We all know what idle talk leads to. But can you imagine a world without it? There are entire magazines – entire industries even – devoted to gossip. People enjoy it. And rumour has it there are also quite a few songs about hearsay.
Gossip can be the malicious spreading of misinformation, but unsubstantiated tittle-tattle is sometimes all we have to go on. It can obsess musicians, and inspire them to some great works.
Sometimes what can seem like trivial chit-chat can have profound consequences. But sometimes it is just trivial chit-chat, and a bit of a laugh. So come on – rack your brains, delve into your record collections (or your iTunes libraries: yes, I've heard how you people operate) – and tell us the best songs about gossip.
The toolbox:
* This week's collaborative Spotify playlist.
* The RR archive.
* The Marconium (blog containing a wealth of data on RR).
* The 'Spill (blog for the RR community).
* An explanation of how the word "dond" came to be used by RR people to mean the seconding of another reader's nomination.
Please do:
* Post your nominations before midday on Tuesday if you wish them to be considered.
* Write a few lines attempting to justify your choices.
But please don't:
* Post more than one third of the lyrics of any song.
* Dump lists of nominations. If you must post more than two or three at once, please attempt to justify your choices.
Here are the results of last week's Readers recommend: songs about showing off.
