These three songs from Canada, England and Wales were selected at random using my iTunes shuffle feature. The three countries have a common heritage, and their cultures are more similar than the inhabitants of those countries would care to admit.

The Song: Everybody Knows

The Player: Leonard Cohen

Comments on YouTube suggest that this song is featured in the latest series of Homeland. The tune was first released on Cohen's I'm Your Man album in 1988. Since then it has been featured in often movies, television and advertising. The NSW government anti-smoking campaign of 1998 ended on the tagline 'everybody knows smoking causes these diseases ... yet you still do it'.¹

This is quite a bleak and pessimistic song, which surprisingly doesn't leave me in dispair.

Interesting trivia: Cohen's albums regularly go to number 1 in Norway^.2

Where to buy:  or Amazon.com

The Song: Nothing Precious at All

The Player: Stereophonics

This song is on their 2003 album You Gotta Go There to Come Back. The single Since I Told You It's Over had two versions, and this song was on the B-side of one of those versions. Today it's probably rarely heard outside their live performances, and by those who own this album and single. A pretty good song to which to bring out the lighters and wave.

Where to buy:  or Amazon.com

The song: Lover You Should Have Come Over

The player: Jamie Cullum

This is an excellent cover of the Jeff Buckley song. I first heard the tune on the Q Covered - 86/06 compilation. I have since found that it featured on Jamie's Twentysomething album. This YouTube clip is from one of his concerts - perhaps Glastonbury 2004. I don't know much about the performance, apart from that I think its pretty decent. Enjoy...!

Where to buy:  or Amazon.com

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Knows_(Leonard_Cohen_song)
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2004/sep/17/2