Quite a tricky one, this, so I’ve largely gone for songs that tell an autobiographical tale about the places I’ve lived.
1. This Land Is Your Land – The Waterboys. Fifty-five seconds of titting about from the Waterboys to start.
2. Born in the UK – Badly Drawn Boy. I can’t have been the only one to include this this month, can I?
3. I’m Moving To Wales – Eberg. At the age of three I moved to Wales, so here’s a song to mark that. Don’t worry, the rest of this CD is not this literal.
4. Timeless Melody (BBC Session) – The La’s. At age 18 I moved to Liverpool. This is what Liverpool sounds like.
5. Near The Moon – Animals That Swim. At the age of 23 I moved to London. This is what – well, London sounds like a lot of things, but this is what London sounded like to me.
6. Pull Shapes – The Pipettes. At the age of 31 I moved to Brighton. This is what Brighton sounds like.
7. A Hazy Shade of Winter – Simon & Garfunkel. I almost put ‘Homeward Bound’ on this compilation, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, have Hazy Shade of Winter. It doesn’t have any link to the CDs theme that I can spot, but it is ace.
8. Boggy Home – Stump. It is good to follow Simon & Garfunkel with Stump, I think. Notice how this song cuts out just before the end? Thanks for that, Stump Complete Anthology 3-CD boxset.
9. Dacw Hi – Super Furry Animals. Having moved to Wales, primary teachers made a half-hearted attempt to teach me Welsh. To commemerate this, here we have a song about a primary school teacher. In Welsh.
10. Dolphins – Tim Buckley. Really, I wanted to find a song about the place I grew up – Buckley, the shining metropolis of North-East Wales. Unfortunately, no-one has ever written a song about Buckley. So here’s Tim Buckley instead.
11. Heartland – The The. Matt Johnson’s State of the Nation address from, ooh, 1986 or so. Back then, it sounded left wing, now it sounds right wing. But still apt.
12. Londinium – Catatonia. London is the best place in the world, if you are young, single and carelessly rich. This is a song for everyone else.
13. Goin Home – Dinosaur Jr. I love the way J. Mascis sounds like he just can’t be bothered singing. He is the anti-X Factor.
14. All We Need is The Money – Black. This song was dedicated ‘to the people of Liverpool’, and probably describes them better than any other, for good or ill.
15. Panther Dash – The Go! Team. And to end, a clattering slab of Brighton joyfullness.
