Black Sabbath - changes, 1972

"Changes" was not recorded with a real string ensemble. Instead, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi used a Mellotron to create the sound of an orchestra. The ballad is generally an outlier in the band’s discography as it does not feature guitar or drums. To alleviate concerns about the band departing their well-known heavy sound, Osbourne promised in a 1972 interview "We're certainly not going to get any less heavy, we will probably do 'Changes' on stage with a Mellotron, but we'll never take strings on stage with us or anything like that."

Pet Shop Boys - the survivors, 1996

"With this track Neil and Chris responded to recurring rumors that one or both of them have AIDS. In essence, they simply express how they feel as "survivors" of the epidemic (which by 1996 seemed to have peaked since more effective treatments had recently become available), being able to continue and flourish while so many others, including close friends, sicken and die. They're grateful for their good fortune, yet saddened by the losses around them. They feel the best thing they—or anyone—can do to commemorate those who have passed on is indeed to survive, carrying on in their stead. "Somehow we'll survive."

The Jesus And Mary Chain - till it shines, 1994

"Anyone who has ever written a song is a romantic. A song isn't life - it's supposed to depict a part of life. Anything that isn't real life is romanticism. Anything that's under the heading of art is romanticism. Art exists to make us feel exalted and above bunny rabbits."

Wim Mertens - houfnice, 1991

"I'd never heard anything like it before. Mertens seemingly played on some kind of electronic piano and sang along in his falsetto voice without lyrics. The staccato introduction was instantly arresting. Tension pulled as the music built up. Suddenly it paused. A soothing melody then caressed the rippling rhythm. When the vocal entered, I had some heavenly images in my head."

The Shins - the past and pending, 2001

"At this time of the year, I usually feel a sense of anticipatory loss over the passing of summer, but this year feels slightly different. Maybe I’m growing into a state of being more appreciative of the present moment, instead of dreading each one being over. Time will tell. I look forward to what’s next."

Elton John - nikita, 1985

"Nikita" is a song by English musician Elton John from his 19th studio album, Ice on Fire (1985). It was released as the album's lead single on 4 October 1985, charting at number three on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven in the United States, and reaching the top 10 worldwide, topping the charts of eight countries. The song features George Michael on backing vocals and Nik Kershaw on guitar."

Seapony - blue star, 2011

"Seattle’s Seapony make a dreamy bliss pop that is so easy and enjoyable to listen to that I don’t quite understand why it isn’t on every blog in the whole wide world."

Saint Etienne - le ballade de saint etienne, 2001

"Saint Etienne have deftly escaped the clutches of obscurity. Mainmen Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have nipped and tucked their once dancefloor-tailored sound over the years."

Neil Young - like a hurricane unplugged, 1993

"no doubt in my mind that this song is a classic, and the unplugged version might even be better than the original."

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - we love you, 1986

"AllMusic critic Dave Thompson later wrote that "We Love You" had "all the makings of a smash [hit]", while praising its instrumentation and "splendidly anthemic chorus". He also observed "barely veiled lyrics with anti-militaristic intent".

Arco-íris caindo no telhado do Palácio da Vila de Sintra, hoje, 13 de Dezembro de 2024, há poucos minutos

Art Garfunkel - scissors cut, 1981

"Laurie was the greatest thing I ever knew in my life, now I've lost it."

Renaissance - let it grow, 1973

"It felt so good to relax and have fun and a few glasses of wine... I do have footage of me dancing during the evening, but not sure if I will share that LOL’s. I wasn’t expecting to ‘sing’ so luckily I wasn’t legless hahahahaha. The Brazilian band had learned our song ‘Let it Grow’ ahead of time. This song was a huge hit in Brazil in the 70’s, but that was still not enough for us to be able to tour."

AC Newman - the cloud prayer, 2004

"We would join a formless consciousness. If we were looking, we could find the ones we love and share consciousness. Makes as much sense as living on a cloud."

Beirut - the rip tide live seattle, 2012

"a significant homecoming for Condon, the seeker who rejected his hometown and travelled in search of romantic sounds; as if, having seen the world, he can see his home in a new, more mature light."

Girls In Hawaii - this farm will end up in fire, 2008

"It was basically a song about escaping Belgian weather and in a broader way escaping «who» or «where» we were at that time..."

The Shadows - good vibrations cover, 1973

"Good, good, good, good vibrations." He started telling me the story about his mother. ... He said he'd always thought that it would be fun to write a song about vibes and picking them up from other people. ... So as we started to work, he played this little rhythmic pattern—a riff on the piano, the thing that goes under the chorus."

Pet Shop Boys - young offender, 1993

"the music has a distinctly "techno" feel that includes "beeping" sounds common to computer games, highly appropriate to the scenario described in the lyrics of the younger man playing a computer game while the older man looks on somewhat bemusedly"

James - sometimes lester piggott, 1993

"Sometimes is track two on the 1993 James Laid album and was released as the first single from the album. The amusing sub-title is a reference to the racing beat of the song and carries on the band’s obsession with the tax-dodging jockey which first surfaced at the end of the original Sit Down. Tim often tells the story of Brian Eno being in tears the first time they played it live in the studio and how he told them it was one of the highlights of his musical life."

Violens - spectator and pupil, 2010

"Violens was an American synth-pop band. Jorge Elbrecht and Iddo Arad formed the band in 2007 while living in Brooklyn, New York, and Myles Matheny joined them in 2009. In 2008, the band released their self-titled extended play under the Deadly People record label. Their debut album Amoral was released in 2010, later followed by the second album True, released in 2012."

Club 8 - late nights, 2015

"Swedish indie pop pioneers Club 8 celebrated 20 years as a musical couple (which included several years as an actual couple) in 2015. That experience and chemistry are easy to track on the veteran band’s release of Pleasure, a new eight-song LP that Johan Angergård called the band’s “most focused work to date.”

AC Newman - on the table, 2004

"‘On The Table’ sounds like an outtake from The Electric Version"

Echo And The Bunnymen - jimmy brown, 2003

"Incidentally, the 25th Anniversary Expanded & RemasteredRe-Issue of that cd features ‘Jimmy Brown’ a much tougher, early version of ‘Dancing Horses’ which sounds closer to ‘Over Your Shoulder’."

The Beatles - she loves you, 1963

"the initial idea for the song began with Bobby Rydell's hit "Forget Him" with its call and response pattern, and that "as often happens, you think of one song when you write another ... I'd planned an 'answering song' where a couple of us would sing 'she loves you' and the other ones would answer 'yeah yeah'. We decided that was a crummy idea but at least we then had the idea of a song called 'She Loves You'. So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it – John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars." Like many early Beatles songs, the title of "She Loves You" was framed around the use of personal pronouns. But unusually for a love song, the lyrics are not about the narrator's love for someone else; instead the narrator functions as a helpful go-between for estranged lovers"

Sintra hoje, 11 de Dezembro de 2024, há poucos minutos

Palma Violets - all the garden birds, 2013

"Palma Violets write perfectly catchy hooks, and know how to get people moving, but is their sound really built to last? Only time will tell, I suppose."

Acid House Kings - do what you wanna do, 2005

"The first time I heard “Do What You Wanna Do,” I thought it was the latest single by The Legends. The song features hand claps and a consistent tambourine–you can almost hear the producer telling the group I gotta have more hand claps like Bruce Dickinson to Gene Frenkle with the cowbell. While the Bruce and Gene sketch warrants a laugh, “Do What You Wanna Do” warrants applause as I gave it the runner-up position to Best Song of 2005, second only to Voxtrot’s “The Start of Something.”

Neil Young - tell me why, 1970

"Musically, the song marks a shift from the hard rock of 1969's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and bears more folk and country influences, which would continue onto 1972's Harvest. The only instruments are two acoustic guitars, played by Young and Nils Lofgren. He is, however, backed by the vocal harmonies of Crazy Horse during the choruses. 'Tell Me Why' has a simple lyrical structure, with two verses each followed by a bridge then chorus, and one final bridge and chorus before a short instrumental outro. The chorus line "Tell me why, tell me why/Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself/When you're old enough to repay/but young enough to sell?" is the most famous line from the song, typifying the introspective and melancholic nature of not just this song, but the whole album."

Saint Etienne - carnt sleep, 1991

"The drowsy, heartsick ballad "Carnt Sleep" sounds like a humid summer spent spinning Sarah Records 7"s back to back with Sade, slick soul secretly slid into an indie-friendly sleeve."

Okkervil River - plus ones, 2007

"Perhaps the most ingenious part of this song is in its title. It has not one, but three meanings that are prevalent throughout the song. As a whole, The Stage Names (and its spiritual successor, The Stand Ins) permeate with criticism of pop culture, and the lives of those who fall victim to its celebrity. Plus Ones is no exception."

Girls In Hawaii - sun of the sons, 2008

"Girls in Hawaii is a Belgian indie pop band. Girls in Hawaii's first release was Found in the Ground: The Winter EP in early 2003, after which the band toured Belgium and France. In the meantime they started recording what would become their first LP. From Here To There was released in November 2003 in Belgium and in early 2004 in Europe. It was well-received across Europe, where the band went on a promotional tour through Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. The record was later released in Japan and, in October 2005, China Shop Music released it in the United States. The band started a short tour of the West Coast of the United States in April 2006. Their second full-length album, Plan Your Escape, was released in February 2008 in Europe. It was recorded in old houses in the Ardennes Forest by producer Jean Lamoot (who has worked with French artists such as Noir Désir and Alain Bashung). The album, more complex and eclectic than the previous, contains twelve songs; the first single was called "This Farm Will End Up in Fire". The band toured Europe promoting the album during 2008. In February 2009 Not Here, a documentary relating the life of the band during that tour, was released on DVD. On 30 May 2010, 28 year-old drummer Denis Wielemans died in a car accident in Brussels. In 2012 they started working on their third album, Everest. The album was released on 2 September 2013. In the summer of 2014, they released a new EP, Refuge. In October 2014, they released a live album, Hello Strange, which revisits old songs in an acoustic and/or electronic way. In September 2017, they released Nocturne, their fourth album."

Wim Mertens - hufhuf, 1991

"Anyone who doesn't know Wim Mertens, should."

A-ha - dragonfly, 2002

"Magne Furuholmen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian musician and visual artist. Also known by his stage name Mags, he is the keyboardist of the synth-pop band A-ha and co-wrote hits such as "Take On Me", "Stay on These Roads", "Manhattan Skyline", "Cry Wolf", "Forever Not Yours", "Analogue (All I Want)", "Minor Earth Major Sky", "Touchy!", "You Are the One", "Move To Memphis" and "Foot of the Mountain". A-ha has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. He was named Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Harald for his services to Norwegian music and his international success."

Seapony - dreaming, 2011

"All initial sings point to the kind of hazy electro-pop we've heard so much of these last couple of years, yet when you actually press "play" on this Seattle indie rock trio's new single, you get something quite different and ultimately much more direct. This breezy, guitar-driven gem is compact and tuneful, getting by more on clear and simple statements than fuzzy allusions."

Barclay James Harvest - love is like a violin, 1977

"Love Is Like A Violin is a marvellously beautiful track"

Electronic - dark angel, 1996

"Dark Angel is a pleasant inclusion. Honestly I think it sounded pretty dated when it came out, and now it definitely belongs in another era, but it’s a strong song. This time, the middle section is nothing short of brilliant."

Lana Del Rey - let the light in, 2023

"Let the Light In" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey featuring fellow American singer-songwriter Father John Misty from her ninth studio album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd"

Slade - everyday, 1974

"The idea for "Everyday" came out of an evening at Lea's house where he was entertaining friends. Responding to the question of how he wrote songs, Lea said "easy, anyone can do it" and each person then attempted to come up with their idea for a song on the spot. Lea's wife Louise had come up with an idea, which formed the basis of "Everyday"'s verse. Lea later developed her idea further to become a Slade song. Once he had finished the music and some more of the lyrics, Holder finished the final lyrics off. During the recording of the song, guitarist Dave Hill was abroad on his honeymoon so Lea played the guitar solo."

Kevin Max - stay, 2005

 

In this song there is a reference to Sintra that can be interpreted as alluding to the often rainy character of Sintra:
"Oh the English rain
Seems to follow me again
All the way from Sintra Portugal
It's where I met you just one year ago."
Sintra has in fact a microclimate that makes it unique in the Portuguese climate. It is often sunny everywhere and it only rains in Sintra.

The Beatles - got to get you into my life, 1966

"Got to Get You into My Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, first released in 1966 on their album Revolver. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is a homage to the Motown Sound, with colourful brass instrumentation and lyrics that suggest a psychedelic experience. "It's actually an ode to pot," McCartney explained."