Big thanks to @firstnamebob.bsky.social and @kimberjohnson.bsky.social for #ColloquialSongs, merci beaucoup à @lagrume.bsky.social pour #MotherNatureSong, and tack så mycket (Swedish, courtesy of Saga Noren, Malmö County Police...) to everyone for your musical choices and chat!

Day 30, #1: These Days A call to arms - Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe in excelsis. Consider your scales rearranged. #REMtop30 has been a blast; man-sized thanks to everyone taking part and to @tansleyjames.bsky.social for hosting. Happy throngs, take this joy wherever you go :-)

Day 5: Bobbie Gentry not being Dick Van Dyke. Bobbie Gentry - Hushabye Mountain song.link/y/iymsFUmJ7-E #5CoverSongsSwitch

Day 30: Jack of all trades, master of none. Ash - Jack Names The Planets song.link/y/CHA5HDLQBSM #ColloquialSongs

Day 30: A brooding Ghost Box gem. Pye Corner Audio - Phantom Orchid song.link/y/dfLjP52Q7uw #MotherNatureSong

Day 29, #2: Sitting Still I can hear you... Can you hear me? song.link/y/NLtLIN8iHsk#2: #REMtop30

Day 4: Neil Arthur not being Agnetha Fältskog. Blancmange - The Day Before You Came song.link/y/Px4KRVcitP0 #5CoverSongsSwitched

Day 29: Birds of a feather flock together. The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society song.link/y/lc7dmu4G8oc #ColloquialSongs

Day 29: Voice of the nova, smile of the dew. Bruce Cockburn - Lord Of The Starfields song.link/y/eMH-O69zC9g #MotherNatureSong

Day 28, #3: Begin The Begin My first encounter with Lifes Rich Pageant was a bizarre false start - I bought it on cassette from a second-hand shop, but it had Chris de Burgh’s ‘Into The Light’ recorded over it! So I bought it 'for real', and it began like this... song.link/y/_DELYQ9087o#3: #REMtop30

Should be #5CoverSongsSwitch :-)

Day 3: Neko Case and Kelly Hogan not being Harry Nilsson. Neko Case - Don't Forget Me song.link/y/XiPPATnCUT4 #5CoverSongsSwitch

Should be #5CoverSongsSwitch :-)

Day 28: The early bird catches the worm. A beautiful song of friendship lost, found, and perhaps lost again. "Spilling out stories we wouldn't forget in a million years, But then we didn't have a million years..." The Fat Lady Sings - Johnny Sunrise song.link/y/_huK3V-IKwY #ColloquialSongs

Day 28: Taken from her extraordinary album covering/reinterpreting Talking Heads’ ‘Remain In Light’ in its entirety. Angélique Kidjo - Listening Wind song.link/y/ygjm2cX2klY #MotherNatureSong

Day 27, #4: World Leader Pretend Bucky Baxter's perfectly placed pedal steel deserves an award. And when it comes down to just Michael's voice and Mike's piano, it feels like the only thing in the universe, let alone the world. song.link/y/aGMejPNlcIo#4: #REMtop30

Day 2: Ben Gibbard not being TLC. Death Cab For Cutie - Waterfalls song.link/y/nWpBPaSkaBA #5CoverSongsSwitch

To all my music friends, and particularly those taking part in #5CoverSongsSwitch - I've been very busy today and out tonight, so I'm a couple of days behind on listening to and engaging with everyone's posts, but I'll try to catch up tomorrow!

Day 27: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Bat For Lashes - Horse And I song.link/y/-FjhmMRFxDw #ColloquialSongs

Day 27: Join in everybody, you all know the words... :-) Cocteau Twins - Whales Tails song.link/y/03ZPeJd-RSQ #MotherNatureSong

Day 26, #5: Perfect Circle Bill Berry's masterpiece, but a reminder of how Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe is infinitely more than just a credit line. song.link/y/3beIARLRdZY#5: #REMtop30

Day 1: Karine Polwart not being Stuart Adamson. Karine Polwart - Chance song.link/y/UkdZQNko--k #5CoverSongsSwitch

Day 26: Don't bite the hand that feeds you. MC Tunes vs. 808 State - The Only Rhyme That Bites song.link/y/-JqnDRpIjRg #ColloquialSongs

Day 26: Emma Pollock's stunning recent single - I love the driving cello from Pete Harvey and piano from Graeme Smillie, and her voice is sounding absolutely superb. An utter joy. @emmaspollock.bsky.social Emma Pollock - Future Tree song.link/y/JQq-qH1TI3c #MotherNatureSong

Day 25, #6: Fireplace Everything burns... And saxophonist Steve Berlin's skittering, borderline psychotic sheets of sound provide the perfect combustible material to add to the blaze. Off-kilter and ominous - that'll do me. song.link/y/Etb2xinNstA#6: #REMtop30

Day 25: Good things come to those who wait. "Sitting on my hands to stop myself exploding..." Something Happens - The Patience Business song.link/y/5kUn3cALn2o #ColloquialSongs

Day 25: Always on fire. The Undertones - Julie Ocean song.link/y/GO41TyUHnnc #MotherNatureSong

Day 24, #7: Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars) Michael's closing "out of towwwwwnnnnnnnnnn"s are a joy, as is the wonderfully executed simplicity of the to me to you to me vocals on the chorus throughout. And Bill Berry is worth his weight in gold in every way on this. song.link/y/whst90VILw4#7: #REMtop30

Day 24: You win some, you lose some. Cause some things you know, And some you just believe in, And hope it comes out even... Aimee Mann - Ray song.link/y/TAIhPFsjND0 #ColloquialSongs

As the old rhyme goes: "Remember, remember, The 26th, or 25th if you want to get in a bit early, of September, Cover songs, switching and pop." #5CoverSongsSwitch #MusicChallenge #NewMusicChallenge

Day 24: "I don’t go for fancy cars, For diamond rings Or movie stars... I go for penguins. Oh Lord, I go for penguins..." Lyle Lovett - Penguins song.link/y/bNvKOzg03Es #MotherNatureSong

Day 23, #8: Welcome To The Occupation "Listen to the Congress Where we propagate confusion, Primitive and wild, Fire on the hemisphere below" Listen to him, indeed. song.link/y/XARqoTAJFuM#8: #REMtop30

Day 23: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Positive Vibration song.link/y/FYsLmktDiw4 #ColloquialSongs

Day 23: Cold out... Happy to be here, without doubt. The Delgados - Never Look At The Sun song.link/y/myu3tFdI1_Q #MotherNatureSong

Day 22, #9: Strange Currencies Starring Michael Stipe as Otis Redding. I need a chance, a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, a word, a signal, a nod, a little breath, just to fool myself, to catch myself, to make it real... song.link/y/EVwbhCtpHqU#9: #REMtop30

Day 22: Two heads are better than one. Written by brothers Michael and John Head... :-) Shack - Pull Together song.link/y/HaZ46iU8Pp0 #ColloquialSongs

Day 22: Meant more to her on ordinary days. The Smithereens - Cut Flowers song.link/y/CJ4knMbhaus #MotherNatureSong

Day 21, #10: Life And How To Live It An anthem without really being an anthem; I love the way it has the feel of everyone desperately clinging on to hold things together as it veers toward careering out of control. "Listen, listen to the holler..." song.link/y/2wbJbr6CaUw#10: #REMtop30

Day 21: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Fish - Lady Let It Lie song.link/y/62Ofb1cO7Ms #ColloquialSongs

Day 21: And he says it's brilliant there... Kirsty MacColl - He's On The Beach song.link/y/bwy2etVydyI #MotherNatureSong

Now four points from four new midfielders - Simons, Szoboszlai, Paqueta, Palmer. And of course I got rid of Bruno Fernandes... Worst wildcard ever?!!!

Wildcarded in FPL this week. And, as inevitably as the rising and setting of the sun, my three new midfielders amassed three points between them...

Day 20, #11: You Are The Everything Fear and comfort, mesmerisingly intertwined. song.link/y/c9HNjW2Rx60#11: #REMtop30

Day 20: Easy come, easy go. Rickie Lee Jones - Easy Money song.link/y/4sHnMOIStzI #ColloquialSongs

Day 20: From their excellent 2023 album 'Point Clear'. If they're not a name you know, they're not a million miles away from latter period Teenage Fanclub, with an extra ladle of folkishness at times. Candidate - Dolphin Racing song.link/y/glRwX8XAn64 #MotherNatureSong

A new Tortoise for autumn!

Day 19, #12: Radio Free Europe I never really understood the "Ooh, the lyrics are so indecipherable" thing. This is obviously about a classical music loving bloke called Colin, out and about in his Ford Transit van, announcing that it's time to listen to Radio 3. song.link/y/YyMBckBuhqI#12: #REMtop30

Day 19: Live and let live. Probably an obvious choice, but there's no harm in that. Timmy Thomas - Why Can't We Live Together song.link/y/PYq6eXYUehY #ColloquialSongs

Day 19: After his acoustic Voice Of The Seven Woods project, guitarist Rick Tomlinson plugged in, turned up to 11 and gave us Voice Of The Seven Thunders - driving, fuzzed-up folk-ish psychedelia. Voice Of The Seven Thunders - The Burning Mountain song.link/y/29V7emCDTQ4 #MotherNatureSong

Day 18, #13: Sweetness Follows Yes, the lyrics, but its the arrangement that makes it for me - Knox Chandler's rumbling cello combines with the organ and the guitar feedback to create austere beauty. song.link/y/p7aHDm5dxhs#13: #REMtop30