A Musical Trip Around The World

Introduction

I was listening to a Warchild album and New Order's take on Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" came on. I then thought could I do a playlist where the song title is just the name of a country?

Some of the songs like Bob Dylan's "Mozambique" hardly refers to the actual country but the name fits the playlist concept.

So I will give you a few songs to listen to whose title is the name of a country. Some of these songs have been covered many times so I may include multiple versions of some so you can compare the original and the cover.

"Vietnam" by New Order from "War Child: Hope"

One of my favourite New Order anti-war songs is their own "Love Vigilantes" but this faithful Jimmy Cliff cover is beautifully powerful, and will include Jimmy Cliff's original for you to compare. I think you will find that they are two great songs that are almost impossible to choose between. You would not skip these or switch the radio off if they came on.

"America" by Yes

America is a country, isn't it? I use it in addresses when I send CDs I have sold from my Discogs Store. This version of the Simon and Garfunkel song goes on for ten minutes and I first came across it on an Atlantic Records sampler album but may be too much for some listeners but for me, it is a reasonable take on a great song.

The Simon & Garfunkel original is below.

"Mozambique" by Bob Dylan from "Desire"

Below are some notes I took from Wikipedia about the song. Mozambique in the song is a place to holiday and take the sun.

At the time of the song's release, the titular country of Mozambique had just emerged from a ten-year insurgency war against Portugal which led to Mozambique's independence. Mozambique gained independence on June 25, 1975, only about a month before the song was recorded. As a result, some supporters wanted to see the song as lending support to the newly independent country.

However, the lyrics of the song don't support such an interpretation, being slight and treating the country as merely a place for a romantic getaway in the sun, apart from a fleeting reference to "people living free"

"Cambodia" by Kim Wilde - single

Records like this made the charts worth listening to, it is pop but a great record by Marty's daughter who I think now does gardening.

"Brazil" by Kate Bush from the film "Brazil"

This is Kate Bush's take on the classic song by Ary Barroso with English lyrics by Bob Russell for the Terry Gilliam film, which is one of my dystopian favourites that gives me a lot of inspiration for my Vocal stories.

"Aquarela do Brasil" (Portuguese), 'Watercolor of Brazil' was written by Ary Barroso in 1939 and known in the English-speaking world simply as "Brazil" and is one of the most famous Brazilian songs.

"Cuba" by The Gibson Brothers - single

This is a classic salsa-drenched disco which never fails to at least get my foot tapping and is a worthy inclusion in this playlist.

"Haiti" by Arcade Fire from "Funeral"

This is a live version of the song which is more passionate than the original recorded version.

This song pays homage to Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist and co-vocalist Régine Chassagne's Haitian roots, her parents having emigrated from Haiti to Canada before she was born.

"Bangla Desh" by George Harrison - single

This was released as a charity single after the disasters in East Pakistan in 1971. This is a great way to close this playlist but will leave a link to War Child if you would like to help others in need.