Something Old #15
By the numbers...
The theme for this week’s Something Old playlist is numeric - music spanning 50+ years where the titles are simply numbers (and the odd mathematical symbol).
I’m taking a mini-break from the run through the UK pop charts of 1985. I will be back in a couple of weeks to look at July and August of that year.
From Big Star back in 1972 through Bon Iver (the king of number songs it seems) to Waxahatchee in 2024, many great songs have used numbers as their theme, often to represent an age or even a car (in the case of Lush). I avoided songs that used years - there’s an idea for a future post…
Feist - 1234 (2007)
Cat Power - 3, 6, 9 (2012)
Radiohead - 2 + 2 = 5 (2003)
Deerhoof - +81 (2007) not on Spotify, here’s why
Big Star - Thirteen (1972)
U2 - “40” (1983)
R.E.M. - 9-9 (1983)
Bon Iver - 00000 Million (2016)
Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - 56 (2010)
The Weather Station - Thirty (2017)
Waxahatchee - 365 (2024)
Florist - 43 (2022)
Charlotte Cornfield - 21 (2021)
Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen (2019)
Shearwater - Seventy Four, Seventy Five (2006)
Sonic Youth - 100% (1992)
Lush - 500 (1996)
The Tallest Man On Earth - Seventeen (2015)
Anna Tivel - One Thousand & One (2014)
Rufus Wainwright - 11:11 (2003)