The Smiths - the boy with the thorn in his side, 1986

"Margi Clarke asked Morrissey if this song was inspired by Oscar Wilde, and Morrissey replied: "No, that's not true. The thorn is the music industry and all those people who never believed anything I said, tried to get rid of me and wouldn't play the records. So I think we've reached a stage where we feel: if they don't believe me now, will they ever believe me? What more can a poor boy do?"

Gerry Rafferty - island, 1978

"Setting out in his apocalyptic "Ark," each song radiates the confidence of a master craftsman cruising in his prime, constructing brilliant pop confections with top-flight support while awaiting the crunch of civilization."

Belle And Sebastian - fuck this shit, 2002

"Fuck This Shit" is an instrumental track by Belle and Sebastian, featured on their 2002 album Storytelling, which serves as the soundtrack for the Todd Solondz film of the same name. The song is a brief, quirky interlude, clocking in at just over two minutes, with a lo-fi, almost improvisational feel. It blends jangly guitars, a plodding rhythm, and a touch of whimsy, characteristic of the band's indie pop sound. The title, bold and unfiltered, contrasts with the band's typically gentle aesthetic, reflecting a playful rebellion or frustration that aligns with the film's darkly comedic tone."

Fleet Foxes - battery kinzie, 2011

"Robin Pecknold remains the ringleader of this Celtic circus. His is the only voice to cut through the thick, lush harmonies that Fleet Foxes splash across every refrain like paint, and his lyrics - rife with allusions to the Bible, Dante the Magician, and the poetry of W.B. Yeats - reach beyond the territory he occupied on the band’s first record, which painted simple geographical portraits with songs like "Sun It Rises," "Ragged Wood," "Quiet Houses," and "Blue Ridge Mountains." On Helplessness Blues, he's just as interested in the landscape of the human heart. Still, it's the music that stands out, and the band's acoustic folk/chamber pop combo makes every song sound like a grand tribute to back-to-the-land living."

Bee Gees - i started a joke live, 1997

"It touches me deeply. I think it is simply about someone who wasn’t taken seriously or maybe even laughed at, put down. Someone who tried to fit in, made jokes, but still couldn’t get on the wavelength with other people. I think many of us can relate to feeling that way at times and that’s why people are even brought to tears with this song. I think Robin said to interpret it for yourself because that’s what it was meant to be, a deeply personal song. Also, this was at a time when bands were getting into experimental and psychedelic music that was a mind trip. The Beatles led the way in this genre. The BeeGees also experimented with this psychedelic genre. Not to the degree as the Beatles but still to some degree."

Beirut - landslide, 2019

“Landslide” is the third single off of Beirut’s upcoming 5th album, Gallipoli, and with each new track they release, the more evident their musical evolution becomes. The single boasts roaring rhythms of the organ that give it a touch of what listeners heard with Beirut’s earlier albums like Gulag Orkestar. Surround that by bright and uplifting harmonies – like ones from No No No – and what is created is a gorgeous combination of new and old, showcasing a maturation of sound that one would be hard-pressed not to have chills when listening to."

Headlights - i don't mind at all, 2009

"Headlights principal songwriters Tristan Wraight and Erin Fein were in Absinthe Blind, who put out two albums (“The Everyday Separation” and “Rings”) on little Mud Records in 2001 and 2003. With Headlights, the direction is meticulously observant and thankfully un-cloying indie-pop; “Wildlife” ebbs and flows, twining keyboard-drenched melodies, shimmering guitars and boy-girl vocals into a dreamy tunes that, like the music from their first two albums, has been shelter from the storm."

Bee Gees - heartbreaker live, 1997

"Heartbreaker" is a song that Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb wrote for Dionne Warwick. Released in 1982, it was a Top 10 song in most markets. Warwick herself has said that she personally didn't like the song a whole lot, though trusted the Bee Gees (her trust paid off!) while Maurice especially considers "Heartbreaker" a song that got away. The Bee Gees often included the song in their live medleys and later released a full version of their own on The Record. A demo version was also released."

Fait-divers by Buddha

There are no chains like hate... dwelling on your brother's faults multiplies your own. You are far from the end of your journey. (Buddha?

Fait-divers on the inteligence of Newton by James Gleick

"He made associations between seemingly disparate physical phenomena and across vast differences in scale."

Fait-divers on quantum entanglement

"Bohm’s ideas involve non-local hidden reality, in which everything depends on everything. In his universe, something happening in a distant galaxy is influencing you right now and vice versa, however minor the effect."

Fait-divers on attitude by Viktor Frankl

"When we are no longer able to change a situation we are challenged to change ourselves." (Viktor Frankl)

Fait-divers on supportive self-talk

Bee Gees - nights on broadway live, 1997

“It came to me in a dream. There was a request by Arif Martin, who was like an uncle to us, he was a great record producer during the song ‘Nights on Broadway’ for the Main Course album, which is previous to the ‘Fever’ syndrome. And he said, ‘Can any of you scream? Scream in falsetto?’ So, you know, give us an ad lib or a scream at the end. So from screaming, it turned into things like Blaming It All.”

The Reds Pinks And Purples - don't dream alone, 2024

"Don't Dream Alone" is a track by The Reds, Pinks & Purples, featured on their 2024 album The World Doesn't Need Another Band, released on September 5, 2024. The song is a 2-minute, 6-second melancholic indie pop gem, characterized by Glenn Donaldson's signature jangle-pop sound with introspective lyrics and a lo-fi aesthetic. It’s one of the album’s more meditative moments, exuding a "sad and heavy honesty" with a whispery, intimate delivery. The track was first performed live on October 11, 2024, at The 4-Star Theater in San Francisco. The album blends new songs with remixes of previous singles, incorporating noisier elements and real drums alongside Donaldson’s strummy earworms, drawing comparisons to The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, and Sarah Records. Fans have praised its catchy, gloomy, and literate vibe, with influences from '80s and '90s college rock."

Pope’s July prayer intention: ‘For formation in discernment’

Holy Spirit, you, light of our understanding, gentle breath that guides our decisions, grant me the grace to listen attentively to your voice and to discern the hidden paths of my heart, so that I may grasp what truly matters to you, and free my heart from its troubles. I ask you for the grace to learn how to pause, to become aware of the way I act, of the feelings that dwell within me, and of the thoughts that overwhelm me which, so often, I fail to notice. I long for my choices to lead me to the joy of the Gospel. Even if I must go through moments of doubt and fatigue, even if I must struggle, reflect, search, and begin again… Because, at the end of the journey, your consolation is the fruit of the right decision. Grant me a deeper understanding of what moves me, so that I may reject what draws me away from Christ, and love him and serve him more fully. Amen.

Learning to discern "To learn to live, you have to learn to love, and for this it is necessary to discern... Good discernment also requires self-knowledge... Often we do not know how to discern because we do not know ourselves well enough, and so we do not really know what we want." (Pope Francis). Do you take time to enter your heart, in the silence of prayer, to discern your decisions? Stay attentive to the Spirit of the Lord to discover your deepest desires and make life-giving decisions.

Feeling and distinguishing one’s own emotions "Examination of conscience helps a great deal… what happened today? What happened? What made me react? What made me sad? What made me joyful? What was bad, and did I harm others? It is about seeing the path our feelings took, the attractions in my heart during the day." (Pope Francis). Take breaks during your day to discover what's happening in your heart, what brings you joy or makes you sad, what emotions are aroused by the things you experience. The Lord speaks to you through the emotions you feel. Listen to His voice to decide according to the emotions that lead you to life.

Recognizing inner movements "It is important to know ourselves, to know the passwords of our heart, what we are most sensitive to, in order to protect ourselves from those who present themselves with persuasive words to manipulate us, but also to recognize what is truly important for us, distinguishing it from current fads or flashy, superficial slogans." (Pope Francis). What is important to you? Does it align with what God wants for you? Let Francis' question resonate within you: "Am I free, or do I let myself be carried away by the feelings of the moment, or by the provocations of the moment?"

Embracing what opens me to life "The good habit of calmly rereading what happens in our day, learning to note in our evaluations and decisions what we give most importance to, what we are looking for and why, and what we eventually find. Above all, learning to recognize what satisfies my heart." (Pope Francis). Is Joy the fruit of your decisions in general? Do you have the habit of reviewing your day? This will give you clues about where you are heading, and what is beneficial for you to choose more and more that Life that Jesus desires for you, and for those around you.

Reject what leads me to death "Temptation does not necessarily suggest bad things, but often haphazard things, presented with excessive importance. In this way it hypnotizes us with the attraction that these things stir in us, things that are beautiful but illusory, that cannot deliver what they promise, and therefore leave us in the end with a sense of emptiness and sadness." (Pope Francis). Seek someone who can teach you to discern, a guide, the community, to decode that secret password of your heart that manifests in many ways. How do you decide? Where do your choices lead you? By their fruits you will know them.

 

The Smiths - vicar in a tutu, 1986

"Vicar in a Tutu" centres on a cross-dressing clergyman, with Terence Cawley of The Boston Globe noting its "casual dismissal of gender norms", further describing as "sneakily subversive". Musically, the song features musical elements characteristic of the music hall tradition with Korber describing it as a "slight-yet-enjoyable rockabilly pastiche".

Neil Young - heart of gold live mönchengladbach, 2025

"I don't understand how broccoli became the most hated vegetable. There are so many better candidates like that rotting piece of garbage known as cauliflower."

Popidiot - the way i made you laugh, 2025

"Popidiot is an Estonian band. In 2009, the band won several awards in Estonian Music Awards, including in the category "best band of the year" and "best video of the year".

The Soft Cavalry - bulletproof, 2019

"The Soft Cavalry is husband/wife duo of Steve Clarke and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive. The band have released a video for album-track “Bulletproof” in which they use sign language to convey the track’s lyrics. The song is off their current self-titled release, available via Bella Union."