http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/JBM-years.mp3 In North America, today is eclipse day. School days are cancelled or shortened, everyone’s scrambling to buy glasses, and we’re all giddy about the rarity that we are privileged to experience. Not to burst any bubbles, but total solar eclipses aren’t actually all that rare. There have already been 14 of them this century, with another 54 to come before the century is out. The only rarity is that this one passes over several major population centres, and will be visible (at least partially) from everywhere in the co ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Collector.mp3 Several times during my childhood, I tried to start a specific type of coin collection. The goal was to accumulate one type of coin for every year. It didn’t matter whether that was quarters or nickels or what; I just wanted a complete set. After scouring my own coin jar (and that of my parents) I quickly realized that such a collection would be very difficult to complete. Finding coins minted in the past twenty years was easy, but finding coins from the 1960s, 50s, 40s…with each step further into the past, it beca ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Belle.mp3 Any musician famous enough to amass a large fan base inevitably amasses some haters. If it’s not for their music, it might be their look, their politics, or their personas. When Jack Johnson’s fame peaked in the mid-2000s, he had plenty of hatred aimed his way, and I never fully understood why. He seemed like a pretty likeable guy. He married his college girlfriend and steers clear of tabloid drama. He’s quietly active with charity work in his home state of Hawaii, environmentally conscious without being preachy, and u ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Hold-On-Magnolia-Demo.mp3 This week’s song was recommended by a reader. Thanks, Mia! Do you ever look at an old photo of yourself and wonder when that version of you became the current version of you? You can see that you look younger in the photo. Shockingly younger. But when, precisely, did those changes happen? When did your eyes change? When did that line appear? Did you wake up one morning with an older-looking face? Of course, other than a drastic haircut or a removal of braces, the changes that come with age are increment ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Sonny-Smith-Wolf-Like-Howls-from-the-Bathhouse.mp3 Plenty of musicians have recorded albums of covers, typically at the tail end of their careers, once the creative well has started to run dry and original material is in short supply. However, Sonny Smith’s 2013 album 100 Records, Volume 3 is not your standard album of covers, and it’s more of a creative peak than a trough. That’s because all 100 bands covered in the project are fictional. It began as a visual art project. Smith challenged 100 artists to create album art for non ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/HAPPY.mp3 If your goals for 2024 feel too far off to be attainable, take some inspiration from the sea turtle that graces the album art for Christian Wannerwall’s “Happy.” Just consider the obstacles facing a tiny sea turtle in the first moments of its life. Sea turtles are, of course, aquatic animals; but unlike most aquatic animals, they’re not born in the water. A freshly-hatched sea turtle emerges from its egg on the beach, buried in sand. But rather than getting to hang out in this safe little sand-cave, it must avoid poten ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/What-Child-Is-This-Greensleeves.mp3 Not only is Greensleeves a Christmas classic, but it’s likely the oldest song that could be accurately described as “widely recognizable.” Meaning that of all the songs that the average person knows, this one’s been around the longest. First published in 1580, it was worming its catchy way into listeners’ ears before any of Shakespeare’s plays. That’s closing in on 450 years of sustained popularity. As with anything that’s been very popular for a very long time, Greensleeves has picked up its ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Polegnala-e-Todora-Love-Song.mp3 First things first: “The Bulgarian State Television Female Choir” has to be the most bizarre name for any artist featured here. It’s a name that manages to be both exciting and bleak, simultaneously evoking images of Soviet-era apartment complexes and colourful traditional outfits. Second things second: this is the second time this choir has appeared on our playlist, as a loop from one of their songs was sampled in the song we listened to back in week 473. Important things third: this choir – fou ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Mulberry-Mouse.mp3 Ask most of us what we know about Tasmania and we might be able to identify that Tasmania is home to an animal called the Tasmanian Devil. Anything further about that animal – its size, its diet, whether it resembles a tornado while running – we have no idea. In case you find yourself in conversation about Tasmania, here are some other facts to keep up your sleeve: It’s part of Australia, but it’s not blazing hot all the time. It’s about as far south of the equator as Toronto is north Until the end of the las ..read more

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Liana-Flores-rises-the-moon.mp3 And in the “leave them wanting more” category, we have British folk artist Liana Flores’ 2019 EP Recently. With its five songs and sub-fifteen-minute runtime, it offers high quality and painfully little quantity. The songs do everything good folk music is typically supposed to do: provide emotionally electric lyrics hidden behind deceptively soothing, minimal instrumentation. The title track is the perfect example; the guitar sounds for all the world like a lost demo by Joao Gilberto, and it isn’t ..read more