Twelve Months Of Song

Introduction

I am always listening to music while I work, and lots of songs stick with me, and often they pertain to certain months of the year, so I thought I would share one song for each month of the year, which either names the month or a special day within that month.

Although the songs may not pertain to a particular event of mine, they all make me think of what has happened and what is going to happen in my life, so I have trotted out New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, Halloween and Christmas day.

There are so many songs that you can choose and every month could have had a lot more entries than I have included, but I don't want to flood you with songs, as you will get bored. It is ironic that the forty-minute vinyl album with six or seven songs on each side would be a perfect format for this playlist.

So this is my last year, but it could have been the year before and will possibly be pertinent for 2025 as well.

The image I created was supposed to be a circular calendar. As usual, AI doesn't give you what you want, but I did like it , so I decided to go with it.

January:

U2 - "New Year's Day"

That's the first of January and this is a bit about the song's genesis:

The lyric had its origins in a love song from Bono to his wife but was subsequently reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement. The bassline stemmed from bassist Adam Clayton trying to figure out the chords to the Visage song "Fade to Grey" during a soundcheck.

February:

Taylor Swift - "Jump Then Fall"

I love this song and one of my close friends told me she does too. This features on the soundtrack of the film "Valentine's Day" and Valentine's Day falls in February.

This was one of two Taylor Swift songs on that album and I love the other one as well "Today Was A Fairytale". This was another album that I was going to sell on Discogs fairly cheaply, and I got an enquiry from Canada that didn't result in a sale, so I gave it a listen and was hooked immediately by this song.

March:

Van Morrison - "March Winds In February"

Van the Man spans two months with this song, but I have two songs in March as well as the two Taylor Swift ones in February. This is almost typical Van Morrison, stream of consciousness lyrics that put you into a very relaxed state but then we follow it with this:

Jethro Tull - "March, The Mad Scientist"

The song mentions Christmas, but the month is there in the title although used as a verb or maybe a proper name, it fits my criteria, and it is a great if short song.

Patti Smith - "April Fool"

I was going to sell my copy of "Banga" on Discogs, then I played it once and thought how the hell could I sell this beauty?

"Come, Be My April Fool

Come You're The Only One"

Yeah, I will certainly be Patti's "April Fool any day that she asks

May:

Arcade Fire - "Month Of May"

Arcade Fire taking use relentlessly into the "Month Of May"

June:

Florence and the Machine - "June"

This is a sad sounding piece although it does build itself up, and of course it has the titles and the great advice:

"Hold On To Each Other"

July:

Bruce Springsteen - "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"

A perfectly beautiful slice of Springsteen songsmithery with and absolutely wonderful chorus.

August:

Taylor Swift - "August"

A lot of artists have released songs that refer to the month of August, and this is a new one for me, but 2024 was the year when I started to take notice of Taylor Swift so it's OK that she has appeared twice in this playlist.

September:

Carole King - "It Might As Well Rain Until September"

For me it couldn't be any other song for this, an American Teenage "Missing You" song written when she was part of the Brill Building songwriting factory with Gerry Goffin.

This single was Carole's highest peaking song in the United Kingdom reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1962. It charted at #22 on Billboard chart in September of that year, appearing on the Hot 100 chart dated October 6, 1962.

The Wiki entry gives you a lot of information about the Brill Building, where it got its name from and who worked there. You may recognise a few of the names:

October:

John Carpenter - "Halloween"

I love John Carpenter's minimalist compositions and this is no exception. Of Course, Halloween occurs on the final day of October.

I had a few songs going through my head for this, but this is a truly unforgettable masterpiece.

November:

Wyclef Jean - "Gone Till November"

I was listening to this on my special edition of "2 Sides II A Book: The Ecleftic" yesterday and is another beautiful "missing you" song and is perfect for November.

The orchestration apparently features the New Your Philharmonic.

December:

The Raveonettes - "Christmas Song"

One of my favourite Christmas song mixing, Roxette, The Velvet Underground and the Phil Spector sound, is nothing less than perfectly gorgeous.

As We Approach The End Of The Year

All these songs have been played many times during the last year, and this was not a difficult playlist to put together. Whether it meets the criteria, I really don't know, but now that I have finished it, I really love it and will be listening to all these songs again via this playlist.

I have mentioned how a couple of the songs were on my Discogs store, but then were pulled, but if you do want to know what I am selling you can check it out here:

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope, listening.