So the title of this project comes from a Nanci Griffith album but the idea is right there on Twitter in the form of #FemaleVoices. which will have been started by someone, somewhere and a whole bunch of people will post a song per day.

At first, though I could easily fill thirty one days in July, I thought about skipping it owing to time but what persuaded me was the fact that I could blog it here and it would mushroom into a whole album in itself with playable videos; everything on Twitter available here in one room.

I will catalogue the songs in order of merit as I’ve decided upon numbers one and two – well, the whole lot now in fact.

Heidi Berry starts us off from the station with Washington Square; a song from her album, Pomegranate.

31. (Day 1)

HEIDI BERRY
Washington Square

It’s like two trains running in two tunnels
Suddenly all is light
And your train comes into view
Face so close, see your breath on the glass
I’ll follow your eyes
As you veer away into the dark
And I’ll still be here
In Washington Square

30. (Day 2)

ANNE GARNER
All That’s Left

All that’s left is freezing fast
No room for love, it might not last
If all that’s felt is torn apart
then who will keep your wounded heart in theirs?

29. (Day 3)

JOAN ARMATRADING
Laurel And The Rose

A lonely pedestrian
Walking in the night
And there’s no need to run
Cause I’m following behind
And I don’t want
I don’t want
I don’t want to misunderstand

28. (Day 4)

LIZA MINELLI
So Sorry I Said

Your powers of persuasion, those quizzical eyes
Have tired and tied me with innocent guile
I would have walked out and after all the tears we shed
I should have stalked out gone and painted the town bright red but instead
So sorry, I said

27. (Day 5)

EVA CASSIDY
Autumn Leaves

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

26. (Day 6)

CHRISTINA PERRI
A Thousand Years

Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What’s standing in front of me
Every breath
Every hour has come to this

25. (Day 7)

JEWEL
Foolish Games

You’re always brilliant in the morning
Smoking your cigarettes
And talking… over coffee
Your philosophies on art
Baroque moved you, you loved Mozart
And you’d speak of your loved ones
As I clumsily strummed my guitar

24. (Day 8)

SADE
By Your Side

When you’re on the outside, baby
And you can’t get in
I will show you
You’re so much better than you know
When you’re lost and you’re alone
And you can’t get back again
I will find you
Darling, and I will bring you home

23. (Day 9)

MELANIE C
If That Were Me

Might surprise a few, this selection, but a song about homelessness and the line “I couldn’t live without my phone but you don’t even have a home” is poignant enough to give this one a place here.

22. (Day 10)

LILLIAN LOPEZ (ODYSSEY)
If You’re Looking For A Way Out

One of the greatest soul ballads I’ve ever heard, top notch stuff and an essential inclusion.

21. (Day 11)

TO THE WEDDING
Honest Love

I just can’t find anything online at all about To The Wedding, there doesn’t seem to be a web page about them let alone a website, all I know is that the lead singer Lauren kindly follows me on Twitter and delivers this amazing song.

20. (Day 12)

KIKI DEE
Loving And Free

Bound I am bound, like a rope on a swing
Up in the air and then down again
Sure for the first time so clear in my mind
Wise to the feeling I gently unwind

19. (Day 13)

LIANNE HALL
Cosy

Very little content on YouTube and not really much about Lianne on the internet as a whole which is bewildering really but yes, I first heard this song on the Sound Of The Suburbs Peel compilation and yes I’m aware there’s a Peel session although I haven’t heard it. From Brighton originally and these days based in Germany, this is Cosy and I’ve had to make an MP4 to upload myself.

18. (Day 14)

ROSIE THOMAS
Pretty Dress

Put your red coat on and walk with the light in the woods
If it gets dark don’t get scared
There’s so much waiting for you
Cover up your ears and don’t show them
‘Cause you’re much better than them

17. (Day 15)

NATALIE MERCHANT
Maggie Said

Holdin’ back
What did I get for all of that?
What did it count for?
Tell me that
Nothin’
Nothin’
Oh, nothin’, that’s a fact

16. (Day 16)

IMOGEN HEAP (Frou Frou)
Let Go

This is the music video I created for the song, a few years back now, if you’re reading this then I hope you will enjoy watching it. It hadn’t been on my YouTube channel before but it’s on there now.

Drink up baby down
Mmm are you in or out
Leave your things behind
‘Cause it’s all going off without you
Excuse me, too busy oh, writing your tragedy
These mishaps you bubble wrap when
You’ve no idea what you’re likeSo let go
And jump in
Oh well whatcha waiting for
It’s all right
‘Cause there’s beauty in the breakdown
(So let go) yeah let go
And just get in
Oh it’s so amazing here
It’s all right
‘Cause there’s beauty in the breakdownIt gains the more it gives
And it rises with the fall
So hand me that remote
Can’t you see that all that stuff’s a sideshow
Such boundless pleasure
We’ve no time for later now
You can’t await your own arrival
You’ve twenty seconds to complySo let go
And jump in
Oh well whatcha waiting for
It’s all right
‘Cause there’s beauty in the breakdown…

15. (Day 17)

KIRSTY MacCOLL
Mother’s Ruin

Gin or ladies of the night?

As I’m limiting this to one song per artist, first to mind came They Don’t Know and then Caroline but if I had to pick only one song from Kite, well, Mother’s Ruin it is.

Mother’s Ruin, she says to herself
I’m just screwing my own mental health”
But Fridays and Saturdays
She walks down those alleyways
A latter day lady of the lamp
How you doing? You ain’t from round here
Won’t you come in? I’m really not scared
‘Cause Fridays and Saturdays
I still do it anyways
And anything is better than out there

14. (Day 18)

KATE RUSBY
Underneath The Stars

Here beneath the stars I’m mending
I’m here beneath the stars not ending
Why on earth am I pretending?
I’m here again, the stars befriending
They come and go of their own free will

13. (Day 19)

ELIZA CARTHY
Benjamin Bowmaneer

And as he rode o’er the lea
Benjamin Bowmaneer
As he rode o’er the lea
Castors away
And as he rode o’er the lea
He spied a fly on his knee
The proud tailor rode prancing away

12. (Day 20)

STINA NORDENSTAM
Little Star

I wanted to choose Another Story Girl in truth but couldn’t really omit Little Star.

I fell in love with the song and the video at the time and my girlfriend at the time bought me And She Closed Her Eyes on CD.

11. (Day 21)

ALANIS MORISETTE
You Learn

Wear it out (the way a three-year-old would do)
Melt it down (you’re gonna have to eventually anyway)
The fire trucks are coming up around the bend

10. (Day 22)

ALISON KRAUSS
If I Didn’t Know Any Better

Your heart is pullin’
If I didn’t know any better
I’d be fallin deeper and deeper it’s true
I’d hear it callin’
If I didn’t know any better and I’d be in love
When the flame burns out
If finally settles down
And you forget
I ever came around

9. (Day 23)

PHOEBE BRIDGERS
Smoke Signals

One of your eyes is always half-shut
Somethin’ happened when you were a kid
I didn’t know you then and I’ll never understand why it feels like I did

8. (Day 24)

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
Wishin’ And Hopin‘

So if you’re thinkin’ of how great true love is
All you gotta do is hold him, and kiss him and squeeze him and love him
Yeah, just do it
And after you do, you will be his

7. (Day 25)

POLLY-JEAN HARVEY
Angeline

My first name Angelene
Prettiest mess you’ve ever seen
Love for money is my sin
Any man calls, I’ll let him in
Rose is my color, and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
I see men come and go

6. (Day 26)

PATTY GRIFFIN
Rain

Strange how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I’m holding on underneath this shroud
Rain…

5. (Day 27)

TRACY CHAPMAN
Unsung Psalm

If I do have a funeral ever (though I’ll probably try and boycott it), this would be my song.

If there is one thing I know I know I will die
If anyone cares some stranger my critique my life
I may be revered or defamed and decried
But I tried to live right

4. (Day 28)

JUNE TABOR
Sudden Waves

There are bays, peaceful bays in the harbour of your hand
Where the waves, sudden waves cannot reach
There are days when the ways of your words can make dry land
And I can stay

3. (Day 29)

TORI AMOS
Here In My Head

One of the finest vocal performances I’ve ever seen from quite possibly my favourite female vocalist.

Held your hand at the fair and
Even forgot what time it was
And even Thomas Jefferson wasn’t born
In your backyard like you have said and
Maybe I’m just the horizon you run to
When she has left you and me here alone on the floor
You’re counting my feathers as the bells toll
You see the bow and belt and the girl from the south all
Favorites of mine you know then all well
And spring brings fresh little puddles that makes it all clear makes it all
Do you know what this is doing to me
Here in my head

2. (Day 30)

KATE BUSH
And Dream Of Sheep

It’s those seagulls. If any song gives you the feeling of a harbour and being there… and it’s my favourite song in the masterpiece that is Hounds Of Love too.

Ooh, their breath is warm
And they smell like sleep
And they say they take me home
Like poppies, heavy with seed
They take me deeper and deeper

1. (Day 31)

NANCI GRIFFITH
From A Distance

(No words necessary)

From a distance we are instruments
Marching in a common band
Playing songs of home, playing songs of peace
They’re the songs of every man
God is watching us, God is watching us
God is watching us from a distance