I was wowed by the reaction to last week's theme - so much debate, and so many songs I'd never heard before. For once, I shunned all of the five most popular choices, for being too predictable (Bowie, Bronski Beat) or well-intentioned but clunky (Tom Robinson, Rod Stewart). Lists of gay songs often tend to tread the same old ground so I wanted this one to contain some surprises. Talking of surprises, are you sure that's what Jailhouse Rock is about? As Blimpy noted, it would give an eyebrow-raising spin to the line "If you can't find a partner use a wooden chair".
The B-list goes like so: Bowie (Queen Bitch), Placebo (Nancy Boy), the Kinks (See My Friends), Ma Rainey (Sissy Blues), Weezer (Pink Triangle), Gina X (No GDM), Man 2 Man Meet Man Parrish (Male Stripper), Momus (The Homosexual), Broken Social Scene (I'm Still Your Fag) and Billy Bragg (Tender Comrade).
Next Saturday is Live Earth. Although I suspect that it will be a titanic waste of time with a Godzilla-sized carbon footprint, it seems like a good opportunity to call for songs about the environment. I'm using environment in the green sense, rather than its more all-encompassing definition, so every suggestion should have some kind of eco tinge -- some exploration of the chemistry between civilisation and nature. There's a tiny bit of overlap with the recent rural songs playlist (Ali Farka Toure's Savane would have fitted here) but they are distinct themes so we shouldn't have much trouble.
Make your way (with the minimum of carbon emissions) to the A-Z and the Readers Recommend archive. Deadline is midday Monday.
