My favourite game - The Cardigans

The Cardigans are a Swedish rock group, not that many people would guess that listening to their single My favourite game, which came out in 1998. The track has many attractive features but the distinctive yet simple guitar hook is the one that stands out. This evidently came to the fore as the original slow country song was speeded up to more resemble the product we have today. The track uses all manner of modern recording techniques, ultimately of real interest only to the cognoscenti. However, it is worth noting that while the verses are at a reasonably fast pace when we slow down for the bass-heavy chorus, the drums appear to be run at half-time rather than simply slowing down. The song was apparently successful worldwide, helped by a controversial video. The single originally appeared on the fourth studio album by The Cardigans called Gran Turismo. Both single and album reference the Play Station video game series. In the single the game appears to be love. A woman is trying to improve her lover but finally gives up, feeling she has failed. The third verse is striking - I only know what I've been working for, another you so I could love you more. I really thought that I could take you there but my experiment is not getting us anywhere. This is a well known irony in relationships where one finds that the person who attracts you is the person you want to change. The final lines are I've tried but you're still the same. I'm losing my baby, you're losing a saviour and a saint which is inevitably going to be taken as ironic but reads better as her own honest assessment of the situation. As a general rule young men and women should be on the look out for someone morally superior whose character they can aspire to rather than someone inferior who they endeavour to drag up to their own standard.

Love is strange - Buddy Holly

There are many versions of this Bo Diddley penned song, including one by the Everly Brothers and another by Sonny and Cher. Mickey & Sylvia's version appeared first in 1956 and was popularised in the 1987 Dirty Dancing film. In 1969 someone put an organ and strings backing track on to a demo by the inimitable Buddy Holly and made a fine version. It is the riff by Jody Williams that gives the song its mesmeric atmosphere. The lyrics of the song will not stand close scrutiny but in pop music sound is as important as meaning and so with love, miss and kiss in there it is a fine pop lyric, ideal for a teenage audience. What is being sung about is infatuation not love, of course, and one would want to encourage any teenager besotted with the song or the girl at the next desk to see that. Love is not so strange but learning about love and seeking to understand how it all works can be, especially at first. Otherwise, we have three minutes of great enjoyment here, still amazingly fresh more than 40 or 50 years on.