Readers recommend playlist: songs about old and new

Reflecting changes at this time of year, our latest reader-curated playlist includes tunes from the Beatles, the Buggles and Bing Crosby

Here is this week’s playlist – songs picked by a reader from your suggestions on last week’s callout. Thanks for taking part. Read more about how our weekly series works at the end of the piece.

First of all, let me wish you all a Happy new year! This week’s topic was supposed to reflect the change from old to new, but much of the material nominated was more about change in general, so this week for the A-list I stuck to tracks that matched what I had in mind when setting the challenge. However, the B-list, which will be posted in the comments, is compiled from all of the nominations, so I hope you will enjoy that too.

Listen to the A-list on YouTube.

The Beatles’ Yesterday, with which we begin, reflects the topic nicely. One day the singer’s life was perfect; the next day it had changed beyond belief. In a different vein, Sabaton contemplate the truism that “When the old meets the new / It always ends the ancient ways” in their song Shiroyama, about the end of the Samurai.

Changing the mood completely Paolo Nutini’s old shoes have given way to New Shoes, and it’s making him very happy!

A couple of tracks now that riff on the fact that the old is replaced by new, then the new becomes old and in turn is replaced by something else. Foo Fighters End Over End considers, now that they are older, the things that were once new, and on how someday they will all be new again. Similarly Jethro Tull sings that it was A New Day Yesterday “but it’s an old one now”.

Next, three very different new year songs. The Bottle Rockets sing about how the old year has changed to the new, but their life hasn’t really changed, in Another Brand New Year. Steeleye Span’s The King recalls the tradition of displaying a wren (real or constructed) on St Stephen’s day, when Christmas is past and the new year is coming. Finally in this section, Bing Crosby implores: Let’s Start the New Year Right.

Last, two songs that absolutely nailed what I had in mind when I suggested the topic – although neither had actually occurred to me. First of all, the Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star is all about how changing technology leads to changing tastes (although these days it might be truer to say “Streaming killed the Radio DJ”). Finally the Eagles tell the story of the New Kid in Town, who outstays his welcome and becomes the old kid, until being replaced by another new kid.

New theme: how to join in

The next theme will be announced at 8pm (GMT) on Thursday 4 January.

Here is a reminder of some of the guidelines for readers recommend:


Contributor

Chaz Cozens

The GuardianTramp

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