Taylor Swift and the sounds of our lives!

Taylor Swift is the most googled artist of 2024. Alongside accolades for tickets sales, record sales and downloads she is at the top of her game and is representative of what music means to us. It is the soundtrack of our lives and songs attached to memorable occasions are quickly recalled with great nostalgia. It is as powerful as the smell of our favourite food cooking in mum’s kitchen.  So when we put together our workshops we made sure that sensory imagery was a key element. It is a vital component of communication; understanding each other, listening and responding.

Music has become ubiquitous, all around us and ever present. From a turntable to walkman, discman and mp3, streaming allows a permanent curtain of foreground and background listening. Our tastes are catered for and allows modern listeners to access independent, non mainstream music without being dedicated to by corporate giants and radio stations. The ability to access intergenerational music can also broaden our horizons without relying on an older brother with hand-me-down Zeppelin and Iron Maiden records.

So when you enter the darkened room of a Crime Story workshop, the blue and red police lights take hold, underpinned by my ‘Spotify’ curation of Crime Tracks. Heading the list is the mighty Taylor Swift with ‘No Body No Crime’.

“Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was fifteen

And I've cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene

Good thing Este's sister's gonna swear she was with me ("She was with me dude")

Good thing his mistress took out a big life insurance policy”

With the popularity of the True Crime genre with females worldwide, this song hits the right chord. I have discovered that the females, young and old, have an incredible ability to analyse a situation and are well suited to crime investigation…the bloodier the better! 

From Taylor Swift we venture into my favourites, some of which are linked thematically to my most loved TV shows.

Way Down in the Hole (from The Wire)
You gotta help me keep the devil

Way down in the hole

Red Right Hand - (Nick Cave - Peaky Blinders)
A shadow is cast wherever he stands

Stacks of green paper in his 
red right hand

Wait in the Truck - Lainey Wilson and HARDY
I let the hammer drop before he got

To that 12 he was reaching for

Johnny 99 - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Well the evidence is clear, gonna let the sentence, son, fit the crime

Prison for ninety-eight and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
When I was just a baby my mama told me, "Son

Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns"

But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die

When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry

Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun of your hand?

Hey Joe, I said, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?

Where did you sleep last night? - Nirvana

Her husband was a hard working man

Just about a mile from here

His head was found in a driving wheel

But his body never was found

So with my need to keep it fresh I am looking for suggestions…

What is your crime song?