record. It didn’t sell particularly well and got no airplay. The magic or genius was, with the right amount of reverb and echo, a cheap speaker in a car sounds lush and dreamy.
A great driving album, quite dark, Nebraska is the retelling of Terrence Malick’s Badlands, a film based on the 1957–58 killing spree of Charlie Starkweather. The Starkweather murders were meaningless, and the randomness of that violence and inability to explain it, is the album.’
