Atlas of song: A globe-trotter’s playlist
Editor’s note: This month, we shared a silly and fun prompt with our splainer fam—asking them to send us fave song titles that mention a location—a city, town, region or country. The result is a unique multilingual and multi-genre list that goes from Sydney to Coorg, Bombay and London. We’re really loving this one. You can check out the full playlist over on our Spotify account!
- ‘Chicago’ by Sufjan Stevens: Do we even have to explain why this is on the top of the list? For us, it ticks all the boxes related to the prompt. But Rupsha loves the song for its “beautiful melody”.
- ‘Kashmir’ by Led Zeppelin: A highly requested and obvious classic to the list. Shreyash Bamane likes the “mysterious and unusual guitar riff” and Lahar likes it for the same reasons we do: “Instantly recognizable intro, dreamy vocals, all time classic rock song.”
- ‘Chail Toke Ghumai Debu’ by Julian David Kujur: This folk artist and this rock band is from Ranchi—the hometown of Sourabh’s, who suggested this song because it reminds him of the town he grew up in. Bonus: “It is lovely to see the local Nagpuri Tribal songs re-interpreted in a rock version and beginning to claim their rightful place in people’s imagination.” True, that!
- ‘Bam Bam Bambai’ from ‘Swarg’: This classic Govinda song is Sourabh’s other pick as it perfectly encapsulates how he feels about the city. Well, you gotta appreciate the rhyme!
- ‘Sydney Nagaram’ from Orange: Move over ‘Newyork Nagaram’, we are all vibing to ‘Sydney Nagaram’ now! Milind added the song for nostalgic reasons and has the “unique vocals, music, and lyrics which sell the city of Sydney” for him. Note: The song has two titles—‘Sydney Nagaram’ in Tamil and Ola Olaala Ela in Telugu. The song in the playlist is the Telugu version.
- ‘Malenaada Henna’ from ‘Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu’: This beautiful Kannada love song is named after a coffee estate in Coorg and is sung by the legendary PB Sreenivas and S Janaki. What’s not to like!
- ‘Tokyo Flash’ by Vaundy: According to Rohit transcends the barriers of language: “It's groovy, warm, comforting and yet evokes a sense of longing.” Bonus: a super cool music video!
- ‘Bowen Island’ by Jacob Maxwell: Karan feels this is “a very underrated love song that is well-written and has an easy-going tune.”
- ‘London Thunder’ by Foals: This is a rather melancholic song from the Oxford based band that Smit discovered. He finds the song “hypnotising.”
- ‘London Calling’ by The Clash: Lahar suggests this 70s punk rock number for it “has something for everyone” and is “one of the greatest songs ever.”
- ‘Boston’ by Augusta: As a pianist herself, Neha loves the song's construction—“the chord progressions, the lyrics, the bridge, the vocals — come together to make the song greater than the whole of its part.” We love that description!
- ‘Mexico’ by Jump, Little Children: Though this anonymous subscriber isn’t “big on ostensibly cheesy love songs, this one makes for an incredibly listenable plea.”
- ‘Bombay Sapphire’ by Rawal, Bharg and Raga: Chiranjeev says this is the “perfect song to listen to while chilling in hostel.”
Splainer team’s picks: Our Advisory editor immediately put down ‘Alone in Kyoto’ by Air for its “fine production and capturing the sense of being lost and alone in a far away city” and ‘Jaipur’ by Mr. Twin Sister for its “maddening groove for when you need some comfort during a manic state of mind.”
Our News editor Raghav loves ‘Still Snowing in Sapporo’ by Manic Street Preachers because “it marries incredibly lush production with lyrics reflecting on doing long tours abroad.” His other pick: ‘Formentera’ by Metric. The song is titled after a mediterranean island is on the list because is an “earworm of a track that introspects on letting go of problems not in our control”. Meanwhile, Assistant news editor Aarthi wanted to add the classic ‘Vienna’ by Billy Joel because it is the perfect fit for the list and ‘Postcards from Italy’ by Beirut which is a nostalgic ode to the country.
PS: Check out the splainer fam’s other recommended playlists—one for unwinding at the beach, a soundtrack for the slog, songs to get your karaoke groove on, tunes that mention colour, their favourite cover versions, music for your next road trip, tunes to sing in the rain and songs to dance to in your underwear.
