Spring into the new issue of Songwriting with our latest playlist

Mining from our 38th edition, we’ve dug up classic tracks, hidden gems, and new treasures…

As you delve into the pages of our Spring issue, we invite you to listen along with a soundtrack that echoes the voices within. This specially curated 22-track playlist brings together cover stars Skunk Anansie, enduring favourites like Vashti Bunyan and Counting Crows, today’s torchbearers The Lathums, and emerging talents including Sirens of Lesbos and Hannah Maryse. Whether you’re discovering new songs or reconnecting with familiar favourites, we’re sure you’ll find something to enjoy…

BALLAD OF A THIN MAN

“In loads of his songs, there are internal rhymes within the line, as well as long, slow-arc narrative rhymes that never go away, and lines in choruses that he could repeat – because they’re good enough – but he chooses not to. My favourite example that I can think of, where Dylan rises above petty rhyme rules, is Ballad Of A Thin Man, where he just won’t let go of the need to not repeat a chorus rhyme – until he’s doing desperate things to escape from the trap that he set himself. The incredible thing is that he makes it work.” — Eg White (on Bob Dylan)

IF I WERE

“I bought a Mac and a little keyboard, and I had music software. It was off a music magazine, and I put that in and it was so magical. What came up on my screen was all the faders and buttons and lights and stuff that I had been denied when I was young. I wasn't able to do any of it when I was young, but to see that and to be able to manipulate sounds, oh, that set me off. I was able to do stuff by myself without anybody else. It was great… The demo for If I Were is on the second album, and that was the first song I wrote with whatever that program was.” — Vashti Bunyan

BITTERSWEET

“The best line in that is at the very end, she says ‘This shit is bittersweet.’ She didn’t want to keep it because she’s a church girl, and we’re like, ‘No, people are going to get that.’ And that’s [a lot] people’s favourite part. It’s speaking that one little curse word at the end, lets people know that Fantasia was really talking about some real stuff.” — Claude Kelly

WEAK

“‘Weak as I am, no tears for you,’ I think a lot of people identify with that. It's a song that resonated with a lot of people all at the same time. That song was eight years in the making lyrically, because it was about an abusive relationship that needed some perspective to be able to write about, but it came together so easily and, musically, it didn't really need much. It just needed everyone to play along.” — Skin (Skunk Anansie)

A STONE ONLY ROLLS DOWNHILL

“I was watching my kids play over the summer vacation in a big field… and I felt how this will all go in the blink of an eye. I felt myself 18 years later, looking back on that moment, that I felt how brief all of this is. And at the same time, I felt the absolutely untarnished joy of running through a field, that they can have and I can’t.” — Damian Kulash (OK Go)

LONG SHADOWS

“With Long Shadows, it's so one track, you can't deviate with it that much because the song won't allow it. It has chosen what it was supposed to be; very minimal messing with it. It was a one-take vocal and that was all that ever happened. I was writing lyrics, then rewriting them, because I wanted it to be as good as it is, I didn't want to lowball it at all. Then, as I finally got the right words, I went into the booth and sung my take and that was it. There was no messing with the vocal or anything. That's what the song needed.” — Alex Moore (Lathums)

MR JONES

“It’s not just a celebration of rock n roll, it’s also the hollowness of having your dreams come true. I’m very proud that the song has so many levels to it. I will always really love it for that. It’s just such a great piece of writing, but I don’t remember much about it except for that. I remember the night very vividly, leading up to getting home. And I remember sort of sitting down with this idea of the song and thinking about it. But I don’t really remember anything else about it, because it was the middle of the night.” — Adam Duritz (Counting Crows)

COMPANY

“It became a futuristic interpretation of 1920’s Tin Pan Alley. Maybe because it’s anticipating my own inevitable nostalgia for my younger years. It seems to be from the perspective of an older person, feeling lonely and isolated but assuring his visitor that he’s near and not to worry. Initially I imagined strings and clarinets, but instead I tried to get the same results using fuzz guitars and Moog synthesizer.” — Brian D’Addario

THE RIVERBOAT SONG

“The Riverboat Song was kind of like a Green Onions guitar instrumental and then the vocal would be put on top… Then we created the sound around the song, so it’s not black and white. I wrote [the riff] in the toilet, actually. It was written in the bog. I mean, any sort of kid can come up with a riff like that. But then, in hindsight, I realise it’s difficult to write a simple riff. I think it’s just luck, really, more than anything.” — Steve Cradock (Ocean Colour Scene)