A song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment.
— Sarah Dessen
On a cold Sunday morning in Bristol in 2006, my friend and I were walking past the closed theatre doors after a night front row at Cats, tired and sad and tingling with that strange post-theatre-echo - drained and buzzing with energy that we didn't know what to do with all at once. We were sad to be leaving the show and the cast behind, knowing we would not be back for a long time and that the cast change was fast approaching. So, we got our iPods out. That day, during the course of the long drive home, we began compiling a playlist of all the songs which captured that strange feeling best; captured the coldness of a morning walk after the magic of a show the night before, reminded us of the stage door highs as well as the bittersweet feeling of waking up the next morning, reminded us of the giddy pre-show dancing, the silliness of whispered conversations before the lights went down in the theatre, the fuzziness of post-show recaps sat on hotel beds or in half-empty hotel bars and of the odd quietness of the late night and early morning after being at the show, lying in bed with the light of streetlamps outside, listening to the world going on as normal. The Stage Door Playlist was born, and I have been adding to it ever since. A lot of the songs are very memory-specific these days, songs which don't necessarily describe stage door but remind me of a particular time or capture a mood or that are just favourites of mine and make me smile when I need it on the way home, but the songs here are ones that I think can apply to anyone in love with the theatre, the stage door and indulging in hotel room singalongs and wistful train rides home.
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So I have just got back from my first theatre trip in - quite literally - years and it's made me feel it all so much more intensely than ever and soaked me in a desperate need for the sad and the soft and the nostalgic because being back after so long away came along with so many memories, and being back and seeing someone as truly good and kind as Ben Mundy added a sense of deep gratitude and wonder at just how lovely my Jellicles truly are both on and off the stage. So sticking with the nostalgic theme from my last update to my current favourites I turned to some of the longest serving songs on my playlist a lot and songs which most capture the reflective mood of looking back on stage door memories. Lovely Day made it in there because it feels as wamr and sunny as Ben is, Sunshine because it makes me smile and...well, again, he's sunshine, but mostly the songs I picked were about that unique theatre trip to post-theatre trip mood, where everything matters so much and anything is possible and then you have to walk away from all that magic the day after and go back to the real world like you weren't just allowed into some secret spell for a few hours the night before. The only completely new additions were two songs from Mark Owen's latest album Land Of Dreams which I found myself listening to a lot whilst I was in Bolton to see Ben - in particular Being Human felt very appropriate because there is something about the sentiment in that of looking at someone and thinking "You are someone special and I am lucky to know you" which really summed up the way I felt walking away from the stage door that night.
A Glorious Day by Embrace → 'And you came along on a glorious day, by the time that you left i was crawling again...'
Being Human by Mark Owen → 'You always make it look so simple, being human, I have to pinch myself yeah every day because of all of the times I could've walked on this planet I get to spend some time with you being human...'
Castles by Sandi Thom → 'So hail to the morning wherever it dawns down on me, it's now that I get to thinking some castles lie way beneath the sea. You always said that it would be such a long summer, and now its here and I can break the ice on this cold water...'
Collide by Howie Day → 'The dawn is breaking, a light shining through...'
Drawn From Memory by Embrace → 'And the magic will leave you feeling hollow...'
Gone, Gone, Gone by Mark Owen → 'I can see the moon shining through the cracks outside the curtains, see you dancing on the ceiling, and I know that you're gone, gone gone...'
Good One by Busted → 'I’m gonna miss that face when I’m home tomorrow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you God knows when, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend...'
Here's To The Night by Eve 6 → 'Here's to the nights we felt alive, here's to the tears you knew you'd cry, here's to goodbye, tomorrow's gonna come too soon...'
I Can't Come Down by Embrace → 'I'm in hope, and I can't come down anymore...'
I Had A Time by Embrace → 'I won't see your smiling fade, and know I had the time of my life that day...'
Learning To Breathe by Switchfoot → 'Hello, good morning, how've you been? Yesterday left my head kicked in...'
Lovely Day by Bill Withers → 'Just one look at you, and I know it's gonna be a lovely day...'
Peace And Love by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'May every star you wish upon and every hope you're hangin' on come true, out of everybody in the world there's no one who deserves it more than you, I hope you find everything you've been dreaming of, only good things, no in betweens just peace and love...'
Sunset Borderline by Sandi Thom → 'Now I'm waiting for the sunset borderline, every suns gotta set with time, but I'll remember those moments for evermore as the days where nothing had changed at all...'
Sunshine by S Club 7 → 'And let me say from the bottom of my heart, I wanna thank you for making the sun come shining through...'
Those Days Are Gone by Busted → 'Well it's hard just to say goodbye to the times we had, all the summers spent together, now we leave it all behind, sooner or later when the winter comes, I will picture us together in my mind forever, I will be holding on, oh well, those days are gone...'
World by Mark Owen → 'Every time the sun sets, over your garden comes the night, feelings come, then they go, will I ever know which they may be heading? I don't know. Nothing ever stays the same...'
Being Human by Mark Owen → 'You always make it look so simple, being human, I have to pinch myself yeah every day because of all of the times I could've walked on this planet I get to spend some time with you being human...'
Castles by Sandi Thom → 'So hail to the morning wherever it dawns down on me, it's now that I get to thinking some castles lie way beneath the sea. You always said that it would be such a long summer, and now its here and I can break the ice on this cold water...'
Collide by Howie Day → 'The dawn is breaking, a light shining through...'
Drawn From Memory by Embrace → 'And the magic will leave you feeling hollow...'
Gone, Gone, Gone by Mark Owen → 'I can see the moon shining through the cracks outside the curtains, see you dancing on the ceiling, and I know that you're gone, gone gone...'
Good One by Busted → 'I’m gonna miss that face when I’m home tomorrow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you God knows when, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend...'
Here's To The Night by Eve 6 → 'Here's to the nights we felt alive, here's to the tears you knew you'd cry, here's to goodbye, tomorrow's gonna come too soon...'
I Can't Come Down by Embrace → 'I'm in hope, and I can't come down anymore...'
I Had A Time by Embrace → 'I won't see your smiling fade, and know I had the time of my life that day...'
Learning To Breathe by Switchfoot → 'Hello, good morning, how've you been? Yesterday left my head kicked in...'
Lovely Day by Bill Withers → 'Just one look at you, and I know it's gonna be a lovely day...'
Peace And Love by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'May every star you wish upon and every hope you're hangin' on come true, out of everybody in the world there's no one who deserves it more than you, I hope you find everything you've been dreaming of, only good things, no in betweens just peace and love...'
Sunset Borderline by Sandi Thom → 'Now I'm waiting for the sunset borderline, every suns gotta set with time, but I'll remember those moments for evermore as the days where nothing had changed at all...'
Sunshine by S Club 7 → 'And let me say from the bottom of my heart, I wanna thank you for making the sun come shining through...'
Those Days Are Gone by Busted → 'Well it's hard just to say goodbye to the times we had, all the summers spent together, now we leave it all behind, sooner or later when the winter comes, I will picture us together in my mind forever, I will be holding on, oh well, those days are gone...'
World by Mark Owen → 'Every time the sun sets, over your garden comes the night, feelings come, then they go, will I ever know which they may be heading? I don't know. Nothing ever stays the same...'
Sunlight through the trees in summer, endless masquerading...
These are the best songs to dance to or make you smile pre-show, the happy singalong songs and the perfect songs to get ready to, even the songs to soothe your nerves on a long journey to the theatre or build your anticipation for the show, they're all here in my Stage Door Playlist's Masquerading Endlessly Mix. Find my top picks by hovering over the album covers in the gallery or browse the full playlist including lyric highlights via the tab below.
The Complete Masquerading Endlessly Mix
A Sky Full Of Stars by Coldplay → 'Coz in a sky, 'coz in a sky full of stars I think I see you, I think I see you, coz you're a sky you're a sky full of stars, such a heavenly view...' → This is a wonderful daydreamy song for before or after a show.
After Today from Doctor Dolittle the Musical → 'After today I'll say "Oh what a day it was!" - my heart will be lighter, and my smile will be brighter...after the tears comes the laughter! After today!'
Always Up With You by Alphabeat → 'You never get me down, I'm always up with you...'
And The Band Plays' by Take That → 'Kill your pain and all your fears let the rhythm dry your tears as the work stops and the band plays, walking to the light all of a sudden and the band plays, we're always making something out of nothing, turn your heartache into loving, and the band plays...'
Another Op'nin' Another Show from Kiss Me Kate the Musical/SMASH Soundtrack → 'The overture is about to start, you cross your fingers and hold your heart, it's curtain time and away we go, another op'nin', another op'nin' of another show. → I personally prefer the SMASH version because of the orchestration and arrangement, but the Kiss Me Kate original is excellent too.
Anything Could Happen by Ellie Goulding → 'But now I've seen it through and now I know the truth; that anything could happen, anything could happen...'
Anywhere But Here by Hilary Duff → 'Here's the brand new me, skates around and floats on air, I'm a sight to see...Crazy as it seems, I don't wanna be anywhere but here...'
As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard the Musical/sung by Elaine Paige → 'The whispered conversations in overcrowded hallways, the atmosphere as thrilling here as always, feel the early morning madness, feel the magic in the making, why everything's as if we never said goodbye, I've spent so many mornings just trying to resist you, I'm trembling now you can't know how I've missed you, missed the fairy tale adventure, in this ever spinning playground...' → Multiple versions of this song are on my playlist as it is just perfect for the theatre, but Elaine Paige's is probably my personal favourite.)
Beautiful Ones by Suede → 'Here they come, the beautiful ones...'
Believe by Take That → 'Took a walk around the block, didn’t stop, all this space, it makes me want to see your face, such a beautiful place, when I met you last I was at a loss, life goes on...I can see the sun is risin’, I can see your eyes are smilin’, I will hold onto the things that I believe, believe, shut my eyes I feel alive...Give me one more night at last, filled with joy...' → This song is just really pretty, feel-good and gorgeous - my favourite band doing me proud! I vividly remember being on the train back from London after delivering cupcakes to the cast and it just really touching my heart to listen to, especially after Joel had been so very sweet to me at stage door that day. There is an atmosphere to this song that is really perfect before and after a show.
Belong by Cash Cash & Dashboard Confessional → 'The sun on your face and a song in the air...'
Best Day Of My Life by American Authors → 'I had a dream so big and loud, I jumped so high I touched the clouds, wo-o-o-o-o-oh, I stretched my hands out to the sky, we danced with monsters through the night, wo-o-o-o-o-oh, I'm never gonna look back, woah, never gonna give it up, no, please don't wake me now...this is gonna be the best day of my life...'
Best Day Of My Life by Jesse McCartney → 'Woke up around a half past ten, can’t believe that I’m late again, put down about a quart of caffeine to start my pulse and then I grabbed my jeans off the floor and I hit the door, just the same old same, it goes to show, you never know when everything’s about to change, just another day, started out like any other...just another day that I had the best day of my life...'
Best Song Ever by One Direction → 'And we danced all night to the best song ever...'
Brand New Day by Alphabeat → 'Yesterday I was low, down and out, like my life wasn’t something to dance about, could you give me a leg up? I need one, to get me back in the sun, where I belong, I know one thing’s for sure, I’m heading to a new direction, yesterdays are over, hear me I’m coming, it’s a brand new day and I’m feeling oh so good, it’s a brand new day and I’m feeling like I should...'
Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson → 'And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change and breakaway...'
Breathless by The Corrs → 'It's like a dream, although I'm not asleep, and I never want to wake up, don't lose it, don't leave it, so, go on, go on, come on leave me breathless...' → This is basically just a really fun song to dance around getting ready to!
Brighter Than The Sun from the SMASH Soundtrack/by Colbie Caillat → 'Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart, it goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun, oh we could be the stars, falling from the sky, shining how we want, brighter than the sun...' → Again something about the SMASH orchestration of this just gives me the extra adrenaline rush and it makes for a really sparkly, fun song to sing along to when getting ready.
Bubbly by Colbie Caillat → 'I always know that you make me smile, please stay for a while now...Every time I see your bubbly face...You make me smile, even just for a while...'
Carry Me Home by Take That → 'Carry me home when this is over, carry me home, into the sun, through all the highs and all the hard times...' → This song just makes me feel so happy and nostalgic at once somehow.
Celebrate by MIKA → 'Once I get up I feel better, then I pull myself together, I remember those two letters: it will be OK, everyone says now or never, I say only if it's better, be a night like this forever...'
Cheap Thrills by Sia → 'Come on, come on, turn the radio on, it's Friday night and I won't be long, gotta do my hair, put my make up on...'
Classic by MKTO → 'You're over my head, I'm out of my mind...'
Colourblind by Darius → 'Feeling fine, sublime, when that smile of yours creeps into my mind, nobody told me it feels so good, nobody said you'd be so beautiful, nobody warned me about your smile...Blinded by the light you shine...'
Come On Love by Take That → 'Oh come on, love, come on, say you'll be back some day...'
Coming Home by Firelight → 'Look me in the eye and electrify my bones...It’s only because I’m here, I’m finding gold in my hands...Trying to build up the words to say what you mean to me...Gonna take on this journey feel the light getting warm, find the strength I’ve been searching, keep the beat going strong...Yeah the spirits alive I’m on the road coming home...'
Counting Stars by OneRepublic → 'Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars, yeah, we'll be counting stars, I see this life like a swinging vine, swing my heart across the line, in my face is flashing signs, seek it out and ye shall find, old but I'm not that old, young but I'm not that bold, and I don't think the world is sold...'
Crazy Dreams from the SMASH Soundtrack/by Carrie Underwood → 'Here's to you free souls, you firefly chasers, tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players, here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms, there's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you, thank God even crazy dreams come true...' → Again there is just something special about the SMASH orchestration which kind of gives you this feeling of breathless anticipation when you listen to it before a show, and it is just the right amount of wistful for after a show too.
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift → 'Killing me slow, out the window, I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below, devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes...It's a cruel summer...'
Cry by Take That → 'If you remember me, everyone else can forget...'
Cut To The Feeling by Carly Rae Jepsen → 'I want to cut to the clouds, break the ceiling...I want to play where you play with the angels...'
Dakota by Stereophonics → 'Thinking back, thinking of you, summertime think it was June, yeah think it was June, laying back head on the grass, chewing gum having some laughs, yeah having some laughs...Wake up call, coffee and juice, remembering you, what happened to you? I wonder if we’ll meet again, talk about life since then, talk about why did it end. → This is just a great reminiscing song, but it's also great when you're driving along to or from the theatre as it has such a good energy to it that it can really fit whatever mood.
Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader → 'Dancing in the moonlight, everybody's feeling warm and bright, it's such a fine and natural sight, everybody's dancing in the moonlight, we like our fun and we never fight, you cant dance and stay uptight, it's a supernatural delight...'
Digital Love by Daft Punk/sung by Alphabeat → 'Last night I had a dream about you, in this dream I'm dancing right beside you, and it looked like everyone was having fun, the kind of feeling I've waited so long...'
DJ by Alphabeat → 'I could be dancing, I could be dancing all night if you would play, I would be dancing, I would be doing all right if you would play, I need something I can turn to, now and then, take me out, out and out, on and on, I need something I can turn to, something I can count in, day and night, on and on like a record now, out and out, I need something I can dance to...'
Domino by Jessie J → 'Every second is a highlight...You got me losing my mind, my heart beats out of time...Make this dream the best I've ever known...'
Don't Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders/sung by Ainslie Henderson → 'Don't get me wrong if I'm looking kind of dazzled, I see neon lights whenever you walk by, don't get me wrong if I'm acting so distracted, I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile...'
Don't Take The Money by Bleachers → 'You steal the air out of my lungs, you make me feel it...'
Down At Club S by S Club 7 → 'Where d'you wanna be when your brain's under stress? Be what you can be coz you can impress, down at Club S...There's method in the madness nevertheless, down at Club S...Everybody knows that life can depress, so come on to the place where you can impress, down at Club S...' → This song is just pure fun, perfect for getting ready in time to and even better if you imagine the 'S' stands for 'Stage Door'!
Dreams by Gabrielle → 'Not making plans for tomorrow, let's live for tonight...Dreams can come true...'
Dreams And Disasters by Owl City → 'Follow the light through the dreams and disasters, follow the light to the edge and the after, we won't turn around, we will not slow down, follow the light through the dreams and disasters, think of the sun and the sound of it rising, still on the run with our eyes on the horizon, I wanna feel alive forever after...'
Drops Of Jupiter by Train → 'But tell me, did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overrated? Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star, one without a permanent scar? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?'
Dynamite by BTS → 'Cause I-I-I'm in the stars tonight, so watch me bring the fire and set the night alight...'
Edge Of The Ocean by Ivy → 'There's a place I dream about , where the sun never goes out. And the sky is deep and blue, won't you take me there with you...There's a world I've always known, somewhere far away from home. When I close my eyes I see all the space and mystery...' → This is a great wistful train journey song and can work both before and after a show, but in case of post-show daydreaming, definitely break glass and listen to this song!
Everlasting by Take That → 'It started on a Friday night, we were runnin' wild, we were flyin' high, searchin' for the time of our lives...' → This song really can just send electricity down your spine when you're in that theatre trip state of mind and brings the memories right back to the surface when you're in a reflective mood.
Everybody Get Pumped by S Club 7 → 'Yeah, everybody get pumped...One party day to the next to the next...' → This is a great song to wake you up on an early morning start if you're travelling a long distance for a show and it definitely a staple of mine for when I'm getting ready.
Everybody Wants Ya by S Club 7 → 'I get this feeling as you walk away, a million hearts will break in two...Everytime you move, everybody grooves, I can't help thinking it's alright (alright), you just gotta walk see the people talk, I like to watch you party, coz everybody wants ya when everybody sees ya, the world is full of dreamers, but I'm a great believer...I see the way you act like you don't know, there's something 'bout your attitude...You just gotta bump, see the people jump, I can't help thinking it's alright, when you do your thing everybody swings, they like to watch you party...I just wind you up and let you go, and I watch you in wonder, to see the look upon your face I'd say you already know...' → This song really always makes me smile, and it will also always just make me think of the Cats casts - watching them in awe and the grins on their faces at the final bows when they each take their individual bows.
Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac → 'Something's happening, happening to me, my friends say I'm acting peculiarly...'
Fascination by Alphabeat → 'Fascination, fascination, it's just the way we feel, we love this exaltation, woh oh, o-o-oh, we want the new temptations, woh oh, o-o-oh, it's like a revelation, woh oh, o-o-oh, we live on fascination...'
Feel Again by OneRepublic → 'It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face, I've been everywhere and back trying to replace everything that I had 'til my feet went numb....But with you
I feel again, yeah, with you I can feel again...'
Feels Like Forever by Kygo → 'Felt the pull of the night calling from some greater meaning...something from a dream calling to me, I knew there was no time to be wasting...Feels like forever tonight, took a taxi out under those city lights, chasin' dreams on a dime...'
Fill My Little World by The Feeling → 'Hey, show some love, you ain't so tough, come fill my little world right up, right up...'
Find Love by Stepdad → 'Dancing, rejoicing, they're raising their voices, their hearts are enormous, the sight is so gorgeous...'
Geronimo by Sheppard → 'So say geronimo...'
Get Ready For It by Take That → 'The night is young, until it’s over, until it’s over, the night is young, the night is ours, until tomorrow...' → This song is just so full of emotion, and I feel that sentiment of "the night is young until it's over" is so apt for the way you feel on a magical night at the theatre.
Glad You Came by The Wanted →'The sun goes down, the stars come out and all that counts is here and now...'
Go Go by Alphabeat → 'My feet keep taking me to your street, 'cause there's a chance I'll meet you, that's what I want to do, I keep looking for a chance, a chance to steal a dance off you, that's what I want to do, come on, please take my hand, I need somebody to understand, I need somebody to show the way to go, go...'
Gold by Owl City → 'Stand on up and take a bow, there's something there and it's showing, there's no need to look around, you're the best we got going, shout out to the dreams you'll chase, shout out to the hearts you'll break, nothing's gonna stop you now...inside of my heart you're here, go on, it's gotta be time, you're starting to shine 'cause what you got is gold, I know, you're gold, oh, I know I know I don't need the stars in the night, I found my treasure, all I need is you by my side, so shine forever...' → This always just makes me think of my gorgeous, talented stage door friends.
Gold Rush by Taylor Swift → 'Gleaming, twinkling, eyes like sinking ships on waters so inviting...everybody wants you, everybody wonders what it would be like to love you, walk past, quick brush, I don't like slow motion double vision in a rose blush, I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush...' → There is something very daydreamy and wistful about the feeling of listening to this song which is beautiful and reflective for after a show whilst the energy and chorus make it perfect to sing along to before a show.
Good Life by OneRepublic → 'This has gotta be the good life, this has gotta be the good life...got this feeling that you can't fight, like this city is on fire tonight...Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out, sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now, we all got our stories but please tell me what there is to complain about, when you're happy like a fool, let it take you over...Hopelessly, I feel like there might be something that I'll miss, hopelessly, I feel like the window closes oh so quick, hopelessly, I'm taking a mental picture of you now, cause hopelessly the hope is we have so much to feel good about...'
Good Ol' Days by The Script → 'Oh, we'll remember this night when we're old and grey, coz in the future these will be the good ol' days...It's two am now we're dancing in the rain and uh, hanging out of each other like the pain is gone, these are my people, these are my crowd...'
Good One by Busted → 'It’s been the greatest time but it’s time we’ve borrowed, we’ve got our separate ways to go, wish I could follow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you again, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend. It’s such a bitter taste, so hard to swallow, I’m gonna miss that face when I’m home tomorrow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you God knows when, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend...' → The energy and feeling of this song combined with the lyrics just sums up so much of the theatre trip experience for me and it is good for both getting hyped up pre-show and also for reflecting post-show just because of the combination of the high energy and bittersweet lyrics.
Good Time by Owl City → 'Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care, hopped into a cab take me anywhere...Good morning and good night, I'll wake up at twilight, it's gonna be alright, we don't even have to try, it's always a good time...'
Good Times by S Club 7 → 'We all need a change once in a while, the time to make a change is right now, this is for the good times, good times, this is to the good life...'
Gorgeous by Taylor Swift → 'You're so gorgeous, I can't say anything to your face, coz look at your face...' → Such a bubbly, happy song & honestly every person I've met at stage door is gorgeous!
Greatest Day by Take That → 'Today this could be the greatest day of our lives, before it all ends before we run out of time...Watch the world come alive tonight...Tonight this could be the greatest night of our lives, let’s make a new start, the future is ours to find, can you see it, can you see it in my eyes? Can you feel it now, can you hold it in your arms tonight?' → There are several versions of this song on my playlist, and whilst the original is beautiful the one I'm going to recommend here is the Odyssey Version just for the sheer momentum and magic injected into it which fits really well for those pre-show emotions.
Hail, Rain Or Sunshine by The Script → 'We're late to bed, we're early to rise, wipe the sleep from our eyes...We open up, we start to wake, maybe it's gonna be our day, and suddenly we start to smile, the sun is out for a while, and you may see this place and find no worth, but it's a little piece of heaven here on Earth, yeah, we always have a good time, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, yeah, we're all living the good life, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, we reach the top, we took the fall, but we laughed through it all, cause dreaming of them better days has always been our way, and you may see my friends and find no worth, but, no I'll never go and change them for the world...'
Happiness by Orson → 'And when the world don't feel like turning, and the sun just wants to hide, all the stars come out to remind me of the universe by my side, all that happens is happiness...'
Happy Now by Take That → 'In the world of dreams, I’m a frequent flyer, super heavy elements, embrace me, super heavy elements, I feel myself falling, I’m feeling happy now...'
Have A Nice Day by Stereophonics → 'So have a nice day, have a nice day...' → This is so much fun to listen to when the sun is shining on the way to a show.
Head Over Heels by The Go-Gos → 'Head over heels, no time to think...' → A really fun and energetic song to get ready to.
Heatwave by Alphabeat → 'It's nothing like real life...Whenever you're around you hit baby, I'm hit baby...'
Hello by Take That → 'A life of filter coffee and dreaming, dreaming, never thought that anyone could change my view, but everything looks different when I'm looking around with you, glad you took the time to say hello, hello...'
Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) by Eels → 'Do you know what it's like, to fall on the floor, cry your guts out, 'till you got no more, hey man, now you're really living...'
Higher Than Higher by Take That → 'Cause you are, you are here, I can be higher, higher than higher, you’re lifting me up...' → This song is the eptiome of feel-good and I cannot not smile whenever I listen to it, making it perfect for pre-show dancing sessions and post-show train journeys home.
Hold On by Colbie Caillat → 'You're in the stars, in the stars, yeah, you're worlds away...We're losing light, losing light, yeah, we're fading fast...I look at you and I get the feeling, I think that I should hold on, hold on...'
Hold Up A Light by Take That → 'You can dance if you like, you can sing every line of every song, no you don't have to steal the show it was your show all along, as the orchestra plays the people take the seats, there's no room left in this house, it's only you and me, and if life is your stage I'll be watching, hold up a light for me, hold up a light for me...I'll be watching you, everything that you do, as we start rehearsing every scene, the words to everything, we realize that the crowd is listening, and then the tears fall down on your face at exactly the right place as the people start to stand up in the aisles, you can hear the sound of violins on every street tonight, you can see all lovers dancing round, I'll be watching...All things you see end up where they should be...Hold up a light, cause I'm loving you and I'm loving this...' → Simply one of my favourite songs in the whole world; since it was written in tribute to the band's own live shows, it's hardly surprising I suppose that this feels so incredibibly close to the bone for my Stage Door Playlist.
Hurts Like Heaven by Coldplay → 'Yes, I feel a little bit nervous, yes I feel nervous and I cannot relax...and it hurts like heaven...'
I Can't Wait by Hilary Duff → 'Everybody has their day, where things just seem to go their way, an angel's gonna smile on me when it's meant to be, cause anything is possible no matter how incredible, you never know who I might meet on this crowded street, life goes on like a song, I can't wait for the world to spin, I can't wait to be happening, oh, what's it gonna take, I can't wait for the time to come when I'll be shining like the sun, I can't wait...'
I Don't Feel Like Dancin' by Scissor Sisters → 'Cities come and cities go just like the old empires, when all you do is change your clothes and call that versatile, you got so many colours make a blind man so confused...You can’t make me dance around but your two-step makes my chest pound...'
I Like It by Take That → 'Hey, I’m back again, yeah I’m back again in another place, I can see your face, oh let me hear you now, yeah let me hear you now, let me hear you loud, make a bigger sound, there’s a voice in my ear, the intention is clear, out of time, out of space it’s a feeling a meaning that I can taste...'
I Like Me Better by Lauv → 'I like me better when I'm with you...' → There's just something fun about the energy of this songs that feels really good for a roadtrip to a show.
I Lived by OneRepublic → 'Hope when the crowd screams out, they're screaming your name...Hope when the moment comes, you'll say: I did it all, I did it all, I owned every second that this world could give, I saw so many places, the things that I did, yeah with every broken bone I swear I lived, hope that you spend your days but they all add up, and when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup, I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain, but until my moment comes, I'll say, I did it all...'
I Miss Those Days by Bleachers → 'And it's all coming back now, like the feeling isn't over, yeah I know I was lost but I miss those days...' → The energy and excitement of this song is perfect for returning to a show after a long time away, but there's a longing and nostalgia to it which also makes it great for when the show is over and when you want to reminisce.
If You Want It by Take That → 'Every day could be a little bit brighter, every day could be a little bit higher, every day could be a little bit, yeah I know, I know, it's never gonna happen if we're waiting for it, if you want it, you can have it...'
Into The Wild by Take That → 'It’s almost like we go dance with desire, then we go playing with fire, then we go into the wild again, get back, get back to town, these city lights gonna bring us home tonight, coz we knew the colour of gold, so long ago it’s a story to be told...'
The Invitation To The Jellicle Ball from Cats the Musical → 'Jellicle Cats come out tonight, Jellicle Cats come one, come all, the Jellicle Moon is shining bright, Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball...' → This not only reminds me of all that beginning-of-the-show bubbling excitement I feel at Cats, but also it feels like an invitation to a magical night.
Irresistible by The Corrs → 'You're irresistible...it's indefinable, magical, illogical...'
It's Alright by S Club 7 → 'It's alright, anything you wanna, it's alright, leaving all your troubles far behind.don't let anybody tell you how to live your life, coz it's alright, no matter what you're feeling, it's alright, you cannot stop believing in yourself, don't let anybody tell you how to live your life, coz it's alright...'
Just Can't Get Enough by Sam Walker → 'Just like a rainbow, you know you set me free, and I just can't get enough, and I just can't get enough...'
Just Like Fire by P!nk → 'Just like fire, burning out the way, if I can light the world up for just one day, watch this madness, colorful charade...Just like magic, I'll be flying free...'
Just Like Heaven by The Cure → 'Strange as angels, dancing in the deepest oceans, twisting in the water, you're just like a dream...' → The Cure's version of this is really fun to get ready to, but for winding down after a show I can highly recommends Katie Melua's cover of it too.
Kill With Your Smile by Mark Owen → 'And your eyes apologise for your wonder, apologise for your style, and you kill with your smile...You're killing me still with your smile....'
Let In The Sun by Take That → 'Want you to see the sun rise as fast as you can...From high above, feel the love, open up your windows, let in the sun...'
Life Less Ordinary by Carbon Leaf → 'That night you came into my life, well it took the bones of me, you took the bones of me, you blew away my storm and strife and shook the bones of me...Live a life less ordinary, live a life extraordinary with me...' → This is a more mellow feel for before a show but it's perfect for the journey to a theatre.
Little Black Dress by Sara Bareilles → 'I'll get my little black dress on, and if I put on my favorite song, I'm gonna dance until you're all gone, I'll get my little black dress on...'
Lola by MIKA → 'I've made up my mind, I'm not gonna fall in love this time...' → This is on the list because it is one of the best songs to get silly-happy singing along to and also because it makes me laugh to sing "I'm not gonna fall in love this time" before a show since I am incapable of coming away from a performance without getting attached to some member of the cast or simply falling for one of my favourites all over again!
Long Story Short by Taylor Swift → 'Past me, I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things...and he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky...' → Really this is on here more for the feeling of resolution and of coming a long way which I get from this song, it makes me feel peaceful which is lovely and calming before a show.
Long Time Coming by The Delays → 'And you're a long time coming, a long time coming home, do you see me reeling off the lines, I've seen your, I've seen your eyes...'
Love Is On The Radio by McFly → 'Things are looking up, looking up, there's magic everywhere you go...'
Love It When You Call by The Feeling → 'Yeah I wonder where you been, yeah, and I wonder who you've seen, and I hope you've found your dream, when you do I really hope it's what it seems, I love it when you call...' → This is a nostalgic song for me as I remember listening to it on the way back from the Bristol shows where the playlist was born, but it is such a happy singalong song that I think it fits in well for a good pre-show song to get you smiling.
Love Like This by Kodaline → 'You shine like silver in the sunlight, you light up my cold heart, it feels right in the sun, the sun, we're running around and around like nothing else could matter in our life, but wait, but wait, but wait the sun will stop shining soon and you'll be dark in my life...But I'm not gonna think about the future...' → I associate this song really strongly with those days I got to spend in Birmingham watching the 2014 tour cast of Cats, when it felt so endless and so fleeting at the same time and the sun shone every afternoon as I wandered the city waiting for the magic of the show each night.
Love Sea by Alphabeat → 'As good as it feels, can't be real, too good to be true, I was coming down, I was in the dark 'til summer...'
Lovelife by Take That → 'Made up that you came, big dreams till the end...Fireworks, good to know, today's the start of the weekend, if I die now before I wake up, ask myself, did I give enough love? Looking in when you're on the outside, ask yourself - do you really love life?'
Lovely Day by Bill Withers → 'And I know it's gonna be a lovely day...' → This is another of those more mellow, soothing pre-show songs which I have a lot of nostalgia associated with as it has been on my playlist almost from the beginning.
Lucky Stars by Take That → 'I'm gonna count my lucky stars, I love you just the way you are...'
Mad About You by Alphabeat → 'You make me go shoot, shoot, bang, bang, boom, boom, like do that bling bling on and on...'
Millionaires by The Script → 'Spending our time like we are millionaires, check out us at six in the morning, if time was money, yeah we'd be worth a fortune...'
Mmmbop by Hanson → 'In an mmmbop they're gone...'
Monsters by Midnight Kids → 'Let's waste our time gettin' by on cheap temptation...'
More Than A Feeling by Boston → 'So many people have come and gone, their faces fade as the years go by, yet I still recall as I wander on, as clear as the sun in the summer sky, it's more than a feeling when I hear that old song they used to play...'
Mother We Just Can't Get Enough by New Radicals → 'And there's something about you that makes me fly, you're a heart attack, just the kind I like...'
My World by Avril Lavigne → 'Can't help if I space in a daze, my eyes tune out the other way, I may switch off and go in a daydream, in this head my thoughts are deep, but sometimes I can't even speak, would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my world...'
Never Forget by Take That → 'I understand the meaning of "I can't explain this feeling" now, and it feels so unreal...' → This line is always one which sticks with me so much so this song is just perfect for my playlist before and after a show. My favourite versions of it are actually both live albums: Circus Live is so upbeat it is always great before a show and Progress Live has a really atmospheric intro so I prefer that after a show.
New Day by Take That → 'Yesterday's blues is just a shade of colour...Talking revolution, talking revolution, I talk about you all the time, wake up, it's a brand new day, everybody's gotta sing this storm away, so come along and lead the way...'
New In Town by Little Boots → 'I'm gonna take you out tonight, I'm gonna make you feel alright, I don't have a lot of money but we'll be fine, no I don't have a penny but I'll show you a real good time...'
New Romantics by Taylor Swift → 'And every day is like a battle, but every night with us is like a dream, baby we're the new romantics, come on come along with me...we are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet, baby, we're the new romantics, the best people in life are free...'
The Night Is Still Young by Nicki Minaj → 'What is the hurry? It's pretty early, it's ok, we'll take our time, the night is still young...'
No Tomorrow by Orson → 'When I'm dancing with you tomorrow doesn't matter, turn that music up 'til the windows start to shatter, coz you're the only one who can get me on my feet and I can't even dance...'
Of The Night by Bastille → 'You can put some joy up on my face, oh sunshine in an empty place...This is the rhythm of the night...'
One Day Like This by Elbow → 'It's looking like a beautiful day...So throw those curtains wide, one day like this a year would see me right...' → I remember this playing as I was on my way to see Cats in Wolverhampton in 2013. It was my first time being able to go to the show in so long and this really just made me feel full-up with excitement and anticipation.
One Short Day from Wicked the Musical → 'One short day in the Emerald City, one short day to have a lifetime of fun...' → I associate this most with my trips to London for matinees, especially when Dean was in Billy Elliot and I had the timetable I needed to follow down to an artform as I tried to cram everything in and still make the train home!
One Way Ticket by ONE OK ROCK → 'Need a one way ticket, anywhere you are is where I want to go...' → Another great travel song.
Origin Of Love by MIKA → 'You are the sun and the light, you are the freedom I fight...' → This song is just so much fun and more than anything I just love the pure joy of it when it comes on - anything MIKA is always involved when I have a really good pre-show singablong session!
Paradise by Coldplay → 'So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, every time she closed her eyes...In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes, in the night the stormy night away she'd fly, and dream of para-para-paradise...This could be para-para-paradise...'
Perfect Day by Hoku → 'Sun's up, a little after twelve, make breakfast for myself, leave the work for someone else, people say they say that it's just a phase, they tell me to act my age, well I am, on this perfect day, nothing's standing in my way, on this perfect day, when nothing can go wrong, it's the perfect day, tomorrow's gonna come too soon, I could stay forever as I am on this perfect day, sun's down a little after ten...wake up, don't tell me it's just a dream, coz when I've had enough you'll hear me say, now don't you try to rain on my perfect day...'
Pick A Part That's New by Stereophonics → 'You can do all the things that you like to do, all around upside down pick a part that's new...'
Pocketful Of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield → 'I got a pocket got a pocket full of sunshine...'
Poppin' Bottles by Skully Boyz → 'I can't believe it's just another summer day...' → If it's possible for something to make you feel peaceful and hyped up at the same time, then that is how this song makes me feel!
Portrait by Take That → 'Years don’t come too soon, and days be long and light, future you can wait, coz time’s still on our side, take a portrait, 25, let me hear you singing it out...'
Praise You by Fatboy Slim → 'We've come a long long way together, through the hard times and the good, I have to celebrate you baby, I have to praise you like I should...'
Price Tag by Jessie J → 'Why is everybody so serious, acting so damn mysterious? Got your shades on your eyes and your heels so high that you can't even have a good time, everybody look to their left, everybody look to their right, can you feel that? Yeah, we're paying with love tonight...'
Rather Be by Clean Bandit → 'We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea, but as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be...'
Reach For The Stars by S Club 7 → 'Reach for the stars, and when that rainbow's shining over you, that's when your dreams will all come true...'
...Ready For It? by Taylor Swift → 'Baby, let the games begin...' → This is a good song to pack or prep to, it gets you hyped up without distracting you too badly when you need to concentrate!
Reaper by Sia → 'Don't come for me today, I'm feeling good, let me savour it, don't come for me today, I'm feeling good, I remember when, you came to take me away, so close I was to heaven's gates, but no baby, no baby, not today...'
Revival by Sigala → 'And it feels like, my eyes are open, and it feels like, I'm on my knees, and it feels like, my soul revival...'
Rock The World by The Script → 'Always remembering the day we rocked the world....'
Run It by Midnight Kids → 'Take me back to when we'd just drive, think it's time that we said fuck it, red light, let's run it...'
Shadows by Alphabeat → 'I see shadows moving around, I never let 'em closer, I just stick to the sound, I see shadows closing in, I never let 'em get me, I just keep moving...'
She's Got You High by Mumm-Ra → 'She's got you high and you don't even know yet, she's got you high and you don't even know yet, the sun's in the sky, its warming up your bare legs, you can't deny you're looking for the sunset...The sun's in the sky, it makes for happy endings...'
Shine by Hilary Duff → 'Everyone knows that I'm ten feet under, 'til you come along and brighten my day...' → That line is what always strikes me most with this song as it reminds me of all the times the theatre has been a bright spot or something to look forward to for me.
Shine by Shannon Noll → 'This is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, al the world will stop to watch you shine, this is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, when all the world will stop to watch you shine....' → If you have a theatre friend you've followed and championed, this is the perfect song to make you smile and be proud of them.
Shine by Take That → 'Hey, so come on yeah, shine all your light over me...' → This song is so happy and perfect, and the lyrics are great for if you have a theatre friend you're proud of. The amazing acoustic Abbey Road session of this is also a must-listen post-show.
Shooting Star by Owl City → 'When the sun goes down and the lights burn out then it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are, fill the darkest night with a brilliant light coz it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are tonight...' → I have met more than one shining shooting star at stage door and this always makes me think of them with a fond smile before or after a show.
Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon → 'Shut up and dance with me....'
Smash by Goo Goo Dolls → 'I love, I love when things work out...Smash, and I feel it...'
Smile by McFly → 'Oh cause if you're feeling happy, that's the way to let it show, so just remember to smile smile smile so everybody knows, and it will make things so much better when you're feeling low...'
So Good by B.o.B. → 'I'll have you living life like you should, you say you never had it so good...'
So Here We Are by Bloc Party → 'I caught a glimpse, but it's been forgotten, so here we are again...'
So Young by The Corrs → 'We are taking it easy, and bright and breezy, yeah, we are living it up, just fine and dandy, yeah, and it really doesn't matter that we don't eat, and it really doesn't matter if we never sleep, it really doesn't matter, it really doesn't matter at all...'
Sound Of An Orchestra by MIKA → 'You lower your hand, clarinet will play, raise it back up and it flies away, when you smile violins will soar, when you move your legs timpani will roar, I can hear it, I can hear it, I can hear it, I swear, all the music you're provoking, filling up the air...'
Special by Wilshire → 'I dream of my escape, free as a bird I'll fly away, I'm looking for a hallelujah, I need a little something special....'
The Spell by Alphabeat → 'You put a spell on me, I don't know what to do, it's an ability that draws me closer to you, your magic has got me where I want to be, your magic is happening in front of me...'
Stardust by Lena Meyer → 'We are waiting on a dream, so we go to sleep, but nothing happens when we wait too long, so we go where no one can catch us, nothing can change this, covered in stardust, invincible, we're jumping off the edge, reaching for the moon...'
Stardust by MIKA → 'I could put a little stardust in your eyes, put a little sunshine in your life; give me a little hug you'll feel the same, and I wanna know will I see you again...'
Starlight by Taylor Swift → 'Oh my, what a marvelous tune, it was the best night, never would forget how we moved, the whole place was dressed to the nines, and we were dancing, dancing, like we're made of starlight, starlight...Like we dream impossible dreams, like starlight, starlight, like we dream impossible dreams, don't you see the starlight, starlight? Don't you dream impossible things?'
Starry Eyed Surprise by Paul Oakenfold → 'Tonight I’m seein stars...'
Stolen by Dashboard Confessional → 'We watch the season pull up its own stakes, and catch the last weekend of the last week, before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced, another sun soaked season fades away...' → The faster single version of this song is beautiful before a show, but the for the journey home I thouroughly recommend the slower album version because it is pure warmth and nostalgia.
Summer Sunshine by The Corrs → 'To sweet beginnings and bitter endings...In the heat of summer sunshine, I miss you like nobody else...' → As a pure singalong this is lovely pre-show, but there is something so powerfully nostalgic and reflective about it to me too for those times after a show when you want to look back.
Sushi by Kyle Andrews → 'Can we have a moment?'
Sweeter Than Fiction by Taylor Swift → 'I'll be one of the many saying "Look at you now, look at you now, now", I'll be one of the many saying "You made us proud, you made us proud, proud", and when they call your name, and they put your picture in a frame, you know that I'll be there time and again, coz I loved you when...in this perfect weather, it's like we don't remember the rain we thought would last forever and ever, there you'll stand, ten feet tall, I will say "I knew it all along", your eyes–wider than distance, this life sweeter than fiction...'
There's Nothing Holding Me Back by Shawn Mendes → 'Oh I've been shaking, I love it when you go crazy, you take all my inhibitions, baby there's nothing holdin' me back...'
These Days by Take That → 'What a day to believe, to believe in the night, what a day to belong to a face in the crowd and the beat of your heart...Take me back to where it all began, to where our memories grow, before they take us over, tonight we're gonna live for, we're gonna live for these days, tonight, tonight we'll remember, we'll remember these days...'
Thinking Of You by Busted → 'Nowhere else I'd rather be today, in my mind a million miles away...'
Tired Of Waiting For You by The Kinks → 'I'm so tired tired of waiting, tired of waiting for you...' → This always makes me laugh when it comes on before a show - honestly I never get tired of waiting at the stage door for My Jellicles, but sometimes it does seem a little like the waiting is endless!
Us And Ours by Mark Owen → 'You said don’t don’t count your blessings too much, you make them less in size and feel until they’ve gone away, you said hold me, but please don’t hold too tightly...Gonna ride those highs and lows of flesh and bone, the sun will set and we’ll all start dreaming...'
Vacation by Alphabeat → 'Why do you, look so grave? I've got just the cure for it, pack your bags, we got to go, baby there's no doubt about it, leave your troubles way behind, we're gonna have a good time...'
Wake Up by Hilary Duff → 'The city's restless, it's all around me, people, emotions, sick of all the same routines, and they need to go, they need to get away tonight, I put my makeup on a Saturday night, I try to make it happen try to make it alright...Wake up, wake up on a Saturday night, could be New York, maybe Hollywood and Vine, London, Paris, maybe Tokyo, there's something going on anywhere I go tonight...'
Wasted Nights by ONE OK ROCK → 'Don't be afraid to dive, be afraid that you didn't try, these moments remind us why we're here we're so alive, let's live like we're immortal, maybe just for tonight, we'll think about tomorrow when the sun comes up, cause by this time tomorrow we'll be talking 'bout tonight...No more wasted nights, records spinning we don't notice, fill this room with memories, everybody's chasing something, but we got everything we need...'
We Are Young by Fun. → 'Tonight we are young, so let’s set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun...'
We Can Dance by The Feeling → 'All the fools on the planet, like me on the planet, just dance...'
Welcome To New York by Taylor Swift → 'It's a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat, forevermore, the lights are so bright but they never blind me...' → For that feeling as you get closer to the theatre, especially on a wintery night once the sun's gone down.
What Dreams Are Made Of by Ruelle → 'This could be something amazing, like lightning inside us, the moment that we see what dreams are made of, what dreams are made of, this is what dreams are made of...'
What I Like About You by Lillix → 'What I like about you, you really know how to dance...'
Why Not by Hilary Duff → 'You always dress in yellow when you wanna dress in gold, instead of listening to your heart you do just what you're told, you keep waiting where you are, for what you'll never know...Why not take a crazy chance, why not do a crazy dance, if you lose the moment, you may lose a lot...' → Definitely never lose the moment and always take the crazy chances when it comes to stage door!
Wonderland by Take That → 'All your dreams are made in Wonderland...'
Wow by Kylie Mingoue → 'You got it, you're wow, wow, wow, wow...'
You Get What You Give by New Radicals → 'Wake up kids, we got the dreamers disease...First we run, and then we laugh 'til we cry, but when the night is falling, you cannot find the light, you feel your dreams are dying, hold tight, you've got the music in you, don't let go...'
You Make Me Feel Like A Star by The Beau Sisters → 'But all those things don't matter, in the light of things to come...You make me feel like a star...' → This is a song which I loved at the time I first made a Stage Door Playlist so really it's here for nostalgia more than anything as I associate it with that time, but it is a really fun singalong song too.
You'll Never Get To Heaven by Diana Vickers → 'Dressed to the nines, and you're saving up for your favourite song, and when it comes on your body blazes, you shine like a light, as your pulse is racing...So come and lead me to the strobe lights...'
You've Got The Love by Florence + the Machine → 'Sometimes it seems the going is just too rough, and things go wrong no matter what I do, now and then it seems that life is just too much, but you've got the love I need to see me through...'
Younger Than Yesterday by Alphabeat → 'I really wanna dance your way...I'm younger than yesterday when I'm with you...'
22 by Taylor Swift → 'It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight...Happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way, it's misierable and magical...'
10,000 Nights by Alphabeat → 'You give me 10, 000 nights of thunder, but I will give them all back to you, cause you're so ooh, you're so ahh, you're so cool...like a solitude erasure, like an elevator...'
After Today from Doctor Dolittle the Musical → 'After today I'll say "Oh what a day it was!" - my heart will be lighter, and my smile will be brighter...after the tears comes the laughter! After today!'
Always Up With You by Alphabeat → 'You never get me down, I'm always up with you...'
And The Band Plays' by Take That → 'Kill your pain and all your fears let the rhythm dry your tears as the work stops and the band plays, walking to the light all of a sudden and the band plays, we're always making something out of nothing, turn your heartache into loving, and the band plays...'
Another Op'nin' Another Show from Kiss Me Kate the Musical/SMASH Soundtrack → 'The overture is about to start, you cross your fingers and hold your heart, it's curtain time and away we go, another op'nin', another op'nin' of another show. → I personally prefer the SMASH version because of the orchestration and arrangement, but the Kiss Me Kate original is excellent too.
Anything Could Happen by Ellie Goulding → 'But now I've seen it through and now I know the truth; that anything could happen, anything could happen...'
Anywhere But Here by Hilary Duff → 'Here's the brand new me, skates around and floats on air, I'm a sight to see...Crazy as it seems, I don't wanna be anywhere but here...'
As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard the Musical/sung by Elaine Paige → 'The whispered conversations in overcrowded hallways, the atmosphere as thrilling here as always, feel the early morning madness, feel the magic in the making, why everything's as if we never said goodbye, I've spent so many mornings just trying to resist you, I'm trembling now you can't know how I've missed you, missed the fairy tale adventure, in this ever spinning playground...' → Multiple versions of this song are on my playlist as it is just perfect for the theatre, but Elaine Paige's is probably my personal favourite.)
Beautiful Ones by Suede → 'Here they come, the beautiful ones...'
Believe by Take That → 'Took a walk around the block, didn’t stop, all this space, it makes me want to see your face, such a beautiful place, when I met you last I was at a loss, life goes on...I can see the sun is risin’, I can see your eyes are smilin’, I will hold onto the things that I believe, believe, shut my eyes I feel alive...Give me one more night at last, filled with joy...' → This song is just really pretty, feel-good and gorgeous - my favourite band doing me proud! I vividly remember being on the train back from London after delivering cupcakes to the cast and it just really touching my heart to listen to, especially after Joel had been so very sweet to me at stage door that day. There is an atmosphere to this song that is really perfect before and after a show.
Belong by Cash Cash & Dashboard Confessional → 'The sun on your face and a song in the air...'
Best Day Of My Life by American Authors → 'I had a dream so big and loud, I jumped so high I touched the clouds, wo-o-o-o-o-oh, I stretched my hands out to the sky, we danced with monsters through the night, wo-o-o-o-o-oh, I'm never gonna look back, woah, never gonna give it up, no, please don't wake me now...this is gonna be the best day of my life...'
Best Day Of My Life by Jesse McCartney → 'Woke up around a half past ten, can’t believe that I’m late again, put down about a quart of caffeine to start my pulse and then I grabbed my jeans off the floor and I hit the door, just the same old same, it goes to show, you never know when everything’s about to change, just another day, started out like any other...just another day that I had the best day of my life...'
Best Song Ever by One Direction → 'And we danced all night to the best song ever...'
Brand New Day by Alphabeat → 'Yesterday I was low, down and out, like my life wasn’t something to dance about, could you give me a leg up? I need one, to get me back in the sun, where I belong, I know one thing’s for sure, I’m heading to a new direction, yesterdays are over, hear me I’m coming, it’s a brand new day and I’m feeling oh so good, it’s a brand new day and I’m feeling like I should...'
Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson → 'And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change and breakaway...'
Breathless by The Corrs → 'It's like a dream, although I'm not asleep, and I never want to wake up, don't lose it, don't leave it, so, go on, go on, come on leave me breathless...' → This is basically just a really fun song to dance around getting ready to!
Brighter Than The Sun from the SMASH Soundtrack/by Colbie Caillat → 'Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart, it goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun, oh we could be the stars, falling from the sky, shining how we want, brighter than the sun...' → Again something about the SMASH orchestration of this just gives me the extra adrenaline rush and it makes for a really sparkly, fun song to sing along to when getting ready.
Bubbly by Colbie Caillat → 'I always know that you make me smile, please stay for a while now...Every time I see your bubbly face...You make me smile, even just for a while...'
Carry Me Home by Take That → 'Carry me home when this is over, carry me home, into the sun, through all the highs and all the hard times...' → This song just makes me feel so happy and nostalgic at once somehow.
Celebrate by MIKA → 'Once I get up I feel better, then I pull myself together, I remember those two letters: it will be OK, everyone says now or never, I say only if it's better, be a night like this forever...'
Cheap Thrills by Sia → 'Come on, come on, turn the radio on, it's Friday night and I won't be long, gotta do my hair, put my make up on...'
Classic by MKTO → 'You're over my head, I'm out of my mind...'
Colourblind by Darius → 'Feeling fine, sublime, when that smile of yours creeps into my mind, nobody told me it feels so good, nobody said you'd be so beautiful, nobody warned me about your smile...Blinded by the light you shine...'
Come On Love by Take That → 'Oh come on, love, come on, say you'll be back some day...'
Coming Home by Firelight → 'Look me in the eye and electrify my bones...It’s only because I’m here, I’m finding gold in my hands...Trying to build up the words to say what you mean to me...Gonna take on this journey feel the light getting warm, find the strength I’ve been searching, keep the beat going strong...Yeah the spirits alive I’m on the road coming home...'
Counting Stars by OneRepublic → 'Said no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars, yeah, we'll be counting stars, I see this life like a swinging vine, swing my heart across the line, in my face is flashing signs, seek it out and ye shall find, old but I'm not that old, young but I'm not that bold, and I don't think the world is sold...'
Crazy Dreams from the SMASH Soundtrack/by Carrie Underwood → 'Here's to you free souls, you firefly chasers, tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players, here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms, there's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you, thank God even crazy dreams come true...' → Again there is just something special about the SMASH orchestration which kind of gives you this feeling of breathless anticipation when you listen to it before a show, and it is just the right amount of wistful for after a show too.
Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift → 'Killing me slow, out the window, I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below, devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes...It's a cruel summer...'
Cry by Take That → 'If you remember me, everyone else can forget...'
Cut To The Feeling by Carly Rae Jepsen → 'I want to cut to the clouds, break the ceiling...I want to play where you play with the angels...'
Dakota by Stereophonics → 'Thinking back, thinking of you, summertime think it was June, yeah think it was June, laying back head on the grass, chewing gum having some laughs, yeah having some laughs...Wake up call, coffee and juice, remembering you, what happened to you? I wonder if we’ll meet again, talk about life since then, talk about why did it end. → This is just a great reminiscing song, but it's also great when you're driving along to or from the theatre as it has such a good energy to it that it can really fit whatever mood.
Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader → 'Dancing in the moonlight, everybody's feeling warm and bright, it's such a fine and natural sight, everybody's dancing in the moonlight, we like our fun and we never fight, you cant dance and stay uptight, it's a supernatural delight...'
Digital Love by Daft Punk/sung by Alphabeat → 'Last night I had a dream about you, in this dream I'm dancing right beside you, and it looked like everyone was having fun, the kind of feeling I've waited so long...'
DJ by Alphabeat → 'I could be dancing, I could be dancing all night if you would play, I would be dancing, I would be doing all right if you would play, I need something I can turn to, now and then, take me out, out and out, on and on, I need something I can turn to, something I can count in, day and night, on and on like a record now, out and out, I need something I can dance to...'
Domino by Jessie J → 'Every second is a highlight...You got me losing my mind, my heart beats out of time...Make this dream the best I've ever known...'
Don't Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders/sung by Ainslie Henderson → 'Don't get me wrong if I'm looking kind of dazzled, I see neon lights whenever you walk by, don't get me wrong if I'm acting so distracted, I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile...'
Don't Take The Money by Bleachers → 'You steal the air out of my lungs, you make me feel it...'
Down At Club S by S Club 7 → 'Where d'you wanna be when your brain's under stress? Be what you can be coz you can impress, down at Club S...There's method in the madness nevertheless, down at Club S...Everybody knows that life can depress, so come on to the place where you can impress, down at Club S...' → This song is just pure fun, perfect for getting ready in time to and even better if you imagine the 'S' stands for 'Stage Door'!
Dreams by Gabrielle → 'Not making plans for tomorrow, let's live for tonight...Dreams can come true...'
Dreams And Disasters by Owl City → 'Follow the light through the dreams and disasters, follow the light to the edge and the after, we won't turn around, we will not slow down, follow the light through the dreams and disasters, think of the sun and the sound of it rising, still on the run with our eyes on the horizon, I wanna feel alive forever after...'
Drops Of Jupiter by Train → 'But tell me, did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overrated? Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star, one without a permanent scar? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?'
Dynamite by BTS → 'Cause I-I-I'm in the stars tonight, so watch me bring the fire and set the night alight...'
Edge Of The Ocean by Ivy → 'There's a place I dream about , where the sun never goes out. And the sky is deep and blue, won't you take me there with you...There's a world I've always known, somewhere far away from home. When I close my eyes I see all the space and mystery...' → This is a great wistful train journey song and can work both before and after a show, but in case of post-show daydreaming, definitely break glass and listen to this song!
Everlasting by Take That → 'It started on a Friday night, we were runnin' wild, we were flyin' high, searchin' for the time of our lives...' → This song really can just send electricity down your spine when you're in that theatre trip state of mind and brings the memories right back to the surface when you're in a reflective mood.
Everybody Get Pumped by S Club 7 → 'Yeah, everybody get pumped...One party day to the next to the next...' → This is a great song to wake you up on an early morning start if you're travelling a long distance for a show and it definitely a staple of mine for when I'm getting ready.
Everybody Wants Ya by S Club 7 → 'I get this feeling as you walk away, a million hearts will break in two...Everytime you move, everybody grooves, I can't help thinking it's alright (alright), you just gotta walk see the people talk, I like to watch you party, coz everybody wants ya when everybody sees ya, the world is full of dreamers, but I'm a great believer...I see the way you act like you don't know, there's something 'bout your attitude...You just gotta bump, see the people jump, I can't help thinking it's alright, when you do your thing everybody swings, they like to watch you party...I just wind you up and let you go, and I watch you in wonder, to see the look upon your face I'd say you already know...' → This song really always makes me smile, and it will also always just make me think of the Cats casts - watching them in awe and the grins on their faces at the final bows when they each take their individual bows.
Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac → 'Something's happening, happening to me, my friends say I'm acting peculiarly...'
Fascination by Alphabeat → 'Fascination, fascination, it's just the way we feel, we love this exaltation, woh oh, o-o-oh, we want the new temptations, woh oh, o-o-oh, it's like a revelation, woh oh, o-o-oh, we live on fascination...'
Feel Again by OneRepublic → 'It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face, I've been everywhere and back trying to replace everything that I had 'til my feet went numb....But with you
I feel again, yeah, with you I can feel again...'
Feels Like Forever by Kygo → 'Felt the pull of the night calling from some greater meaning...something from a dream calling to me, I knew there was no time to be wasting...Feels like forever tonight, took a taxi out under those city lights, chasin' dreams on a dime...'
Fill My Little World by The Feeling → 'Hey, show some love, you ain't so tough, come fill my little world right up, right up...'
Find Love by Stepdad → 'Dancing, rejoicing, they're raising their voices, their hearts are enormous, the sight is so gorgeous...'
Geronimo by Sheppard → 'So say geronimo...'
Get Ready For It by Take That → 'The night is young, until it’s over, until it’s over, the night is young, the night is ours, until tomorrow...' → This song is just so full of emotion, and I feel that sentiment of "the night is young until it's over" is so apt for the way you feel on a magical night at the theatre.
Glad You Came by The Wanted →'The sun goes down, the stars come out and all that counts is here and now...'
Go Go by Alphabeat → 'My feet keep taking me to your street, 'cause there's a chance I'll meet you, that's what I want to do, I keep looking for a chance, a chance to steal a dance off you, that's what I want to do, come on, please take my hand, I need somebody to understand, I need somebody to show the way to go, go...'
Gold by Owl City → 'Stand on up and take a bow, there's something there and it's showing, there's no need to look around, you're the best we got going, shout out to the dreams you'll chase, shout out to the hearts you'll break, nothing's gonna stop you now...inside of my heart you're here, go on, it's gotta be time, you're starting to shine 'cause what you got is gold, I know, you're gold, oh, I know I know I don't need the stars in the night, I found my treasure, all I need is you by my side, so shine forever...' → This always just makes me think of my gorgeous, talented stage door friends.
Gold Rush by Taylor Swift → 'Gleaming, twinkling, eyes like sinking ships on waters so inviting...everybody wants you, everybody wonders what it would be like to love you, walk past, quick brush, I don't like slow motion double vision in a rose blush, I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush...' → There is something very daydreamy and wistful about the feeling of listening to this song which is beautiful and reflective for after a show whilst the energy and chorus make it perfect to sing along to before a show.
Good Life by OneRepublic → 'This has gotta be the good life, this has gotta be the good life...got this feeling that you can't fight, like this city is on fire tonight...Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out, sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now, we all got our stories but please tell me what there is to complain about, when you're happy like a fool, let it take you over...Hopelessly, I feel like there might be something that I'll miss, hopelessly, I feel like the window closes oh so quick, hopelessly, I'm taking a mental picture of you now, cause hopelessly the hope is we have so much to feel good about...'
Good Ol' Days by The Script → 'Oh, we'll remember this night when we're old and grey, coz in the future these will be the good ol' days...It's two am now we're dancing in the rain and uh, hanging out of each other like the pain is gone, these are my people, these are my crowd...'
Good One by Busted → 'It’s been the greatest time but it’s time we’ve borrowed, we’ve got our separate ways to go, wish I could follow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you again, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend. It’s such a bitter taste, so hard to swallow, I’m gonna miss that face when I’m home tomorrow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you God knows when, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend...' → The energy and feeling of this song combined with the lyrics just sums up so much of the theatre trip experience for me and it is good for both getting hyped up pre-show and also for reflecting post-show just because of the combination of the high energy and bittersweet lyrics.
Good Time by Owl City → 'Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care, hopped into a cab take me anywhere...Good morning and good night, I'll wake up at twilight, it's gonna be alright, we don't even have to try, it's always a good time...'
Good Times by S Club 7 → 'We all need a change once in a while, the time to make a change is right now, this is for the good times, good times, this is to the good life...'
Gorgeous by Taylor Swift → 'You're so gorgeous, I can't say anything to your face, coz look at your face...' → Such a bubbly, happy song & honestly every person I've met at stage door is gorgeous!
Greatest Day by Take That → 'Today this could be the greatest day of our lives, before it all ends before we run out of time...Watch the world come alive tonight...Tonight this could be the greatest night of our lives, let’s make a new start, the future is ours to find, can you see it, can you see it in my eyes? Can you feel it now, can you hold it in your arms tonight?' → There are several versions of this song on my playlist, and whilst the original is beautiful the one I'm going to recommend here is the Odyssey Version just for the sheer momentum and magic injected into it which fits really well for those pre-show emotions.
Hail, Rain Or Sunshine by The Script → 'We're late to bed, we're early to rise, wipe the sleep from our eyes...We open up, we start to wake, maybe it's gonna be our day, and suddenly we start to smile, the sun is out for a while, and you may see this place and find no worth, but it's a little piece of heaven here on Earth, yeah, we always have a good time, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, yeah, we're all living the good life, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, we reach the top, we took the fall, but we laughed through it all, cause dreaming of them better days has always been our way, and you may see my friends and find no worth, but, no I'll never go and change them for the world...'
Happiness by Orson → 'And when the world don't feel like turning, and the sun just wants to hide, all the stars come out to remind me of the universe by my side, all that happens is happiness...'
Happy Now by Take That → 'In the world of dreams, I’m a frequent flyer, super heavy elements, embrace me, super heavy elements, I feel myself falling, I’m feeling happy now...'
Have A Nice Day by Stereophonics → 'So have a nice day, have a nice day...' → This is so much fun to listen to when the sun is shining on the way to a show.
Head Over Heels by The Go-Gos → 'Head over heels, no time to think...' → A really fun and energetic song to get ready to.
Heatwave by Alphabeat → 'It's nothing like real life...Whenever you're around you hit baby, I'm hit baby...'
Hello by Take That → 'A life of filter coffee and dreaming, dreaming, never thought that anyone could change my view, but everything looks different when I'm looking around with you, glad you took the time to say hello, hello...'
Hey Man (Now You're Really Living) by Eels → 'Do you know what it's like, to fall on the floor, cry your guts out, 'till you got no more, hey man, now you're really living...'
Higher Than Higher by Take That → 'Cause you are, you are here, I can be higher, higher than higher, you’re lifting me up...' → This song is the eptiome of feel-good and I cannot not smile whenever I listen to it, making it perfect for pre-show dancing sessions and post-show train journeys home.
Hold On by Colbie Caillat → 'You're in the stars, in the stars, yeah, you're worlds away...We're losing light, losing light, yeah, we're fading fast...I look at you and I get the feeling, I think that I should hold on, hold on...'
Hold Up A Light by Take That → 'You can dance if you like, you can sing every line of every song, no you don't have to steal the show it was your show all along, as the orchestra plays the people take the seats, there's no room left in this house, it's only you and me, and if life is your stage I'll be watching, hold up a light for me, hold up a light for me...I'll be watching you, everything that you do, as we start rehearsing every scene, the words to everything, we realize that the crowd is listening, and then the tears fall down on your face at exactly the right place as the people start to stand up in the aisles, you can hear the sound of violins on every street tonight, you can see all lovers dancing round, I'll be watching...All things you see end up where they should be...Hold up a light, cause I'm loving you and I'm loving this...' → Simply one of my favourite songs in the whole world; since it was written in tribute to the band's own live shows, it's hardly surprising I suppose that this feels so incredibibly close to the bone for my Stage Door Playlist.
Hurts Like Heaven by Coldplay → 'Yes, I feel a little bit nervous, yes I feel nervous and I cannot relax...and it hurts like heaven...'
I Can't Wait by Hilary Duff → 'Everybody has their day, where things just seem to go their way, an angel's gonna smile on me when it's meant to be, cause anything is possible no matter how incredible, you never know who I might meet on this crowded street, life goes on like a song, I can't wait for the world to spin, I can't wait to be happening, oh, what's it gonna take, I can't wait for the time to come when I'll be shining like the sun, I can't wait...'
I Don't Feel Like Dancin' by Scissor Sisters → 'Cities come and cities go just like the old empires, when all you do is change your clothes and call that versatile, you got so many colours make a blind man so confused...You can’t make me dance around but your two-step makes my chest pound...'
I Like It by Take That → 'Hey, I’m back again, yeah I’m back again in another place, I can see your face, oh let me hear you now, yeah let me hear you now, let me hear you loud, make a bigger sound, there’s a voice in my ear, the intention is clear, out of time, out of space it’s a feeling a meaning that I can taste...'
I Like Me Better by Lauv → 'I like me better when I'm with you...' → There's just something fun about the energy of this songs that feels really good for a roadtrip to a show.
I Lived by OneRepublic → 'Hope when the crowd screams out, they're screaming your name...Hope when the moment comes, you'll say: I did it all, I did it all, I owned every second that this world could give, I saw so many places, the things that I did, yeah with every broken bone I swear I lived, hope that you spend your days but they all add up, and when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup, I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain, but until my moment comes, I'll say, I did it all...'
I Miss Those Days by Bleachers → 'And it's all coming back now, like the feeling isn't over, yeah I know I was lost but I miss those days...' → The energy and excitement of this song is perfect for returning to a show after a long time away, but there's a longing and nostalgia to it which also makes it great for when the show is over and when you want to reminisce.
If You Want It by Take That → 'Every day could be a little bit brighter, every day could be a little bit higher, every day could be a little bit, yeah I know, I know, it's never gonna happen if we're waiting for it, if you want it, you can have it...'
Into The Wild by Take That → 'It’s almost like we go dance with desire, then we go playing with fire, then we go into the wild again, get back, get back to town, these city lights gonna bring us home tonight, coz we knew the colour of gold, so long ago it’s a story to be told...'
The Invitation To The Jellicle Ball from Cats the Musical → 'Jellicle Cats come out tonight, Jellicle Cats come one, come all, the Jellicle Moon is shining bright, Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball...' → This not only reminds me of all that beginning-of-the-show bubbling excitement I feel at Cats, but also it feels like an invitation to a magical night.
Irresistible by The Corrs → 'You're irresistible...it's indefinable, magical, illogical...'
It's Alright by S Club 7 → 'It's alright, anything you wanna, it's alright, leaving all your troubles far behind.don't let anybody tell you how to live your life, coz it's alright, no matter what you're feeling, it's alright, you cannot stop believing in yourself, don't let anybody tell you how to live your life, coz it's alright...'
Just Can't Get Enough by Sam Walker → 'Just like a rainbow, you know you set me free, and I just can't get enough, and I just can't get enough...'
Just Like Fire by P!nk → 'Just like fire, burning out the way, if I can light the world up for just one day, watch this madness, colorful charade...Just like magic, I'll be flying free...'
Just Like Heaven by The Cure → 'Strange as angels, dancing in the deepest oceans, twisting in the water, you're just like a dream...' → The Cure's version of this is really fun to get ready to, but for winding down after a show I can highly recommends Katie Melua's cover of it too.
Kill With Your Smile by Mark Owen → 'And your eyes apologise for your wonder, apologise for your style, and you kill with your smile...You're killing me still with your smile....'
Let In The Sun by Take That → 'Want you to see the sun rise as fast as you can...From high above, feel the love, open up your windows, let in the sun...'
Life Less Ordinary by Carbon Leaf → 'That night you came into my life, well it took the bones of me, you took the bones of me, you blew away my storm and strife and shook the bones of me...Live a life less ordinary, live a life extraordinary with me...' → This is a more mellow feel for before a show but it's perfect for the journey to a theatre.
Little Black Dress by Sara Bareilles → 'I'll get my little black dress on, and if I put on my favorite song, I'm gonna dance until you're all gone, I'll get my little black dress on...'
Lola by MIKA → 'I've made up my mind, I'm not gonna fall in love this time...' → This is on the list because it is one of the best songs to get silly-happy singing along to and also because it makes me laugh to sing "I'm not gonna fall in love this time" before a show since I am incapable of coming away from a performance without getting attached to some member of the cast or simply falling for one of my favourites all over again!
Long Story Short by Taylor Swift → 'Past me, I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things...and he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky...' → Really this is on here more for the feeling of resolution and of coming a long way which I get from this song, it makes me feel peaceful which is lovely and calming before a show.
Long Time Coming by The Delays → 'And you're a long time coming, a long time coming home, do you see me reeling off the lines, I've seen your, I've seen your eyes...'
Love Is On The Radio by McFly → 'Things are looking up, looking up, there's magic everywhere you go...'
Love It When You Call by The Feeling → 'Yeah I wonder where you been, yeah, and I wonder who you've seen, and I hope you've found your dream, when you do I really hope it's what it seems, I love it when you call...' → This is a nostalgic song for me as I remember listening to it on the way back from the Bristol shows where the playlist was born, but it is such a happy singalong song that I think it fits in well for a good pre-show song to get you smiling.
Love Like This by Kodaline → 'You shine like silver in the sunlight, you light up my cold heart, it feels right in the sun, the sun, we're running around and around like nothing else could matter in our life, but wait, but wait, but wait the sun will stop shining soon and you'll be dark in my life...But I'm not gonna think about the future...' → I associate this song really strongly with those days I got to spend in Birmingham watching the 2014 tour cast of Cats, when it felt so endless and so fleeting at the same time and the sun shone every afternoon as I wandered the city waiting for the magic of the show each night.
Love Sea by Alphabeat → 'As good as it feels, can't be real, too good to be true, I was coming down, I was in the dark 'til summer...'
Lovelife by Take That → 'Made up that you came, big dreams till the end...Fireworks, good to know, today's the start of the weekend, if I die now before I wake up, ask myself, did I give enough love? Looking in when you're on the outside, ask yourself - do you really love life?'
Lovely Day by Bill Withers → 'And I know it's gonna be a lovely day...' → This is another of those more mellow, soothing pre-show songs which I have a lot of nostalgia associated with as it has been on my playlist almost from the beginning.
Lucky Stars by Take That → 'I'm gonna count my lucky stars, I love you just the way you are...'
Mad About You by Alphabeat → 'You make me go shoot, shoot, bang, bang, boom, boom, like do that bling bling on and on...'
Millionaires by The Script → 'Spending our time like we are millionaires, check out us at six in the morning, if time was money, yeah we'd be worth a fortune...'
Mmmbop by Hanson → 'In an mmmbop they're gone...'
Monsters by Midnight Kids → 'Let's waste our time gettin' by on cheap temptation...'
More Than A Feeling by Boston → 'So many people have come and gone, their faces fade as the years go by, yet I still recall as I wander on, as clear as the sun in the summer sky, it's more than a feeling when I hear that old song they used to play...'
Mother We Just Can't Get Enough by New Radicals → 'And there's something about you that makes me fly, you're a heart attack, just the kind I like...'
My World by Avril Lavigne → 'Can't help if I space in a daze, my eyes tune out the other way, I may switch off and go in a daydream, in this head my thoughts are deep, but sometimes I can't even speak, would someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my world...'
Never Forget by Take That → 'I understand the meaning of "I can't explain this feeling" now, and it feels so unreal...' → This line is always one which sticks with me so much so this song is just perfect for my playlist before and after a show. My favourite versions of it are actually both live albums: Circus Live is so upbeat it is always great before a show and Progress Live has a really atmospheric intro so I prefer that after a show.
New Day by Take That → 'Yesterday's blues is just a shade of colour...Talking revolution, talking revolution, I talk about you all the time, wake up, it's a brand new day, everybody's gotta sing this storm away, so come along and lead the way...'
New In Town by Little Boots → 'I'm gonna take you out tonight, I'm gonna make you feel alright, I don't have a lot of money but we'll be fine, no I don't have a penny but I'll show you a real good time...'
New Romantics by Taylor Swift → 'And every day is like a battle, but every night with us is like a dream, baby we're the new romantics, come on come along with me...we are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet, baby, we're the new romantics, the best people in life are free...'
The Night Is Still Young by Nicki Minaj → 'What is the hurry? It's pretty early, it's ok, we'll take our time, the night is still young...'
No Tomorrow by Orson → 'When I'm dancing with you tomorrow doesn't matter, turn that music up 'til the windows start to shatter, coz you're the only one who can get me on my feet and I can't even dance...'
Of The Night by Bastille → 'You can put some joy up on my face, oh sunshine in an empty place...This is the rhythm of the night...'
One Day Like This by Elbow → 'It's looking like a beautiful day...So throw those curtains wide, one day like this a year would see me right...' → I remember this playing as I was on my way to see Cats in Wolverhampton in 2013. It was my first time being able to go to the show in so long and this really just made me feel full-up with excitement and anticipation.
One Short Day from Wicked the Musical → 'One short day in the Emerald City, one short day to have a lifetime of fun...' → I associate this most with my trips to London for matinees, especially when Dean was in Billy Elliot and I had the timetable I needed to follow down to an artform as I tried to cram everything in and still make the train home!
One Way Ticket by ONE OK ROCK → 'Need a one way ticket, anywhere you are is where I want to go...' → Another great travel song.
Origin Of Love by MIKA → 'You are the sun and the light, you are the freedom I fight...' → This song is just so much fun and more than anything I just love the pure joy of it when it comes on - anything MIKA is always involved when I have a really good pre-show singablong session!
Paradise by Coldplay → 'So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, every time she closed her eyes...In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes, in the night the stormy night away she'd fly, and dream of para-para-paradise...This could be para-para-paradise...'
Perfect Day by Hoku → 'Sun's up, a little after twelve, make breakfast for myself, leave the work for someone else, people say they say that it's just a phase, they tell me to act my age, well I am, on this perfect day, nothing's standing in my way, on this perfect day, when nothing can go wrong, it's the perfect day, tomorrow's gonna come too soon, I could stay forever as I am on this perfect day, sun's down a little after ten...wake up, don't tell me it's just a dream, coz when I've had enough you'll hear me say, now don't you try to rain on my perfect day...'
Pick A Part That's New by Stereophonics → 'You can do all the things that you like to do, all around upside down pick a part that's new...'
Pocketful Of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield → 'I got a pocket got a pocket full of sunshine...'
Poppin' Bottles by Skully Boyz → 'I can't believe it's just another summer day...' → If it's possible for something to make you feel peaceful and hyped up at the same time, then that is how this song makes me feel!
Portrait by Take That → 'Years don’t come too soon, and days be long and light, future you can wait, coz time’s still on our side, take a portrait, 25, let me hear you singing it out...'
Praise You by Fatboy Slim → 'We've come a long long way together, through the hard times and the good, I have to celebrate you baby, I have to praise you like I should...'
Price Tag by Jessie J → 'Why is everybody so serious, acting so damn mysterious? Got your shades on your eyes and your heels so high that you can't even have a good time, everybody look to their left, everybody look to their right, can you feel that? Yeah, we're paying with love tonight...'
Rather Be by Clean Bandit → 'We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea, but as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be...'
Reach For The Stars by S Club 7 → 'Reach for the stars, and when that rainbow's shining over you, that's when your dreams will all come true...'
...Ready For It? by Taylor Swift → 'Baby, let the games begin...' → This is a good song to pack or prep to, it gets you hyped up without distracting you too badly when you need to concentrate!
Reaper by Sia → 'Don't come for me today, I'm feeling good, let me savour it, don't come for me today, I'm feeling good, I remember when, you came to take me away, so close I was to heaven's gates, but no baby, no baby, not today...'
Revival by Sigala → 'And it feels like, my eyes are open, and it feels like, I'm on my knees, and it feels like, my soul revival...'
Rock The World by The Script → 'Always remembering the day we rocked the world....'
Run It by Midnight Kids → 'Take me back to when we'd just drive, think it's time that we said fuck it, red light, let's run it...'
Shadows by Alphabeat → 'I see shadows moving around, I never let 'em closer, I just stick to the sound, I see shadows closing in, I never let 'em get me, I just keep moving...'
She's Got You High by Mumm-Ra → 'She's got you high and you don't even know yet, she's got you high and you don't even know yet, the sun's in the sky, its warming up your bare legs, you can't deny you're looking for the sunset...The sun's in the sky, it makes for happy endings...'
Shine by Hilary Duff → 'Everyone knows that I'm ten feet under, 'til you come along and brighten my day...' → That line is what always strikes me most with this song as it reminds me of all the times the theatre has been a bright spot or something to look forward to for me.
Shine by Shannon Noll → 'This is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, al the world will stop to watch you shine, this is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, when all the world will stop to watch you shine....' → If you have a theatre friend you've followed and championed, this is the perfect song to make you smile and be proud of them.
Shine by Take That → 'Hey, so come on yeah, shine all your light over me...' → This song is so happy and perfect, and the lyrics are great for if you have a theatre friend you're proud of. The amazing acoustic Abbey Road session of this is also a must-listen post-show.
Shooting Star by Owl City → 'When the sun goes down and the lights burn out then it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are, fill the darkest night with a brilliant light coz it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are tonight...' → I have met more than one shining shooting star at stage door and this always makes me think of them with a fond smile before or after a show.
Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon → 'Shut up and dance with me....'
Smash by Goo Goo Dolls → 'I love, I love when things work out...Smash, and I feel it...'
Smile by McFly → 'Oh cause if you're feeling happy, that's the way to let it show, so just remember to smile smile smile so everybody knows, and it will make things so much better when you're feeling low...'
So Good by B.o.B. → 'I'll have you living life like you should, you say you never had it so good...'
So Here We Are by Bloc Party → 'I caught a glimpse, but it's been forgotten, so here we are again...'
So Young by The Corrs → 'We are taking it easy, and bright and breezy, yeah, we are living it up, just fine and dandy, yeah, and it really doesn't matter that we don't eat, and it really doesn't matter if we never sleep, it really doesn't matter, it really doesn't matter at all...'
Sound Of An Orchestra by MIKA → 'You lower your hand, clarinet will play, raise it back up and it flies away, when you smile violins will soar, when you move your legs timpani will roar, I can hear it, I can hear it, I can hear it, I swear, all the music you're provoking, filling up the air...'
Special by Wilshire → 'I dream of my escape, free as a bird I'll fly away, I'm looking for a hallelujah, I need a little something special....'
The Spell by Alphabeat → 'You put a spell on me, I don't know what to do, it's an ability that draws me closer to you, your magic has got me where I want to be, your magic is happening in front of me...'
Stardust by Lena Meyer → 'We are waiting on a dream, so we go to sleep, but nothing happens when we wait too long, so we go where no one can catch us, nothing can change this, covered in stardust, invincible, we're jumping off the edge, reaching for the moon...'
Stardust by MIKA → 'I could put a little stardust in your eyes, put a little sunshine in your life; give me a little hug you'll feel the same, and I wanna know will I see you again...'
Starlight by Taylor Swift → 'Oh my, what a marvelous tune, it was the best night, never would forget how we moved, the whole place was dressed to the nines, and we were dancing, dancing, like we're made of starlight, starlight...Like we dream impossible dreams, like starlight, starlight, like we dream impossible dreams, don't you see the starlight, starlight? Don't you dream impossible things?'
Starry Eyed Surprise by Paul Oakenfold → 'Tonight I’m seein stars...'
Stolen by Dashboard Confessional → 'We watch the season pull up its own stakes, and catch the last weekend of the last week, before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced, another sun soaked season fades away...' → The faster single version of this song is beautiful before a show, but the for the journey home I thouroughly recommend the slower album version because it is pure warmth and nostalgia.
Summer Sunshine by The Corrs → 'To sweet beginnings and bitter endings...In the heat of summer sunshine, I miss you like nobody else...' → As a pure singalong this is lovely pre-show, but there is something so powerfully nostalgic and reflective about it to me too for those times after a show when you want to look back.
Sushi by Kyle Andrews → 'Can we have a moment?'
Sweeter Than Fiction by Taylor Swift → 'I'll be one of the many saying "Look at you now, look at you now, now", I'll be one of the many saying "You made us proud, you made us proud, proud", and when they call your name, and they put your picture in a frame, you know that I'll be there time and again, coz I loved you when...in this perfect weather, it's like we don't remember the rain we thought would last forever and ever, there you'll stand, ten feet tall, I will say "I knew it all along", your eyes–wider than distance, this life sweeter than fiction...'
There's Nothing Holding Me Back by Shawn Mendes → 'Oh I've been shaking, I love it when you go crazy, you take all my inhibitions, baby there's nothing holdin' me back...'
These Days by Take That → 'What a day to believe, to believe in the night, what a day to belong to a face in the crowd and the beat of your heart...Take me back to where it all began, to where our memories grow, before they take us over, tonight we're gonna live for, we're gonna live for these days, tonight, tonight we'll remember, we'll remember these days...'
Thinking Of You by Busted → 'Nowhere else I'd rather be today, in my mind a million miles away...'
Tired Of Waiting For You by The Kinks → 'I'm so tired tired of waiting, tired of waiting for you...' → This always makes me laugh when it comes on before a show - honestly I never get tired of waiting at the stage door for My Jellicles, but sometimes it does seem a little like the waiting is endless!
Us And Ours by Mark Owen → 'You said don’t don’t count your blessings too much, you make them less in size and feel until they’ve gone away, you said hold me, but please don’t hold too tightly...Gonna ride those highs and lows of flesh and bone, the sun will set and we’ll all start dreaming...'
Vacation by Alphabeat → 'Why do you, look so grave? I've got just the cure for it, pack your bags, we got to go, baby there's no doubt about it, leave your troubles way behind, we're gonna have a good time...'
Wake Up by Hilary Duff → 'The city's restless, it's all around me, people, emotions, sick of all the same routines, and they need to go, they need to get away tonight, I put my makeup on a Saturday night, I try to make it happen try to make it alright...Wake up, wake up on a Saturday night, could be New York, maybe Hollywood and Vine, London, Paris, maybe Tokyo, there's something going on anywhere I go tonight...'
Wasted Nights by ONE OK ROCK → 'Don't be afraid to dive, be afraid that you didn't try, these moments remind us why we're here we're so alive, let's live like we're immortal, maybe just for tonight, we'll think about tomorrow when the sun comes up, cause by this time tomorrow we'll be talking 'bout tonight...No more wasted nights, records spinning we don't notice, fill this room with memories, everybody's chasing something, but we got everything we need...'
We Are Young by Fun. → 'Tonight we are young, so let’s set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun...'
We Can Dance by The Feeling → 'All the fools on the planet, like me on the planet, just dance...'
Welcome To New York by Taylor Swift → 'It's a new soundtrack I could dance to this beat, forevermore, the lights are so bright but they never blind me...' → For that feeling as you get closer to the theatre, especially on a wintery night once the sun's gone down.
What Dreams Are Made Of by Ruelle → 'This could be something amazing, like lightning inside us, the moment that we see what dreams are made of, what dreams are made of, this is what dreams are made of...'
What I Like About You by Lillix → 'What I like about you, you really know how to dance...'
Why Not by Hilary Duff → 'You always dress in yellow when you wanna dress in gold, instead of listening to your heart you do just what you're told, you keep waiting where you are, for what you'll never know...Why not take a crazy chance, why not do a crazy dance, if you lose the moment, you may lose a lot...' → Definitely never lose the moment and always take the crazy chances when it comes to stage door!
Wonderland by Take That → 'All your dreams are made in Wonderland...'
Wow by Kylie Mingoue → 'You got it, you're wow, wow, wow, wow...'
You Get What You Give by New Radicals → 'Wake up kids, we got the dreamers disease...First we run, and then we laugh 'til we cry, but when the night is falling, you cannot find the light, you feel your dreams are dying, hold tight, you've got the music in you, don't let go...'
You Make Me Feel Like A Star by The Beau Sisters → 'But all those things don't matter, in the light of things to come...You make me feel like a star...' → This is a song which I loved at the time I first made a Stage Door Playlist so really it's here for nostalgia more than anything as I associate it with that time, but it is a really fun singalong song too.
You'll Never Get To Heaven by Diana Vickers → 'Dressed to the nines, and you're saving up for your favourite song, and when it comes on your body blazes, you shine like a light, as your pulse is racing...So come and lead me to the strobe lights...'
You've Got The Love by Florence + the Machine → 'Sometimes it seems the going is just too rough, and things go wrong no matter what I do, now and then it seems that life is just too much, but you've got the love I need to see me through...'
Younger Than Yesterday by Alphabeat → 'I really wanna dance your way...I'm younger than yesterday when I'm with you...'
22 by Taylor Swift → 'It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight...Happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way, it's misierable and magical...'
10,000 Nights by Alphabeat → 'You give me 10, 000 nights of thunder, but I will give them all back to you, cause you're so ooh, you're so ahh, you're so cool...like a solitude erasure, like an elevator...'
When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too...
From bittersweet and nostalgic to the grateful and amazed - My Stage Door Playlist's Dawn Memories Mix contains some of my favourite songs to spend the post-show haze listening to, be it late at night as I'm soaking in the bittersweet haze or the next day's sleepy sadness on the journey home - they're also the first songs to turn to when I feel like reminscing over special stage door memories. Find the songs by hovering over the album covers in the gallery to see my top picks or browse the full playlist including lyric highlights via the tab below.
The Complete Dawn Memories mIx
A Glorious Day by Embrace → 'You came along, on a glorious day, by the time that you left I was crawling again, yeah you came along on a glorious day, now I want you to save me again...'
A Sky Full Of Stars by Coldplay → 'Coz in a sky, 'coz in a sky full of stars I think I see you, I think I see you, coz you're a sky you're a sky full of stars, such a heavenly view...' → This is a wonderful daydreamy song for before or after a show.
A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton → 'If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by? Coz you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight...'
About You Now (Acoustic) by The Sugababes → 'I know everything changes, all the cities and faces...Can we bring yesterday back around?'
Above The Clouds by Turin Brakes → 'The rain came again, cleaning the dream and it always makes me cry, oh my, something about the rain it sends memories through my veins, memories always stain, you can't wash them down the drain...Up above the clouds there is always a blue sky...'
Acoustica by Trellis → (Instrumental) → There is a very wistful, winding down feel to this music which is good for filling up the silence after a show.
The Ad-Dressing Of Cats from Cats the Musical → 'So this is this, and that is that, and there's how you ad-dress a cat....' → As a closing number, there is something so spine-tingling about this song, it really is very stirring and it brings up so many memories for me of amazing performances and of all those times I sat there knowing that, although the show was over, I still had stage door to look forward to before having to call the night over.
Adelaide by Old 97s → 'I remember when I had you and you had so much promise then, you promised me that you would never leave again, to be broken, you were made...'
After The After Party by The Lucksmiths → 'Even the most familiar face can disappear without a trace amidst a crowd of theatregoers, I had been waiting for a while, my stare mistaken for a smile, 'till I found the person no-one knows as well as I do, a hug hello and I'm beside you again, I know the lines to read between, and when you've stolen every scene, for good and all the curtain closes...'
Alice by Bianca Ryan → 'Alice sits on the corner, she feels better than ever, she knows she knows you're not coming home, Alice sits on the corner...Alice watches the sky above, she feels younger than ever, as she spins and spins the wind hits her dress, Alice watches the sky above...'
All Alright by Fun. → 'I got nothing left inside of my chest, but it's all alright...'
All For Love by Sigala → 'From the darkest hour, to the break of day, do it all for love...'
All The Kids Go by Gemma Hayes → 'The lights go down, yes, your turn, you play the hit of the summer, your voice fills my heart...'
All You Wanted by Sounds Under Radio → 'Cause it was all you wanted, and all I needed, but all I gave up now, could you hold me tighter, when worlds collide, just hold me down right now...' → There is something very late-at-night-watching-city-lights-through-a-hotel-window about this song and something about it is very good for that quiet mood you don't quite want to break after a show.
Alone (It's Not So Bad) by I Am Not Lefthanded → 'It's not so bad alone, my fridge makes a noise that let's me know I'm home...And this is where I'll lie this whole night, the fire and the sigh, through no light, this is where I'll hide...'
Always On My Mind by Phantom Planet → 'Everybody in this place can up and move away, for all I care this town's already dead and empty...' → This song has a kind of sleepy, lullaby quality to it which is really soothing when you're trying to unwind after the excitement of a show.
And Then You by Greg Laswell → 'How my dreams they spin me 'round, and how my dreams they let me down, and how my thoughts they spin me 'round, and how my thoughts they let me down...'
Angels On The Moon by Thriving Ivory → 'Don't wake me coz I'm dreaming of angels on the moon...'
Another Suitcase In Another Hall from Evita → 'I won't recall the names and places of each sad occasion, but that's no consolation here and now, so what happens now? Another suitcase in another hall...'
Any Other World by MIKA → 'In any other world you could tell the difference, and let it all unfurl into broken remnants., smile like you mean it and let yourself let go...'
As I'll Ever Be by Chaz Cardigan → 'I've been in the woods too long, I don't wanna come back home...you can find me in my reverie...like I'm awake inside a dream...'
As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard the Musical/sung by Elaine Paige → 'The whispered conversations in overcrowded hallways, the atmosphere as thrilling here as always, feel the early morning madness, feel the magic in the making, why everything's as if we never said goodbye, I've spent so many mornings just trying to resist you, I'm trembling now you can't know how I've missed you, missed the fairy tale adventure, in this ever spinning playground...' → Multiple versions of this song are on my playlist as it is just perfect for the theatre, but Elaine Paige's is probably my personal favourite.)
Autumn Leaves by Ed Sheeran → 'Float down like autumn leaves, and hush now, close your eyes before the sleep, and you're miles away, and yesterday you were here with me...'
Back To You by John Mayer → 'Back to you, it always comes around, back to you, I tried to forget you, I tried to stay away, but it's too late, over you, I'm never over, over you, something about you, it's just the way you move, the way you move me...'
Bali Ha'i' from South Pacific → 'Bali Ha'i may call you, any night, any day, in your heart, you'll hear it call you, come away, come away...'
Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne → 'Don't let your soul get lonely child it's only time, it will go by...' → This is another late night song for me. I rarely know what to do with myself after a show: too tired for anything taxing, too distracted to watch anything but too tired to sleep - so I end up with my headphones on, sitting on the floor or the bed or by a window, listening to songs like this, often still in my fancy heels and dress from the show.
Being Human by Mark Owen → 'I work hard, rack my brain, go insane, tryin' to figure it out, words they fail me yeah, they leave me dry, too much thinkin' in my head sometimes. You always make it look so simple, being human, you always make it look so simple, being human - I haven to pinch myself, yeah, everyday, because of all of the times I could of walked on this planet, I get to spend some time with you being human...'
Believe by Take That → 'Took a walk around the block, didn’t stop, all this space, it makes me want to see your face, such a beautiful place, when I met you last I was at a loss, life goes on...I can see the sun is risin’, I can see your eyes are smilin’, I will hold onto the things that I believe, believe, shut my eyes I feel alive...Give me one more night at last, filled with joy...' → This song is just really pretty, feel-good and gorgeous - my favourite band doing me proud! There is something bittersweet and joyful in it. I vividly remember being on the train back from London after delivering cupcakes to the cast and it just really touching my heart to listen to, especially after Joel had been so very sweet to me at stage door that day. There is an atmosphere to this song that is really perfect before and after a show, especially something about the way Mark Owen sings that "Give me one more night...filled with joy" line, that always speaks to me and I just feel the emotion in my bones.
Berlin by Bird Call → 'If miles were only those of ants, and months could tick like seconds...'
Big Bad World by Kodaline → 'We go out on our own, it’s a big bad world outside, carrying’ our dreams and all that they mean, trying to make it all worthwhile...'
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell/Counting Crows → 'Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...'
Birds by Imagine Dragons → 'Seasons, they will change, life will make you grow, dreams will make you cry, cry, cry, everything is temporary, everything will slide...I know that oh birds fly in different directions, oh I hope to see you again, sunsets, sunrises, livin' the dream, watchin' the leaves, changin' the seasons, some nights I think of you, relivin' the past, wishin' it'd last, wishin' and dreamin'...'
Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve → 'Coz it's a bittersweet symphony, that's life...'
Bittersweet Life by My Favourite Highway → 'It's a bittersweet life, and it's leaving me a-ok...'
Bittersweet Sublime by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'The pain is bittersweet yet so sublime, it's getting near the end can we rewind?'
Blue Piccadilly by The Feeling → 'And that's when the blue Piccadilly takes me away from the city...twelve stops and home...'
Boomerang by Imagine Dragons → 'I'm bad at letting you go, letting you go, moving on, moving on...'
Brand New Day by Kodaline → 'We can write stories bout the journeys that we made...Won’t you come down, come away with me, just think of all the places we could be, I’ll be waiting, waiting on a brand new day...'
Break My Heart Right by James Bay → 'Tail lights and runways, we put on a brave face, we write down the details to make us feel safe...I think it's ten thousand minutes 'til I get home...Never wanna say goodbye...'
Breaking by Oliver Daldry → 'Endless days they fade away, people leave, oh some I guess they stay...'
Broadway by The Goo Goo Dolls → 'Broadway's dark tonight, a little bit weaker than you used to be...'
Broken by Lifehouse → 'The broken clock is a comfort, it let's me sleep tonight, maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time...'
Bubbly by Colbie Caillat → 'I always know that you make me smile, please stay for a while now...Every time I see your bubbly face...You make me smile, even just for a while...'
Built To Last by Mêlée → 'Cause this is real and this is good, it warms the inside just like it should...'
Calm After The Storm by The Common Linnets → 'Skies are black and blue, I’m thinking about you, here in the calm after the storm, there ain’t nothing new, here in the calm after the storm...'
Carnival by Mark Owen → 'But in my heart a drum is beating, a carnival inside my head, before they turn the music off, before they tell us to go home again...before we change our minds, can we go dancing somewhere? 'Cause in my heart a drum is beating, a carnival inside my head, and when we talk in so many words, we've got to live this life a bit harder...'
Carry Me Home by Take That → 'Carry me home when this is over, carry me home, into the sun, through all the highs and all the hard times...' → This song just makes me feel so happy and nostalgic at once somehow.
Castles by Sandi Thom → 'I'm just skimming stones against the lake, while my dreams pass me by, I've never known what to make of life, but I guess I'm willing to try, sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, sometimes it heals, sometimes it hurts, so hail to the morning wherever it dawns down on me, it's now that I get to thinking some castles lie way beneath the sea, you always said that it would be such a long summer, and now it's here and I can break the ice on this cold water...' → I remember listening to this on that Bristol morning when the playlist began and feeling it was the day's atmosphere captured in song.
Celebrate (Acoustic Version) by MIKA → 'Once I get up I feel better, then I pull myself together, I remember those two letters: it will be OK, everyone says now or never, I say only if it's better, be a night like this forever...'
Charlie Brown by Coldplay → 'I saw the lights go down at the end of the scene, saw the lights go down and standing in front of me...a spark, light a fire, a flame in my heart, we'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark...All the madness that occurs, all the highs, all the lows, as the room a-spinning goes, we'll run riot, we'll be glowing in the dark, so we'll soar luminous and wired, we'll be glowing in the dark...'
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens → 'All things go, all things go, to recreate us, all things grow, all things grow...I was in love with the place, in my mind...'
Christmas Lights by Coldplay → 'Oh, Christmas lights light up the street, light up the fireworks in me...'
Circles by The Young Romans → 'Smiling will only save us for a while...'
City Lights (LVNDSCAPE Remix) by HAEVN → 'Time for us to go, all the nights that we got lost my baby, I've seen us grow, I could see it in your eyes, the city lightning, I just wanna see your eyes in city lightning...'
City Of Blinding Lights by U2 → 'And I miss you when you're not around, I'm getting ready to leave the ground, oh you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights, don't look before you laugh, look ugly in a photograph, flash bulbs, purple irises, the camera can't see...' → I just love the whole atmosphere of this song and it was one of my favourites at the time of starting to stage door, so it's become forever associated with the theatre to me.
Collide by Howie Day → 'The dawn is breaking...I'm quiet you know, you make a first impression...Even the best fall down sometimes, even the stars refuse to shine...' → Such an atmospheric song, this always makes me think of those early starts to get home after a theatre trip.
Colourblind by Darius → 'Feeling fine, sublime, when that smile of yours creeps into my mind, nobody told me it feels so good, nobody said you'd be so beautiful, nobody warned me about your smile...Blinded by the light you shine...'
Colours by Amos Lee → 'Yesterday I got lost in the circus, feeling like such a mess, and now I'm down I'm just hanging on the corner, I can't help but reminisce...' → I cannot tell you how many times I've come back to this song for a journey home after a show.
Come Around by Rhett Miller → 'I'm dressed all in blue, and I'm rememberin' you...'
Come Back...Be Here... by Taylor Swift → 'I told myself don't get attached, but in my mind I play it back, spinning faster than the plane that took you, and this is when the feeling sinks in, I don't wanna miss you like this, come back, be here...'
Come On Love by Take That → 'Oh come on, love, come on, say you'll be back some day...'
Consequence by The Notwist → 'You're the colour, you're the movement and the spin, never could it stay with me the whole day long...leave me hypnotised...'
Counting Down The Days by Natalie Imbruglia → 'I wanna travel through time, see your surprise, I'd hold you so tight, I'm counting down the days tonight, I just wanna be a million miles away from here...' → For when all you want to go is go back to the theatre.
Crashing by ILLENIUM → 'How could I go home when I feel like I belong?' → There's something really dreamlike about this song which is great for a late night after a show.
Crazy Dreams from the SMASH Soundtrack/by Carrie Underwood → 'Here's to you free souls, you firefly chasers, tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players, here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms, there's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you, thank God even crazy dreams come true...' → Again there is just something special about the SMASH orchestration which kind of gives you this feeling of breathless anticipation when you listen to it before a show, and it is just the right amount of wistful for after a show too.
Cross My Heart by S Club 7 → 'Cross my heart and tell no lies, no-one's leaving you behind, just because we said goodbye, baby cross my heart I do believe, in my thoughts and in my dreams, I'll be taking you with me...'
Cry by Hilary Duff → 'Cry at the end, cry cause it all begins again...'
Cut, Print...Moving On from the SMASH Soundtrack → 'Yes, there have been nights I'll long to relive, but sometimes you gotta roam, you can't fight when something's gotta give, but you'll always be my home away from home...We told the same jokes, we breathed the same air, we couldn't tell night from day, but just like the end of a love affair, we all know the time comes to break away, last year, we all were strangers, this year, we're lifelong friends, I know that this location is not where our story ends...'
Dakota by Stereophonics → 'Thinking back, thinking of you, summertime think it was June, yeah think it was June, laying back head on the grass, chewing gum having some laughs, yeah having some laughs...Wake up call, coffee and juice, remembering you, what happened to you? I wonder if we’ll meet again, talk about life since then, talk about why did it end. → This is just a great reminiscing song, but it's also great when you're driving along to or from the theatre as it has such a good energy to it that it can really fit whatever mood.
Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader → 'Dancing in the moonlight, everybody's feeling warm and bright, it's such a fine and natural sight, everybody's dancing in the moonlight, we like our fun and we never fight, you cant dance and stay uptight, it's a supernatural delight...'
Daylight by Maroon 5/Boyce Avenue → 'Here I am waiting, I'll have to leave soon, why am I holding on...This is our last night but it's late and I'm trying not to sleep, cause I know when I wake, I will have to slip away, and when the daylight comes I'll have to go...The sky is getting bright, the stars are burning out, somebody slow it down, this is way too hard, cause I know when the sun comes up, I will leave, this is my last glance that will soon be memory...'
December by Sara Bareilles → 'Distill a whole year down into a day, act like we all start over with a pristine slate, but to get yourself a new life you've got to give the other one away, and I'm starting to believe in the power of a name, cause it can't be a mistake if I just call it change...'
Defying Gravity from Wicked/sung by Idina Menzel → 'It's time to try defying gravity, I think I'll try defying gravity, kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity, and you won't bring me down...'
Disappear by Jars Of Clay → 'I watch you smile, you steal the show, you take a bow the curtain falls in front of you, you're magical...'
Do It All For Love by Take That → 'For all your days inspired by the beauty of your timing, and those endless acts of kindness, I want to give you more, give you more, I only want to let you know...'Til the last of the daylight survives, we do it all for love, while we wait for the dawn to arrive, we do it all for love...' → This is another song I particularly remember from my trip to deliver cupcakes to the Palladium cast of Cats; it came on on the way home and the "endless acts of kindness" line made me think of Joel's sweet words to me at stage door that night and I definitely almost cried realising he was on stage at that time performing Carbucketty for me!
Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House/Sixpence None The Richer → 'Hey now, hey now, don't dream it's over, hey now, hey now, when the world comes in...'
Don't Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders/sung by Ainslie Henderson → 'Don't get me wrong if I'm looking kind of dazzled, I see neon lights whenever you walk by, don't get me wrong if I'm acting so distracted, I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile...'
Don't Take The Money by Bleachers → 'You steal the air out of my lungs, you make me feel it...'
Dora by Alan Parsons/from Freudiana → 'But it's all a dream, and it's only make believe, listening through the hours of the day, waiting for the night to end, thinking though it's not for me to say, when will I see you again?'
Dragonfly by M. Craft → 'When the morning starts to glow out in the corners of the sky, all the people come and go and the time just passes by, then I'm only gonna see it from the corner of my eye, when the planet spins, it sings like the wings of a dragonfly, I can see it all tonight...'
Drawn From Memory by Embrace → 'Singing all they have is drawn from memory, I've got you and tomorrow., you can steal the scene but you're blind, and the magic will leave you feeling hollow...You blessed a part of me without knowing, and it strikes me that I could cry...'
Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner → 'There's a place I go, when I'm alone, do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be...dream catch me, yeah, dream catch me when I fall...'
Dreamers by Jack Savoretti → Living for there and then under a psychedelic spell, no one was listening still they had so much to tell, whatever happened to the dreamers, that always look beyond the sky...Where are they now, they've all left town, bringing the clouds...'
Dreams by Gabrielle → 'Not making plans for tomorrow, let's live for tonight...Dreams can come true...'
Drinking In LA performed by The Twang (& also the instrumental version performed by Trellis) → 'Get your ass out of bed, he said, I'll explain it on the way, but we did nothing, absolutely nothing that day...'
Dusk And Summer by Dashboard Confessional → 'Some things tie your life together, slender threads and things to treasure, days like that should last and last and last...'
Easy by Busted → 'But I wish you well, and goodbye is never easy...'
Edge Of The Ocean by Ivy → 'There's a place I dream about , where the sun never goes out. And the sky is deep and blue, won't you take me there with you...There's a world I've always known, somewhere far away from home. When I close my eyes I see all the space and mystery...' → This is a great wistful train journey song and can work both before and after a show, but in case of post-show daydreaming, definitely break glass and listen to this song!
Embers by Owl City → 'And you'll find there'll be mornings when the ashes and embers are cold, but you'll fight with a passion and you'll never stop 'cause you know, yeah you know, it gets better and your story is yet to be told, every push, every shove, every war, every love, yeah, the coals are beginning to glow, so I'm fanning the flames to climb so high 'cause there's no other way we can stay alive, 'cause we're burning bright as we all unite and when it's all said and done we'll shine like the sun, so don't let the fire die, and we'll watch the sky as it fills with light, and though the embers are new, whatever you do, just don't let the fire die...'
Enchanted by Taylor Swift → 'And it was enchanting to meet you, all I can say is I was enchanted to meet you, this night is sparkling, don't you let it go, I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home, I'll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you...' → I always walk away from stage door in a daze which could probably only be described as enchantment, so really this song had to make the cut.
End Of Everything by Mark Owen → 'When you are restless come to rest, gentle is the sun upon hollow ground...Is this the end of everything we know, or the start of something beautiful...'
The Energy Never Dies by The Script → 'I'll tell you life's just a blink so don't think twice, let's catch the moment in a flash of light, woah, twenty-four-seven baby, three six five, if we gonna feel alive, then let's feel it now, we could all be blown to pieces, because time's a ticking bomb...It's not the end, 'cause the energy never dies...'
Everlasting by Take That → 'It started on a Friday night, we were runnin' wild, we were flyin' high, searchin' for the time of our lives...' → This song really can just send electricity down your spine when you're in that theatre trip state of mind and brings the memories right back to the surface when you're in a reflective mood.
Evermore by Taylor Swift → 'I rewind the tape but all it does is pause, on the very moment all was lost, sending signals
to be double crossed, and I was catching my breath, barefoot in the wildest winter catching my death...I had a feeling so peculiar, this pain wouldn't be for evermore...'
Every Revolution by Take That → 'Up ahead, a blanket full of stars, a pencil sketch to lie down underneath, and we turn, every revolution, every revolution bringing us symphonies, take a breath and count our lucky days...'
Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall by Coldplay → 'I turn the music up, I got my records on, I shut the world outside until the lights come on, maybe the street's alight...I feel my heart stop beating to my favourite song, and all the kids they dance, all the kids all night, until Monday morning feels another life, I turn the music up, I'm on a roll this time, and heaven is in sight, I turn the music up, I got my records on, from underneath the rubble sing a rebel song...I'd rather be a comma than a full stop, maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees, maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapezes, but my heart is beating and my pulses start cathedrals in my heart...Every siren is a symphony, and every tear's a waterfall...'
Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift → 'Coz all I know is we said "Hello", and your eyes look like coming home, all I know is a simple name, everything has changed...'
Feel Again by OneRepublic → 'It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face, I've been everywhere and back trying to replace everything that I had 'til my feet went numb....But with you
I feel again, yeah, with you I can feel again...'
Feeling A Moment by Feeder → 'Feeling the moment slip away, losing direction, you're loosing faith, you're wishing for someone, feeling it all begin to slide...How do you feel when there's no sun? And how will you be when rain clouds come and pull you down again?' → There's just something amazing about the feel of this song which I love - it's got just the right level of happy and sad in it.
Fireflies by Amy Cook → 'Meet me darkwiler tonight, we'll watch the waves roll in and the planes, they go so low on their way to the sky, bonfire, yeah laugh at all life's crazy twists and turns, bonfire, and as the flames flicker burn out bright, we're fireflies… tonight...'
Flowerbed by Take That → 'Darling, please forgive me, I was sitting on the fence, I was slowly going out of head, I did not hear a word that you said, I was enjoying myself sleeping in your flowerbed...' → I honestly just love the misty magic and emotion of this song, I find it so soothing.
Follow Your Fire & Follow Your Fire (Stripped Back) by Kodaline → 'We had the songs that we sang along to, you had the moves to make me dance with you, I always saw you reaching and catching stars...' → Something about the tone and atmosphere of both versions of this song is really haunting in a reflective, nostalgic kind of way which I love for late night listening.
For Good from Wicked → 'I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those who help us most to grow...Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun, like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood, who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better, and because I knew you, because I knew you, because I knew you I have been changed for good...'
→ This one makes me think of My Jellicles every time.
Forever Ago by Woodlock → 'Don't go changing...hope you shine a light that covers me...' → There is a dreaminess to this song and a wistfulness which fits with both a journey home and a late night.
Forever For Tonight by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'Forever for tonight, I will be there...' → For me it's just that "forever for tonight" sentiment which resonates with me so hard in this song.
Found You by Ross Copperman → 'Well, I saw you there just the other day, you smiled at me in a secret way, so I let you in and you captured me...All the stars lift you up, to place you high above on top of the world...Such a pretty face, it warms my soul...'
Freeze by Take That → 'Am I asking too much to remain in your company? Stop everything, we can stay here if you hold still, we can stay here for life if you say you will, we’ll be caught in a moment of time if we all freeze, don’t even breathe, everyone freeze, then you won’t leave...But whatever you want, whatever you want, don't change, please don't change...' → This song is one of my favourite songs off one of my favourite ever albums, and it has a simply beautiful atmosphere and the whole production of it feels almost magical, which never fails to make me smile even when I'm sad - plus, it's quite an appropriate post-show sentiment. The song is likely written about my favourite member of the band Jason Orange leaving them, and I always think of what a coincidence that i s since I found out that news on what was my last night seeing the Cats UK Tour Cast in Birmingham - as Jason himself once said, I suppose: "Life is beautifully strange sometimes."
The Garden by Take That → 'We could hear the sound of sirens all around us, and the scent of burning oil was in the air, and the music played and it felt so good to hear, this is the life we've been given, so open your mind and start living, we can play a part if we only start believing...This is the life we've been given, so open your mind and start living, we can play a part if we only start believing...Then the crowd began to head for the horizon, a million people walking back to work, but you and me, we just lay down in the garden...' → Another of my favourite ever songs. To me this is song is just...all the magic, the wonder, the excitement, the joy, the sandness, the wistfullness...the ineffableness. This is a perfect song for late night listening, next day listening and looking back a year later listening; it never fails to send shivers down my spine.
Ghost by Mark Owen → 'Tell me it’s not 24 days, almost a year since yesterday, I thought that I was over you last night, but there’s no getting over you tonight...I can still feel the ghost walking through the walls, and it’s calling every night...I can still feel the ghost, and I hope you’re happy now, and I have to let you go, but I wish that you were here, all things will pass, you told me that, I watch the stars bringing me back, and I don’t know what day it is no more, never see the way it is no more...' → This song is just gorgeous and sad and nostalgic and I adore it - it always makes me feel better on the way home from a show - particularly Cats.
Girl In The Moon by Darius → 'How can I sleep tonight? Tell me how Mars survived, fallen with stars, she opened her arms, Venus was in my sky, how could it pass me by? You silently served my time, even through chains, rust and the rain, you pulled away the tide, girl In the moon, I'm halfway there, girl in the moon, I see you everywhere, help me find a way of falling closer to you...How could I weep tonight? Touch and tears collide, gravity spins me into your wings, and covers me in your light...' → I just love the feeling of this track - it has a beautiful contented-but-sleepy, wistful sound.
Glitter In The Air by P!nk → 'Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight? Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight?'
Gold by Owl City → 'Stand on up and take a bow, there's something there and it's showing, there's no need to look around, you're the best we got going, shout out to the dreams you'll chase, shout out to the hearts you'll break, nothing's gonna stop you now...inside of my heart you're here, go on, it's gotta be time, you're starting to shine 'cause what you got is gold, I know, you're gold, oh, I know I know I don't need the stars in the night, I found my treasure, all I need is you by my side, so shine forever...' → This always just makes me think of my gorgeous, talented stage door friends.
Gold Rush by Taylor Swift → 'Gleaming, twinkling, eyes like sinking ships on waters so inviting...everybody wants you, everybody wonders what it would be like to love you, walk past, quick brush, I don't like slow motion double vision in a rose blush, I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush...' → There is something very daydreamy and wistful about the feeling of listening to this song which is beautiful and reflective for after a show whilst the energy and chorus make it perfect to sing along to before a show.
Gone, Gone, Gone by Mark Owen → 'I can see the moon shining through the cracks outside the windows, see you dancing on the ceiling, and I know that you're gone, gone, gone...'
Good Goodbye by ONE OK ROCK → 'Good goodbye, yeah, little time not a moment wasted with you...'
Good Life by OneRepublic → 'This has gotta be the good life, this has gotta be the good life...got this feeling that you can't fight, like this city is on fire tonight...Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out, sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now, we all got our stories but please tell me what there is to complain about, when you're happy like a fool, let it take you over...Hopelessly, I feel like there might be something that I'll miss, hopelessly, I feel like the window closes oh so quick, hopelessly, I'm taking a mental picture of you now, cause hopelessly the hope is we have so much to feel good about...'
Good Ol' Days by The Script → 'Oh, we'll remember this night when we're old and grey, coz in the future these will be the good ol' days...It's two am now we're dancing in the rain and uh, hanging out of each other like the pain is gone, these are my people, these are my crowd...'
Good One by Busted → 'It’s been the greatest time but it’s time we’ve borrowed, we’ve got our separate ways to go, wish I could follow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you again, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend. It’s such a bitter taste, so hard to swallow, I’m gonna miss that face when I’m home tomorrow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you God knows when, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend...' → The energy and feeling of this song combined with the lyrics just sums up so much of the theatre trip experience for me and it is good for both getting hyped up pre-show and also for reflecting post-show just because of the combination of the high energy and bittersweet lyrics.
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day → 'So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind, hang it on a shelf in good health and good time, tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial, for what it's worth it was worth all the while, it's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life...'
Good Times by S Club 7 → 'We all need a change once in a while, the time to make a change is right now, this is for the good times, good times, this is to the good life...'
Gotten by Slash → 'So nice to see your face again, tell me how long has it been since you've been here, since you've been here, you look so different than before, but still the person I adore...So nice to see you face again...'
Gravity by Coldplay → 'Can you hear that sound? 'Cause I can't help thinking, and I won't stop now, and then I looked up at the sun and I could see, oh, the way that gravity pulls on you and me, and then I looked up at the sky and saw the sun, and the way that gravity pushes on everyone...'
Greatest Day (Abbey Road Version) by Take That → 'Today this could be the greatest day of our lives, before it all ends before we run out of time...Watch the world come alive tonight...Tonight this could be the greatest night of our lives, let’s make a new start, the future is ours to find, can you see it, can you see it in my eyes? Can you feel it now, can you hold it in your arms tonight?' → There are several versions of this song on my playlist, and whilst the original is beautiful the one I'm going to recommend here is the Abbey Road Version as it still captures all the joy of the original whilst turning it into a softer and more reflective song which is soothing and calm for that sleepy post-show feeling.
Hail, Rain Or Sunshine by The Script → 'We're late to bed, we're early to rise, wipe the sleep from our eyes...We open up, we start to wake, maybe it's gonna be our day, and suddenly we start to smile, the sun is out for a while, and you may see this place and find no worth, but it's a little piece of heaven here on Earth, yeah, we always have a good time, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, yeah, we're all living the good life, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, we reach the top, we took the fall, but we laughed through it all, cause dreaming of them better days has always been our way, and you may see my friends and find no worth, but, no I'll never go and change them for the world...'
Half A Moment from By Jeeves → 'Half a moment I shall treasure, keep it locked away for some future rainy day, should you leave me with just this moment, in my mind I shall capture it anew, like some picture taken in my childhood, half a moment spent with you...Countless vivid memories spin before my view, like some toy kaleidoscope...Turn a moment to a lifetime, making it to last, blending future with the past...Even though half a moment is too few, I shall save it 'til I have another, making one whole moment filled with you...'
Handbags And Gladrags by Stereophonics → 'They told me you missed school today, so what I suggest you just throw them all away, the handbags and the gladrags...'
Happiness by Orson → 'And when the world don't feel like turning, and the sun just wants to hide, all the stars come out to remind me of the universe by my side, all that happens is happiness...'
Happiness by Rachael Sage → 'I've waited my whole life for the chance to become hopeful, I've waited my whole life for the chance to become soulful, and now you...follow through...'
Help Me Suzanne by Rhett Miller → 'I've been living on the memory of a dream I once I had, you gave me the reason for feeling like I do, you gave me the reason I'd like to thank you, help me, Suzanne, I've got to set my sights on a bright sunshiny day, cause my whole world's gone grey and it's going wrong, you got a big heart beat...you could do me a world of good, yeah you could and you did and I am begging you to keep on...I had lost my way, like I always do, you gave me the reason I'd like to thank you...'
Here's To The Night by Eve 6 → 'Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well, here's to the nights we felt alive, here's to the tears you knew you'd cry, here's to goodbye, tomorrow's gonna come too soon...'
High Hopes by Kodaline → 'Broken bottles in the hotel lobby, seems to me like I'm just scared of never feeling it again, I know it's crazy to believe in silly things, but it's not that easy, I remember it now, it takes me back to when it all first started...I've got high hopes, it takes me back to when we started, high hopes, when you let it go, go out and start again, high hopes, when it all comes to an end, but the world keeps spinning around, and in my dreams I meet the ghosts of all the people who have come and gone, memories they seem to show up so quick, but they leave you far too soon...'
Holy Ground by Taylor Swift → 'I was reminiscing just the other day, while having coffee all alone and Lord, it took me away...And darling, it was good never looking down, and right there where we stood was holy ground, spinning like a girl in a brand new dress, we had this big wide city all to ourselves...Tonight I’m gonna dance like you were in this room, but I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you...'
How Did It Come To This by Take That → 'All this noise and all these lights, all this talking through the night, all this expectation now it's making me neurotic...'
Hurts Like Heaven by Coldplay → 'Yes, I feel a little bit nervous, yes I feel nervous and I cannot relax...and it hurts like heaven...'
I Can't Come Down by Embrace → 'I'm in hope, and I can't come down anymore...'
I Had A Time by Embrace → 'I won't see your smiling fade, and know I had the time of my life that day...' → This is rapidly becoming one of my favourites songs of the whole playlist, especially for looking back on old theatre memories.
I Hear The Bells by Mike Doughty → 'I hear the bells, they are like emeralds and, glints in the night, commas and ampersands, your moony face, so inaccessible, your inner mind, so inexpressible, I can I can hear the bells are ringing joyful and triumphant, and I can I can, hear the bells are ringing joyful and triumphant and...'
I Heard Your Voice In A Dream from the SMASH Soundtrack → 'So sing to me and I will forgive you for taking my heart in the suitcase you packed, sing to me like the lights didn't blind you, like you blinded me when I heard your voice in a dream...' → As the name suggests, there is something dreamy about this song which I love to unwind to.
I Lived by OneRepublic → 'Hope when the crowd screams out, they're screaming your name...Hope when the moment comes, you'll say: I did it all, I did it all, I owned every second that this world could give, I saw so many places, the things that I did, yeah with every broken bone I swear I lived, hope that you spend your days but they all add up, and when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup, I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain, but until my moment comes, I'll say, I did it all...'
I Miss You by Blink 182 → 'And in the night we'll wish this never ends, we'll wish this never ends...'
I Will Remember You by Ryan Cabrera → 'Eight years later, time goes by fast, got my memories and they will last, I try to keep it simple 'cause I hate goodbyes, I try to keep it simple by telling myself that I, I will remember you...'
I Wish You Would by Taylor Swift → 'I wish you knew that I'll never forget you as long as I live, and I wish you were right here, right now, I wish you would...' → This lyric is pretty much the sole reason for me putting this song on the playlist, but I do also love to sing along to this song.
I'll Be Ok by McFly → 'And overhead, the skies are clear, but it still seems to rain on you...When you're down and lost and you need a helping hand, when you're down and lost along the way, oh, just tell yourself, I'll, I'll be ok...'
I'll Hold My Breath by Ellie Goulding → 'Breathe air you're not used to, tread floors you don't fall through...And I'll hold my breath, I'll hold my breath, until you see me in your dreams, we'll stay awake beneath the trees, we'll watch the buildings turn to dust, a sky of diamonds just for us, you are the risk I'll always take, the only branch I'll never break, those fears we'll blow them all way...'
I'm Still Here by Knightsbridge → 'And I want a moment to be real, want to touch things I don't feel, wanna hold on...'
If I Lose Myself by OneRepublic → 'I stared up at the sun, thought of all of the people, places and things I’ve loved, I stared up just to see, with all of the faces, you were the one next to me...'
In My Veins by Andrew Belle → 'Nothing goes as planned, everything will break, people say goodbye in their own special way, all that you rely on and all that you can fake will leave you in the morning, but find you in the day...But you catch a glimpse of sunlight shining down on your face...'
In The Stars by ONE OK ROCK → 'Forget about tomorrow, bring it on tonight, the sky's burning bright, we're all the way up up up, never look down...'
In Too Deep by S Club 7 → 'Bring on the one to save me, to you it might sound crazy, way down inside my heart
I'm drowning...'
Inside Your Head by Eberg →'Ding dong, the clock is wrong, dong ding, I wouldn't want to be inside your head...'
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls → 'You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be, and I don't wanna go home right now, and all I can taste is this moment...When sooner or later it's over, I just don't wanna miss you tonight...'
It's The End Of The Road by Matt Goss → 'When something ends something begins, but now it's just the end of the road, when someone loses someone wins, but now it's just the end of the road, don't get to fix it if it doesn't break, but now it's just the end of the road, when you gotta leave, makes you wanna stay, I know, it's the end of the road...' → I remember this song in particular from my first experience of a cast change at Cats.
Just My Imagination by The Cranberries → 'There is a game I like to play, I like to hit the town on Friday night and stay in bed until Sunday, we'll always be this free, we will be living for the love we have, living not for reality...'
Kettle's On by The Feeling → 'I turn on the tap and run some water, flick a little switch on the wall, I'm hoping you remember what I taught ya, hoping you remember me at all, I'm strong but I feel like a mouse when you're gone, yes, and I'm, weak, but I'll take on the world when you're here...'
Kind And Generous by Natalie Merchant → 'You've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving, for your kindness I'm in debt to you, for your selflessness my admiration, and for everything you've done, you know I'm bound, I'm bound to thank you for it, you've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving, for your kindness I'm in debt to you...I want to thank you, show my gratitude, my love and my respect for you. I want to thank you...'
The Lamb by Mark Owen → 'Everyone has a journey, filled with hope and adventure, every journey leads somewhere, I will wait for you there...'
Land Of A Thousand Words by Scissor Sisters → 'This is the land of a thousand words, but it seems so few are worth the breath to say, except I'll be looking after my own world, and you just keep on saving the day...'
Last Dance by Camera Can't Lie → 'I'd wait in the rain, just to see your face, if this was our last chance, I'd ask you to stay for one last dance...'
The Last Poet by Take That → 'When we see something so beautiful, a monastery of light and soul, stand taller than the high cathedral walls...but for you I can't find words, 'cause for you there are no words...' → This is one of my favourite songs on the whole list. Not only is it just the perfect sentiment and atmosphere, but it is also very dear to me as the song I listened to after my last time ever seeing Joel Morris play Carbucketty in Cats, and again on the plane home.
The Last Song Of Your Life by P!nk → 'Tell me what you dance for, how you've been a fool, I don't want the headlines, I just want the truth, it would be so good to see the real you again, it's been a long time, my friend...When you're authentic, you're incredible, I like the view behind your eyes, There was no one else who could break it down and cut right through to the heart...'
Last Summer by Busted → 'You cast a spell you put me under...And now I know I wont forget when we met last summer...'
Latch by Natalie Taylor → 'You lift my heart up when the rest of me is down...'
Learning To Breathe by Switchfoot → 'Hello, good morning, how you been? Yesterday left my head kicked in...' → I love to play this on a sleepy morning after a show.
Let Her Go by Passenger → 'Only know you've been high when you're feeling low, only hate the road when you're missing home...Dreams come slow and they go so fast...'
Let It Go by Busted → 'Pull the bedcovers over your head...let it go...' → Honestly this has just been a comfort song for me for forever abecause it is so gentle and quiet.
Let Me Sleep by S Club 7 → 'Let me sleep for a while, let me dream of your smile...' → This just makes a great lullaby if you're finding it hard to sleep after all the excitement of a show.
Let There Be Morning by The Perishers → 'Let the sun rise, let the birds sing, let there be light, let there be morning...'
Life Less Ordinary by Carbon Leaf → 'That night you came into my life, well it took the bones of me, you took the bones of me, you blew away my storm and strife and shook the bones of me...Live a life less ordinary, live a life extraordinary with me...' → This is a more mellow feel for before a show but it's perfect for the journey to a theatre.
Living In A Suitcase by Jack McManus → 'Caught up in the city lights, losing every sign of life, just chasing shadows in the crowd, 'til they all fall down, shadows they hit the ground, I'm just living in a suitcase...I'm sailing in the distance, I'm blowing in the wind, you're waiting for tomorrow, to do it all again...'
Long Live by Taylor Swift → 'Hold on to spinning around, confetti falls to the ground, may these memories break our fall...And I was screaming long live all the magic we made...'
Long Story Short by Taylor Swift → 'Past me, I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things...and he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky...' → Really this is on here more for the feeling of resolution and of coming a long way which I get from this song which is something really good for a journey home.
Looking As You Are by Embrace → 'And though they tell you things would be alright, it never really seems that way late at night, when you did it looking as you are...'
Lost & Found by Adrienne Pierce → 'And now we're sleeping with the television and all the lights on, one of us is leaving soon but we're both already gone, stuck at the lost and found we watch things disappear...'
Lost And Found by Katie Herzig → 'Somebody found me here, somebody held my breath...If you’re gonna cry my tears, if you’re gonna hold my breath, if you’re gonna let me see the sun you set, oh I am lost and found...'
The Love It Takes by Embrace → 'When I needed someone you left me floored, that feeling has gone, I can't let go...'
The Lovely Machine by Head Popping Through → 'Come see the lovely machine break down...'
Lullaby by Newton Faulkner → 'Close your eyes, get some sleep, it's too late now to change anything, but it's all right, get some sleep, it's so dark outside, so close your eyes and feel the world turn round, if you're not lost, I guess that makes you found...'
Lullaby by OneRepublic → 'Oh as the night comes in, dreams start their drifting, and you hear a lullaby...'
Magic by Coldplay → 'Still I call it magic, you're such a precious jewel...'
Malibu Nights by LANY → 'I drive circles under street lights, nothing seems to clear my mind, I can't forget, it's inside my head, so I drive chasing Malibu nights...'
Memory (Reprise) from Cats the Musical → 'The stale, cold smell of morning, a street lamp dies, another night is over, another day is dawning...When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too, and a new day will begin, sunlight through the trees in summer, endless masquerading, like a flower as the dawn is breaking, the memory is fading...Look, a new day has begun.' → This song is, obviously, so important to me and has a lot of fond memories (yeah, I know) attached to it. That final line makes my heart leap every time when it's sung in the show, because you know, in that moment, exactly the emotions the song is describing - the show is almost over and it's nearly time to go and everything you've just been absorbed in is about to become nothing more than memory.
Metropolis by Owl City → 'A thousand miles feels like a million years, like hundreds of postcards that say I wish you were here, airplane through the sky, greyhound racing by, dirt bike on the beach, sailboat on the sea, don't matter much to me what it is that I do...I left my heart in Metropolis...'
Millionaires by The Script → 'Spending our time like we are millionaires, check out us at six in the morning, if time was money, yeah we'd be worth a fortune...'
Miss You (Piano Version) by Gabrielle Aplin → 'Oh god, I miss you too...'
Mobile by Avril Lavigne → 'Start back at this life, stretch myself back into the vibe, I'm waking up to say I've tried...It's time now to turn around, turn and walk on this crazy ground, everything's changing when I turn around, all out of my control I'm a mobile...'
Momentary Thing by Something Happens → 'After all, well, isn't this just a momentary thing...'
The Moments Of Happiness from Cats the Musical → 'The moments of happiness, we had the experience but missed the meaning...not forgetting something that is probably quite ineffable...' → This song holds a very dear place in my heart and is of course associated with a lot of wonderful theatre nights, but the lyrics are also very, very apt.
More Than A Feeling by Boston → 'So many people have come and gone, their faces fade as the years go by, yet I still recall as I wander on, as clear as the sun in the summer sky, it's more than a feeling when I hear that old song they used to play...'
Never Forget by Take That → 'I understand the meaning of "I can't explain this feeling" now, and it feels so unreal...' → This line is always one which sticks with me so much so this song is just perfect for my playlist before and after a show - the Progress Live has a really atmospheric intro so I prefer that after a show.
Never Forget You by Noisettes → 'I'll never forget you, although at times we couldn't shake it, you're my joy, always remember me, don't you know that you're my joy...'
Never Had A Dream Come True by S Club 7 → 'Everybody's got something they had to leave behind...somewhere in my memory I've lost all sense of time, and tomorrow can never be, 'cause yesterday is all that fills my mind...'
New Year's Day by Taylor Swift → 'There's glitter on the floor after the party...hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you...'
New York by The Boxer Rebellion → 'And distance leaves a bitter taste...'
New York by Busted → 'I'm just drifting as the day turns into night, I'm a little bit tired, I'm a little hungover, I don't know how to spend the day...'
New York by Snow Partrol → 'If our hearts are never broken, and there's no joy in the mending...and there's distance and there's silence, your words have never left me...The lone neon lights and the ache of the ocean and the fire that was starting to spark, I miss it all, from the love to the lightning and the lack of it snaps me in two...'
No Use Crying by Embrace → 'I kick to stay afloat, and end this sad song on a happy note, no one else came close to making my heart stop, so you gotta wipe your eyes, 'cause there's no use crying...'
No Words by The Script → 'But what can I say about something that blows me away, without it soundin' like another cliché? From what I've seen and I've heard, when it comes to you, baby, no, there are no, there are no words...'
No Worries by McFly → 'Captivated by the way you look tonight, the light is dancing in your eyes, your sweet eyes, yeah, it’s times like these we’ll never forget...'
Nobody Compares To You by Gryffin → 'Nobody, nobody, nobody compares to you, somebody, somebody please help me get over you...'
Nostalgic by A R I Z O N A → 'Ok, fine maybe I'm just a little nostalgic, 'cause the memories are flooding my mind...'
O by Coldplay → 'A flock of birds hovering above...Following them up, still I always look up to the sky...'Cause they fly always, one minute they arrive, next you know they're gone, they fly on...'
Oceans by Coldplay → 'Meet me in blue sky, meet me again in the rain...'
On Your Porch by The Format → 'So I came inside to be with you, and we talked all night about everything we could imagine, coz come the morning I'll be gone...'
Once Again by Frankie Jordan → 'I welcome you inside my life for what you do, oh you make me happy, so very happy, once again...'
One Day by Kodaline → 'One day it's here and then its gone...'
Only You by Matthew Perryman Jones → 'How can I forget you, the memories come and go...'
Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton → 'Just a day, just an ordinary day, just trying to get by, just a boy, just an ordinary boy, but he was looking to the sky...Like a shooting star he shines...' → This song is very special to me as one of my favourite songs at the time I first started stage dooring, but the idea of a seemingly ordinary day being made magical by a shooting star is also a very perfect image for a theatre trip.
Original Of The Species by U2 → 'And you feel like no one before...'
Out Of Reach by Matthew Perryman Jones → 'So do I leave it all to history?...While the world unravels, we're kicking at shadows, and everyone around us is making up chaos...Am I just out of reach?'
Paradise by Coldplay → 'So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, every time she closed her eyes...In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes, in the night the stormy night away she'd fly, and dream of para-para-paradise...This could be para-para-paradise...'
Peace And Love by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'May every star you wish upon and every hope you're hangin' on come true, out of everybody in the world there's no one who deserves it more than you, I hope you find everything you've been dreaming of, only good things, no in betweens just peace and love...You must know what you mean to me, I wish that you could always be around, I hope you find everything you are worthy of, I'm gonna miss you, but I only wish you peace and love, peace and love, tears of joy, kindness of strangers, all of your roads paved in gold by guardian angels, wherever you may be in this world, my salutation says it all, may you always have enough peace and love...' → This is another song which will always make me think of My Jellicles.
Permanent by Kygo → 'And we held the world, we were turning it, for a moment there, it was permanent...'
Photograph by Ed Sheeran → 'We keep this love in a photograph, we made these memories for ourselves, where our eyes are never closing, hearts are never broken, and time's forever frozen still...'
Pieces Of Heave by Mark Owen → 'We cry, we learn, we think about the things we're crying for...Still looking for pieces of heaven...'
Please Don't Go by Barcelona → 'Oh, please don't go...'
Porcelain by Lucy Schwartz → 'I've been waiting all my life for this feeling to be mine...'
Quiet Times (Acoustic) by Dido → 'It's hard enough to feel the world as it is, and hold on anything.
Without these quiet times you've brought 'round here...'
Raven by Mark Owen → 'And we don't want much that we don't have now, we could ask for more but we don't know how, it's a choice we made, it's the life we know, when my raven calls and it's time to go...'
Reach Out by Take That → 'The world sleeps at different times, with one turn your day is now my night...'
Revelation by Troye Sivan → 'You're a revelation...Hey, dear, you're a wrecking ball...'
Rhythm Of The Rain by Mêlée → 'Songs from your past will play, through the rain, the rhythm of the rain, the rhythm of the rain, falling down in every way and letting go of memories, they float away, far away, trying hard to keep them mine, when something's gone you never can go home again...'
Rule The World by Take That → 'You light the skies up above me, a star so bright you blind me...all the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight, for you...'
Runaway by The Corrs → 'I have runaway, runaway, I have runaway with you...' → This is another song I just have a lot of memories associated with; I think it's the dreamy sound of it which makes it so good for a post-show late night journey home.
S.A.D. by Mark Owen → 'We could have been sad, for just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer...' → I simply love to listen to this song after a show as it has such a mellow, bittersweet atmosphere to it which is both comforting and cheering somehow.
San Francisco by 5 Seconds Of Summer → 'Holding on to memories, and I can't let go. I wanna get back to where we started, to the summer night...'
Satellite Call by Sara Bareilles → 'You may find yourself in the dead of night, lost somewhere up in the great big beautiful sky, yeah we're all just perfect little satellites, spinning round and round this broken earthly life, this is so you'll know the sound of someone who loves you from the ground, tonight you're not alone at all, this is me sending out my satellite call...'
Say Goodbye by S Club 7 → 'In the years to come, will you think about these moments that we shared? In the years to come, are you gonna think it over, and how we lived each day with no regrets? Nothing lasts forever though we want it to, the road ahead holds different dreams for me and you...In a year from now, maybe there'll be things we'll wish we'd never said, in a year from now, maybe we'll see each other, standing on the same street corner, no regrets, each and every end is always written in the stars, if only I could stop the world, I'd make this last...'
Season Of Love by Shiny Toy Guns → 'It's all memory in the sun, or it's all in the darkness, maybe it's all around to see
If we try...Crazy with it, crazier without, never certain never full of doubt, now you feel it now you don't, do you know what you're feeling?'
Second Chances by Gregory Alan Isakov → 'I'm running from nothing, no thoughts in my mind, oh my heart was all black, but I saw something shine...'
Shadow Of The Day by Linkin Park → 'And the shadow of the day, will embrace the world in gray, and the sun will set for you...'
Shine by Hilary Duff → 'Everyone knows that I'm ten feet under, 'til you come along and brighten my day...' → That line is what always strikes me most with this song as it reminds me of all the times the theatre has been a bright spot or something to look forward to for me.
Shine by Shannon Noll → 'This is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, al the world will stop to watch you shine, this is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, when all the world will stop to watch you shine....' → If you have a theatre friend you've followed and championed, this is the perfect song to make you smile and be proud of them.
Shine (Abbey Road Version) by Take That → 'Hey, so come on yeah, shine all your light over me...' → This song is lovely if you have a theatre friend you're proud of and the softness of the acoustic version is very soothing and contented.
Shine by Skies Of America → 'I gotta be the one now to tell you that you'll forever shine...'
Shine On by James Blunt → 'And when silence greets my last goodbye, the words I need are in your eyes, and I'll sing, shine on, just shine on, close your eyes and they'll all be gone, they can scream and shout, that they've been sold out, but it paid for the cloud that we're dancing on, so shine on, just shine on, with your smile just as bright as the sun...'
Shooting Star by Owl City → 'When the sun goes down and the lights burn out then it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are, fill the darkest night with a brilliant light coz it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are tonight...' → I have met more than one shining shooting star at stage door and this always makes me think of them with a fond smile before or after a show.
Shouldn't Be A Good In Goodbyeby Jason Walker → 'This is the bitter not the sweet, this is the take and not the keep...There shouldn't be a good in goodbye...'
Silhouette by Owl City → 'I'm a Silhouette chasing rainbows on my own, but the more I try to move on the more I feel alone, so I watch the summer stars to lead me home...'
Sleepless Nights by ayokay → 'It takes me back to windows down in ocean air, sunset eyes through messy hair, I miss chasing down the morning light, and all those sleepless nights, I know that it's over, but it's haunting me, like a ghost of the summer I still see...'
Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers → 'Step from the road to the sea to the sky...'
So Here We Are by Bloc Party → 'I caught a glimpse, but it's been forgotten, so here we are again...'
Somebody by Bonnie McKee → 'But I know I won't cry, coz there is somebody, somebody, somebody waiting for me out in the rain, won't cry, not tonight, coz there is somebody waiting for me...'
Something About You by Five For Fighting → 'Baby there's something about you that I can hold on to, I'm going to hold on to that...'
Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers → 'Oh I want something just like this...'
Somewhere In The Audience by Eric Woolfson → 'The traveling show will play another town, but leaves behind a broken-hearted clown, and from somewhere in the audience the order comes to bring the curtain down...The comedy will play and then it's gone, for every day's a show that must go on...'
Song For Shelter by Fatboy Slim → 'I get deep, I get deep, I get deep, I get deep, he takes all the bass out of the song and all you hear is highs...' → This song is great for just spacing out to and helping you calm down the emotions after a stage door, something about its atmosphere is so soothing.
Souvenir by Avril Lavigne → 'Say, say what you want, just don't say that you're leaving, I hope this summer breeze will last more than a season...'
Spin by Take That → 'Counting up the days and the ways I'm gonna make it happen, I feel the walls are tumbling, I see the doors are opening, it's been a long time but I know that you've been waiting for me, and the world will always spin, 'cause love will always win...'
Stardust (ft. Karen Mok) by MIKA → 'I could put a little stardust in your eyes, put a little sunshine in your life, give me a little hope you'll feel the same, and I wanna know will I see you again...'
Starlight by Taylor Swift → 'Oh my, what a marvelous tune, it was the best night, never would forget how we moved, the whole place was dressed to the nines, and we were dancing, dancing, like we're made of starlight, starlight...Like we dream impossible dreams, like starlight, starlight, like we dream impossible dreams, don't you see the starlight, starlight? Don't you dream impossible things?'
State Of Grace by Taylor Swift → 'And I never saw you coming, and I'll never be the same...'
Stay Beautiful by Taylor Swift → 'You're beautiful, every little piece love, and don't you know, you're really gonna be someone, ask anyone, and when you find everything you looked for, I hope your life leads you back to my door, oh but if it don't, stay beautiful...'
Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding → 'Your heart gave me new kind of highs...'
Stolen by Dashboard Confessional → 'We watch the season pull up its own stakes, and catch the last weekend of the last week, before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced, another sun soaked season fades away...' → The slower album version of this song is pure warmth and nostalgia and is perfect for a journey home.
Straight From The Heart by S Club 7 → 'Straight from the heart you changed my life forever more...'
Strange And Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You) by Aqualung → 'To me, you're strange and you're beautiful...'
Stuck by Imagine Dragons → 'Time goes by and still I'm stuck on you...'
Such Great Heights by The Postal Service → 'They will see us waving from such great heights, "Come down now" they'll say, but everything looks perfect from far away, "Come down now", but we'll stay...'
Summer Sunshine by The Corrs → 'To sweet beginnings and bitter endings...In the heat of summer sunshine, I miss you like nobody else...' → As a pure singalong this is lovely pre-show, but there is something so powerfully nostalgic and reflective about it to me too for those times after a show when you want to look back.
Sunlight by Diana Vickers → 'After the day goes, and all the tears flow, when there is no-one, nothing by your side, where do the dreams go, when we're not sleeping? Is there a world outside that's waiting just for us? I wanna wake up with the sunlight in my eyes...'
Sunset Borderline by Sandi Thom → 'Now I'm waiting for the sunset borderline, every suns gotta set with time, but I'll remember those moments for evermore as the days where nothing had changed at all...' → One of my all-time favourite songs to play after a night at the theatre, it's so perfect and has come to have so many memories attached to it for me, especially of times I was lucky enough to stay and take in multiple shows over several days at a theatre.
Sunshine by S Club 7 → 'And let me say from the bottom of my heart, I wanna thank you for making the sun come shining through...' → This is another song which always makes me smile as it reminds me so much of My Jellicles.
Sunshine In The Rain by BWO → 'Sunshine in the rain, love is still the same, sunshine in the rain , even if we call the highest power, we can only do one town a time...'
Sway by The Perishers → 'I've always been a dreamer, I've had my head among the clouds...You gathered my dreams in when they all blew away...'
Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap → 'A moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry...'
Tail Of The Sun by Stroke 9 → 'This is the summer that'll never come, it's like someone's holding on to the tail of the sun...'
Target by Embrace → 'You flicker like a mile high neon sign...For an hour I held the moon on a string, now there's moments left 'til the world begins...'
Thank You by Dido → 'I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life...'
That Feeling When by Dagny → 'I wasn't expecting you, like a punch that knocks the wind out...hey, I feel it, I'm feelin' that feeling, that feeling when...'
Thinking Of You by Busted → 'Nowhere else I'd rather be today, in my mind a million miles away...'
This Fire by Sawyer Fredericks → 'There goes the night, there'll be another, so darlin' you don't have to go...'
This Love by Taylor Swift → 'This love left a permanent mark, this love is glowing in the dark, these hands had to let it go free, and this love came back to me...'
This Town by Niall Horan → 'Yesterday I thought I saw your shadow running round, it's funny how things never change in this old town, so far from the stars...'
Those Days Are Gone by Busted → 'Well it's hard just to say goodbye to the times we had, all the summers spent together, now we leave it all behind, sooner or later when the winter comes, I will picture us together in my mind forever, I will be holding on, oh well, those days are gone...'
Those Were The Days by Midnight Kids → 'Could reminisce forever, those were the days...'
Time by Chantel Kreviazuk → 'Time, where did you go? Why did you leave me here alone? Wait, don't go so fast, I'm missing the moments as they pass...'
Time by Sandi Thom → 'Time catches everyone, and the world goes round the sun, but the memory lives on in my heart, going back to the start, forever forever forever...'
Time Flies Tomorrow by Paul Westerberg → 'Time flies tomorrow, but it ain`t made a move yet, time flies tomorrow, and tomorrow will make a day since we`ve met...'
Time Of Our Lives by Tyrone Wells → 'We say goodbye, we hold on tight to these memories that never die, we have had the time of our lives, now the page is turned, the stories we will write, we have had the time of our lives, and I will not forget the faces left behind, it's hard to walk away from the best of days, but if it has to end, I'm glad you have been my friend in the time of our lives...'
Time To Pretend by MGMT → 'But there is really nothing, nothing we can do, love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew...'
Tiny Star by Eric Woolfson → 'The sun is just a tiny star, the moon is not so very far...So you must sleep and then morning comes, dawn will break, the sun will shine again...' → The first song I ever put onto My Stage Door Playlist and one of the single most comforting songs the night after a show but also for the next day too.
Tomorrow by MIKA → 'Oh, who gives a shit about tomorrow, when you know how lucky we are, oh tomorrow worry 'bout tomorrow...'
Top Of The World by Mandy Moore → 'I'm starting to dream again again, was a matter of when, I guess we all lose our way now and then, you lift me up when I am falling...Now I'm on top of the world, top of the whole wide world...'
Until We Leave The Ground by Emmit Fenn → 'Days just turn into months, city smoke's burnin' my lungs, summer fades into a glow, I'm low, head down...'
Up by Take That → 'Reaching up to turn the clock around, it's like a ladder to my heart, a feeling that I got when I was young, like the days, the days, were folding up into my pocket, when honestly I wouldn't change a single thing about the time we had...' → The whole atmosphere of this song is so peaceful and contemplative, it's so beautiful. It's also another song I remember listening to and feeling in my bones after seeing Joel Morris as Carbucketty for the last time.
Up All Night by Take That → 'Pour another glass, while I watch the bottle disappear, while I watch the morning light appear, thinking about you...'
Us Against The World by Coldplay → 'Oh, morning come bursting the clouds amen, lift off this blindfold let me see again...'
Vanilla Twilight by Owl City → 'The stars lean down to kiss you, and I lie awake and miss you, pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere...'
Vienna by Billy Joel → 'Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight...Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while, it's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two, when will you realize, Vienna waits for you?'
Viva Forever by Spice Girls → 'Promises made, every memory saved as reflections in my mind...Viva forever, I'll be waiting, everlasting, like the sun, live forever, for the moment...'
Wait by Over The Rhine → 'Life is a beauty that's mocking you, she's a river to drown in while singing the blues, let the backstroke pull you in...'
Waking Light by Beck → 'Waking light, it grew from the shadow, brace yourself to the morning low, night is gone, long way turning, you've waited long enough to know, when the memory leaves you somewhere you can't make it home, when the morning comes to meet you, lay me down in waking light...'
Walk In The Sun by McFly → 'I wonder what it's like to fly so high, or to breathe under the sea, I wonder if some day I'll be good with goodbyes...Such a long, long way to go, where I'm going I don't know, I'm just following the road, for a walk in the sun...'
Walk Me Home by P!nk → 'There's something in the way I wanna cry, that makes me think we'll make it out alive...Walk me home in the dead of night, I can't be alone with all that's on my mind...'
Way Back When by Kodaline → 'Some things are made to last, here's to you , my dear old friend from way back when, yeah those will be the days that I will be missing...I hope that I can say when all my days are done that I had my fun...'
We Are Young by Fun. → 'Tonight we are young, so let’s set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun...'
What A Time by Julia Michaels → 'I think of the night in the park, it was getting dark and we stayed up for hours, what a time, what a time, what a time...'
What About Everything? by Carbon Leaf → 'Get away and come with me...before time takes each year, like a knife cuts it clear, it's school then work and then life that just sharpens the blade, I think about time for fun, I think about time for play, then I think about being done with no resume...Holiday quiet on these streets, except for some reason me, the hometown harbor lights bright, the sailboats clatter in vain, holiday sky, midnight clear, wind is high on this pier, I find it hard to complain when compared with what about, what about everything...'
When The Day Turns Into Night by Busted → 'I hate to say goodbye, it gets harder every time...when the day turns into night, another tired afternoon, another dusty motel room...I'm counting down the days till I get there...'
When We Were Young by Adele → 'Everybody loves the things you do, from the way you talk, to the way you move. Everybody here is watching you...you're like a dream come true...You look like a movie, you sound like a song...'
When We Were Young by Take That → 'In a moment of grace, a long leap of faith, the still more glorious dawn awaits my life, I'm here with the lovers...'
Where We Were Before by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'Is this what I've been dreaming of, coz I'm needing so much more, I'm just trying to get back where we were before...'
Whispers by Dave Baxter → 'Our stories and pictures, oh we let them go, let them go home, oh I have seen your beauty grow, where all this fades, you shine and glow...'
White Balloons by Stephen Ashbook → 'I'm not quite sure if this is something that'll comfort you, if it hurts, it's supposed to, and the world keeps spinning on all around you, watching white balloons disappear into the blue...'
Who Knows by Avril Lavigne → 'So you go and make it happen, do your best just keep on laughing, it's all on you, there's always a brand new day, who knows what could happen, do what you do just keep on laughing, one thing's true, there's always a brand new day, I'm gonna live today like it's my last day...'
Whole Heart by Gryffin → 'Head first, past the point of no return, it's the only way left to go, can't keep taking while the years go by, gotta go whole heart this time...'
Why Can't I? by Liz Phair → 'Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you?'
Without You by Busted → 'The way I never thought I'd leave this place, the way you made it seem so real...'
Wolf's Law by The Joy Formidable → 'I want to go along and pretend that it's dawn, that's the start not the close...'
Wonderful World by James Morrison → 'But who am I to dream? Dreams are for fools, they let you down, when I know that it's a wonderful world but I can't feel it right now, I thought that I was doing well but I just wanna cry now...'
Wonderful World by Take That → 'Time was all we had, but it was never ours to keep, time can help you find the ground and knock you off your feet, all those minutes get lost in time, one step forward two steps behind, so before I think myself too deep, what a wonderful world this is...'
Wooden Boat by Take That → 'Sometimes we don't know what we're waiting for, that's the time to be the first one on the dance floor, we go from green to blue to go to black, breathe deep, who knows how long will this last...'
World by Mark Owen → 'Every time the sun sets, over your garden comes the night, feelings come, then they go, will I ever know which they may be heading? I don't know. Nothing ever stays the same...'
World Spins Madly On by The Weepies → 'I let the day go by, I always say goodbye, I watch the stars from my window sill, the whole world is moving and I'm standing still...I thought of you and where you'd gone, and the world spins madly on...'
Worlds Apart by Joshua Randin → 'So when you leave the sun for the snow crossing ocean tides, know you will be safe there at home, rest now close your eyes...Though we are worlds apart, I want you to dream in fields of flowers, and know that you're not alone, soon come morning hours, the sweetest winds will blow...'
Yellow by Coldplay → 'Look at the stars, look how they shine for you, and everything you do...'
You & Me by Lifehouse → 'What day is it, and in what month? This clock never seemed so alive, I can't keep up and I can't back down, I've been losing so much time...'
You Gotta Be by Des'ree → 'You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together...'
You're Lovely To Me by Lucky Jim → 'You're lovely to me yes you are...I've seen how you shine...'
You're Not Alone by Embrace → 'But you, one of the scene, trying to be like no ones ever been, and everybody knows that that's the way it goes, and that's alright with me, I've got time...'
4am In London by Benjamin Francis Leftwich → 'I've heard If birds fly over the time zones, nobody can tell us what we don't know, distance is easy, you make me completely alive...'
5 More Minutes by Mull Historical Society → 'Five more minutes, five more minutes with you...'
17 Again by Eurythmic → 'Looking from the outside in, some things never change, hey hey I'm a million miles away, funny how it seems like yesterday...'
100 Bad Days by AJR → 'When all is going wrong and you're scared as hell, what you gonna do, who you gonna tell? Maybe a hundred bad days made a hundred good stories..'
100 Years by Five For Fighting → 'And I'm just dreaming, counting the ways to where you are...'
1000 Nights by Frenship → 'I heard you calling me, calling me, calling me through the dissonance, I've been known to run, just to feel the rush, but the dying sun illuminates so much, it's hard to see beyond what's in sight, but when you tilt the light I realize, for a thousand nights I've been a restless soul, just wasting time digging up fool's gold, it took a thousand lives being on my own, for me to find it was all fool's gold...'
A Sky Full Of Stars by Coldplay → 'Coz in a sky, 'coz in a sky full of stars I think I see you, I think I see you, coz you're a sky you're a sky full of stars, such a heavenly view...' → This is a wonderful daydreamy song for before or after a show.
A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton → 'If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by? Coz you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight...'
About You Now (Acoustic) by The Sugababes → 'I know everything changes, all the cities and faces...Can we bring yesterday back around?'
Above The Clouds by Turin Brakes → 'The rain came again, cleaning the dream and it always makes me cry, oh my, something about the rain it sends memories through my veins, memories always stain, you can't wash them down the drain...Up above the clouds there is always a blue sky...'
Acoustica by Trellis → (Instrumental) → There is a very wistful, winding down feel to this music which is good for filling up the silence after a show.
The Ad-Dressing Of Cats from Cats the Musical → 'So this is this, and that is that, and there's how you ad-dress a cat....' → As a closing number, there is something so spine-tingling about this song, it really is very stirring and it brings up so many memories for me of amazing performances and of all those times I sat there knowing that, although the show was over, I still had stage door to look forward to before having to call the night over.
Adelaide by Old 97s → 'I remember when I had you and you had so much promise then, you promised me that you would never leave again, to be broken, you were made...'
After The After Party by The Lucksmiths → 'Even the most familiar face can disappear without a trace amidst a crowd of theatregoers, I had been waiting for a while, my stare mistaken for a smile, 'till I found the person no-one knows as well as I do, a hug hello and I'm beside you again, I know the lines to read between, and when you've stolen every scene, for good and all the curtain closes...'
Alice by Bianca Ryan → 'Alice sits on the corner, she feels better than ever, she knows she knows you're not coming home, Alice sits on the corner...Alice watches the sky above, she feels younger than ever, as she spins and spins the wind hits her dress, Alice watches the sky above...'
All Alright by Fun. → 'I got nothing left inside of my chest, but it's all alright...'
All For Love by Sigala → 'From the darkest hour, to the break of day, do it all for love...'
All The Kids Go by Gemma Hayes → 'The lights go down, yes, your turn, you play the hit of the summer, your voice fills my heart...'
All You Wanted by Sounds Under Radio → 'Cause it was all you wanted, and all I needed, but all I gave up now, could you hold me tighter, when worlds collide, just hold me down right now...' → There is something very late-at-night-watching-city-lights-through-a-hotel-window about this song and something about it is very good for that quiet mood you don't quite want to break after a show.
Alone (It's Not So Bad) by I Am Not Lefthanded → 'It's not so bad alone, my fridge makes a noise that let's me know I'm home...And this is where I'll lie this whole night, the fire and the sigh, through no light, this is where I'll hide...'
Always On My Mind by Phantom Planet → 'Everybody in this place can up and move away, for all I care this town's already dead and empty...' → This song has a kind of sleepy, lullaby quality to it which is really soothing when you're trying to unwind after the excitement of a show.
And Then You by Greg Laswell → 'How my dreams they spin me 'round, and how my dreams they let me down, and how my thoughts they spin me 'round, and how my thoughts they let me down...'
Angels On The Moon by Thriving Ivory → 'Don't wake me coz I'm dreaming of angels on the moon...'
Another Suitcase In Another Hall from Evita → 'I won't recall the names and places of each sad occasion, but that's no consolation here and now, so what happens now? Another suitcase in another hall...'
Any Other World by MIKA → 'In any other world you could tell the difference, and let it all unfurl into broken remnants., smile like you mean it and let yourself let go...'
As I'll Ever Be by Chaz Cardigan → 'I've been in the woods too long, I don't wanna come back home...you can find me in my reverie...like I'm awake inside a dream...'
As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard the Musical/sung by Elaine Paige → 'The whispered conversations in overcrowded hallways, the atmosphere as thrilling here as always, feel the early morning madness, feel the magic in the making, why everything's as if we never said goodbye, I've spent so many mornings just trying to resist you, I'm trembling now you can't know how I've missed you, missed the fairy tale adventure, in this ever spinning playground...' → Multiple versions of this song are on my playlist as it is just perfect for the theatre, but Elaine Paige's is probably my personal favourite.)
Autumn Leaves by Ed Sheeran → 'Float down like autumn leaves, and hush now, close your eyes before the sleep, and you're miles away, and yesterday you were here with me...'
Back To You by John Mayer → 'Back to you, it always comes around, back to you, I tried to forget you, I tried to stay away, but it's too late, over you, I'm never over, over you, something about you, it's just the way you move, the way you move me...'
Bali Ha'i' from South Pacific → 'Bali Ha'i may call you, any night, any day, in your heart, you'll hear it call you, come away, come away...'
Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne → 'Don't let your soul get lonely child it's only time, it will go by...' → This is another late night song for me. I rarely know what to do with myself after a show: too tired for anything taxing, too distracted to watch anything but too tired to sleep - so I end up with my headphones on, sitting on the floor or the bed or by a window, listening to songs like this, often still in my fancy heels and dress from the show.
Being Human by Mark Owen → 'I work hard, rack my brain, go insane, tryin' to figure it out, words they fail me yeah, they leave me dry, too much thinkin' in my head sometimes. You always make it look so simple, being human, you always make it look so simple, being human - I haven to pinch myself, yeah, everyday, because of all of the times I could of walked on this planet, I get to spend some time with you being human...'
Believe by Take That → 'Took a walk around the block, didn’t stop, all this space, it makes me want to see your face, such a beautiful place, when I met you last I was at a loss, life goes on...I can see the sun is risin’, I can see your eyes are smilin’, I will hold onto the things that I believe, believe, shut my eyes I feel alive...Give me one more night at last, filled with joy...' → This song is just really pretty, feel-good and gorgeous - my favourite band doing me proud! There is something bittersweet and joyful in it. I vividly remember being on the train back from London after delivering cupcakes to the cast and it just really touching my heart to listen to, especially after Joel had been so very sweet to me at stage door that day. There is an atmosphere to this song that is really perfect before and after a show, especially something about the way Mark Owen sings that "Give me one more night...filled with joy" line, that always speaks to me and I just feel the emotion in my bones.
Berlin by Bird Call → 'If miles were only those of ants, and months could tick like seconds...'
Big Bad World by Kodaline → 'We go out on our own, it’s a big bad world outside, carrying’ our dreams and all that they mean, trying to make it all worthwhile...'
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell/Counting Crows → 'Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...'
Birds by Imagine Dragons → 'Seasons, they will change, life will make you grow, dreams will make you cry, cry, cry, everything is temporary, everything will slide...I know that oh birds fly in different directions, oh I hope to see you again, sunsets, sunrises, livin' the dream, watchin' the leaves, changin' the seasons, some nights I think of you, relivin' the past, wishin' it'd last, wishin' and dreamin'...'
Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve → 'Coz it's a bittersweet symphony, that's life...'
Bittersweet Life by My Favourite Highway → 'It's a bittersweet life, and it's leaving me a-ok...'
Bittersweet Sublime by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'The pain is bittersweet yet so sublime, it's getting near the end can we rewind?'
Blue Piccadilly by The Feeling → 'And that's when the blue Piccadilly takes me away from the city...twelve stops and home...'
Boomerang by Imagine Dragons → 'I'm bad at letting you go, letting you go, moving on, moving on...'
Brand New Day by Kodaline → 'We can write stories bout the journeys that we made...Won’t you come down, come away with me, just think of all the places we could be, I’ll be waiting, waiting on a brand new day...'
Break My Heart Right by James Bay → 'Tail lights and runways, we put on a brave face, we write down the details to make us feel safe...I think it's ten thousand minutes 'til I get home...Never wanna say goodbye...'
Breaking by Oliver Daldry → 'Endless days they fade away, people leave, oh some I guess they stay...'
Broadway by The Goo Goo Dolls → 'Broadway's dark tonight, a little bit weaker than you used to be...'
Broken by Lifehouse → 'The broken clock is a comfort, it let's me sleep tonight, maybe it can stop tomorrow from stealing all my time...'
Bubbly by Colbie Caillat → 'I always know that you make me smile, please stay for a while now...Every time I see your bubbly face...You make me smile, even just for a while...'
Built To Last by Mêlée → 'Cause this is real and this is good, it warms the inside just like it should...'
Calm After The Storm by The Common Linnets → 'Skies are black and blue, I’m thinking about you, here in the calm after the storm, there ain’t nothing new, here in the calm after the storm...'
Carnival by Mark Owen → 'But in my heart a drum is beating, a carnival inside my head, before they turn the music off, before they tell us to go home again...before we change our minds, can we go dancing somewhere? 'Cause in my heart a drum is beating, a carnival inside my head, and when we talk in so many words, we've got to live this life a bit harder...'
Carry Me Home by Take That → 'Carry me home when this is over, carry me home, into the sun, through all the highs and all the hard times...' → This song just makes me feel so happy and nostalgic at once somehow.
Castles by Sandi Thom → 'I'm just skimming stones against the lake, while my dreams pass me by, I've never known what to make of life, but I guess I'm willing to try, sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, sometimes it heals, sometimes it hurts, so hail to the morning wherever it dawns down on me, it's now that I get to thinking some castles lie way beneath the sea, you always said that it would be such a long summer, and now it's here and I can break the ice on this cold water...' → I remember listening to this on that Bristol morning when the playlist began and feeling it was the day's atmosphere captured in song.
Celebrate (Acoustic Version) by MIKA → 'Once I get up I feel better, then I pull myself together, I remember those two letters: it will be OK, everyone says now or never, I say only if it's better, be a night like this forever...'
Charlie Brown by Coldplay → 'I saw the lights go down at the end of the scene, saw the lights go down and standing in front of me...a spark, light a fire, a flame in my heart, we'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark...All the madness that occurs, all the highs, all the lows, as the room a-spinning goes, we'll run riot, we'll be glowing in the dark, so we'll soar luminous and wired, we'll be glowing in the dark...'
Chicago by Sufjan Stevens → 'All things go, all things go, to recreate us, all things grow, all things grow...I was in love with the place, in my mind...'
Christmas Lights by Coldplay → 'Oh, Christmas lights light up the street, light up the fireworks in me...'
Circles by The Young Romans → 'Smiling will only save us for a while...'
City Lights (LVNDSCAPE Remix) by HAEVN → 'Time for us to go, all the nights that we got lost my baby, I've seen us grow, I could see it in your eyes, the city lightning, I just wanna see your eyes in city lightning...'
City Of Blinding Lights by U2 → 'And I miss you when you're not around, I'm getting ready to leave the ground, oh you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights, don't look before you laugh, look ugly in a photograph, flash bulbs, purple irises, the camera can't see...' → I just love the whole atmosphere of this song and it was one of my favourites at the time of starting to stage door, so it's become forever associated with the theatre to me.
Collide by Howie Day → 'The dawn is breaking...I'm quiet you know, you make a first impression...Even the best fall down sometimes, even the stars refuse to shine...' → Such an atmospheric song, this always makes me think of those early starts to get home after a theatre trip.
Colourblind by Darius → 'Feeling fine, sublime, when that smile of yours creeps into my mind, nobody told me it feels so good, nobody said you'd be so beautiful, nobody warned me about your smile...Blinded by the light you shine...'
Colours by Amos Lee → 'Yesterday I got lost in the circus, feeling like such a mess, and now I'm down I'm just hanging on the corner, I can't help but reminisce...' → I cannot tell you how many times I've come back to this song for a journey home after a show.
Come Around by Rhett Miller → 'I'm dressed all in blue, and I'm rememberin' you...'
Come Back...Be Here... by Taylor Swift → 'I told myself don't get attached, but in my mind I play it back, spinning faster than the plane that took you, and this is when the feeling sinks in, I don't wanna miss you like this, come back, be here...'
Come On Love by Take That → 'Oh come on, love, come on, say you'll be back some day...'
Consequence by The Notwist → 'You're the colour, you're the movement and the spin, never could it stay with me the whole day long...leave me hypnotised...'
Counting Down The Days by Natalie Imbruglia → 'I wanna travel through time, see your surprise, I'd hold you so tight, I'm counting down the days tonight, I just wanna be a million miles away from here...' → For when all you want to go is go back to the theatre.
Crashing by ILLENIUM → 'How could I go home when I feel like I belong?' → There's something really dreamlike about this song which is great for a late night after a show.
Crazy Dreams from the SMASH Soundtrack/by Carrie Underwood → 'Here's to you free souls, you firefly chasers, tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players, here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms, there's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you, thank God even crazy dreams come true...' → Again there is just something special about the SMASH orchestration which kind of gives you this feeling of breathless anticipation when you listen to it before a show, and it is just the right amount of wistful for after a show too.
Cross My Heart by S Club 7 → 'Cross my heart and tell no lies, no-one's leaving you behind, just because we said goodbye, baby cross my heart I do believe, in my thoughts and in my dreams, I'll be taking you with me...'
Cry by Hilary Duff → 'Cry at the end, cry cause it all begins again...'
Cut, Print...Moving On from the SMASH Soundtrack → 'Yes, there have been nights I'll long to relive, but sometimes you gotta roam, you can't fight when something's gotta give, but you'll always be my home away from home...We told the same jokes, we breathed the same air, we couldn't tell night from day, but just like the end of a love affair, we all know the time comes to break away, last year, we all were strangers, this year, we're lifelong friends, I know that this location is not where our story ends...'
Dakota by Stereophonics → 'Thinking back, thinking of you, summertime think it was June, yeah think it was June, laying back head on the grass, chewing gum having some laughs, yeah having some laughs...Wake up call, coffee and juice, remembering you, what happened to you? I wonder if we’ll meet again, talk about life since then, talk about why did it end. → This is just a great reminiscing song, but it's also great when you're driving along to or from the theatre as it has such a good energy to it that it can really fit whatever mood.
Dancing In The Moonlight by Toploader → 'Dancing in the moonlight, everybody's feeling warm and bright, it's such a fine and natural sight, everybody's dancing in the moonlight, we like our fun and we never fight, you cant dance and stay uptight, it's a supernatural delight...'
Daylight by Maroon 5/Boyce Avenue → 'Here I am waiting, I'll have to leave soon, why am I holding on...This is our last night but it's late and I'm trying not to sleep, cause I know when I wake, I will have to slip away, and when the daylight comes I'll have to go...The sky is getting bright, the stars are burning out, somebody slow it down, this is way too hard, cause I know when the sun comes up, I will leave, this is my last glance that will soon be memory...'
December by Sara Bareilles → 'Distill a whole year down into a day, act like we all start over with a pristine slate, but to get yourself a new life you've got to give the other one away, and I'm starting to believe in the power of a name, cause it can't be a mistake if I just call it change...'
Defying Gravity from Wicked/sung by Idina Menzel → 'It's time to try defying gravity, I think I'll try defying gravity, kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity, and you won't bring me down...'
Disappear by Jars Of Clay → 'I watch you smile, you steal the show, you take a bow the curtain falls in front of you, you're magical...'
Do It All For Love by Take That → 'For all your days inspired by the beauty of your timing, and those endless acts of kindness, I want to give you more, give you more, I only want to let you know...'Til the last of the daylight survives, we do it all for love, while we wait for the dawn to arrive, we do it all for love...' → This is another song I particularly remember from my trip to deliver cupcakes to the Palladium cast of Cats; it came on on the way home and the "endless acts of kindness" line made me think of Joel's sweet words to me at stage door that night and I definitely almost cried realising he was on stage at that time performing Carbucketty for me!
Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House/Sixpence None The Richer → 'Hey now, hey now, don't dream it's over, hey now, hey now, when the world comes in...'
Don't Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders/sung by Ainslie Henderson → 'Don't get me wrong if I'm looking kind of dazzled, I see neon lights whenever you walk by, don't get me wrong if I'm acting so distracted, I'm thinking about the fireworks that go off when you smile...'
Don't Take The Money by Bleachers → 'You steal the air out of my lungs, you make me feel it...'
Dora by Alan Parsons/from Freudiana → 'But it's all a dream, and it's only make believe, listening through the hours of the day, waiting for the night to end, thinking though it's not for me to say, when will I see you again?'
Dragonfly by M. Craft → 'When the morning starts to glow out in the corners of the sky, all the people come and go and the time just passes by, then I'm only gonna see it from the corner of my eye, when the planet spins, it sings like the wings of a dragonfly, I can see it all tonight...'
Drawn From Memory by Embrace → 'Singing all they have is drawn from memory, I've got you and tomorrow., you can steal the scene but you're blind, and the magic will leave you feeling hollow...You blessed a part of me without knowing, and it strikes me that I could cry...'
Dream Catch Me by Newton Faulkner → 'There's a place I go, when I'm alone, do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be...dream catch me, yeah, dream catch me when I fall...'
Dreamers by Jack Savoretti → Living for there and then under a psychedelic spell, no one was listening still they had so much to tell, whatever happened to the dreamers, that always look beyond the sky...Where are they now, they've all left town, bringing the clouds...'
Dreams by Gabrielle → 'Not making plans for tomorrow, let's live for tonight...Dreams can come true...'
Drinking In LA performed by The Twang (& also the instrumental version performed by Trellis) → 'Get your ass out of bed, he said, I'll explain it on the way, but we did nothing, absolutely nothing that day...'
Dusk And Summer by Dashboard Confessional → 'Some things tie your life together, slender threads and things to treasure, days like that should last and last and last...'
Easy by Busted → 'But I wish you well, and goodbye is never easy...'
Edge Of The Ocean by Ivy → 'There's a place I dream about , where the sun never goes out. And the sky is deep and blue, won't you take me there with you...There's a world I've always known, somewhere far away from home. When I close my eyes I see all the space and mystery...' → This is a great wistful train journey song and can work both before and after a show, but in case of post-show daydreaming, definitely break glass and listen to this song!
Embers by Owl City → 'And you'll find there'll be mornings when the ashes and embers are cold, but you'll fight with a passion and you'll never stop 'cause you know, yeah you know, it gets better and your story is yet to be told, every push, every shove, every war, every love, yeah, the coals are beginning to glow, so I'm fanning the flames to climb so high 'cause there's no other way we can stay alive, 'cause we're burning bright as we all unite and when it's all said and done we'll shine like the sun, so don't let the fire die, and we'll watch the sky as it fills with light, and though the embers are new, whatever you do, just don't let the fire die...'
Enchanted by Taylor Swift → 'And it was enchanting to meet you, all I can say is I was enchanted to meet you, this night is sparkling, don't you let it go, I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home, I'll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you...' → I always walk away from stage door in a daze which could probably only be described as enchantment, so really this song had to make the cut.
End Of Everything by Mark Owen → 'When you are restless come to rest, gentle is the sun upon hollow ground...Is this the end of everything we know, or the start of something beautiful...'
The Energy Never Dies by The Script → 'I'll tell you life's just a blink so don't think twice, let's catch the moment in a flash of light, woah, twenty-four-seven baby, three six five, if we gonna feel alive, then let's feel it now, we could all be blown to pieces, because time's a ticking bomb...It's not the end, 'cause the energy never dies...'
Everlasting by Take That → 'It started on a Friday night, we were runnin' wild, we were flyin' high, searchin' for the time of our lives...' → This song really can just send electricity down your spine when you're in that theatre trip state of mind and brings the memories right back to the surface when you're in a reflective mood.
Evermore by Taylor Swift → 'I rewind the tape but all it does is pause, on the very moment all was lost, sending signals
to be double crossed, and I was catching my breath, barefoot in the wildest winter catching my death...I had a feeling so peculiar, this pain wouldn't be for evermore...'
Every Revolution by Take That → 'Up ahead, a blanket full of stars, a pencil sketch to lie down underneath, and we turn, every revolution, every revolution bringing us symphonies, take a breath and count our lucky days...'
Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall by Coldplay → 'I turn the music up, I got my records on, I shut the world outside until the lights come on, maybe the street's alight...I feel my heart stop beating to my favourite song, and all the kids they dance, all the kids all night, until Monday morning feels another life, I turn the music up, I'm on a roll this time, and heaven is in sight, I turn the music up, I got my records on, from underneath the rubble sing a rebel song...I'd rather be a comma than a full stop, maybe I'm in the black, maybe I'm on my knees, maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapezes, but my heart is beating and my pulses start cathedrals in my heart...Every siren is a symphony, and every tear's a waterfall...'
Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift → 'Coz all I know is we said "Hello", and your eyes look like coming home, all I know is a simple name, everything has changed...'
Feel Again by OneRepublic → 'It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face, I've been everywhere and back trying to replace everything that I had 'til my feet went numb....But with you
I feel again, yeah, with you I can feel again...'
Feeling A Moment by Feeder → 'Feeling the moment slip away, losing direction, you're loosing faith, you're wishing for someone, feeling it all begin to slide...How do you feel when there's no sun? And how will you be when rain clouds come and pull you down again?' → There's just something amazing about the feel of this song which I love - it's got just the right level of happy and sad in it.
Fireflies by Amy Cook → 'Meet me darkwiler tonight, we'll watch the waves roll in and the planes, they go so low on their way to the sky, bonfire, yeah laugh at all life's crazy twists and turns, bonfire, and as the flames flicker burn out bright, we're fireflies… tonight...'
Flowerbed by Take That → 'Darling, please forgive me, I was sitting on the fence, I was slowly going out of head, I did not hear a word that you said, I was enjoying myself sleeping in your flowerbed...' → I honestly just love the misty magic and emotion of this song, I find it so soothing.
Follow Your Fire & Follow Your Fire (Stripped Back) by Kodaline → 'We had the songs that we sang along to, you had the moves to make me dance with you, I always saw you reaching and catching stars...' → Something about the tone and atmosphere of both versions of this song is really haunting in a reflective, nostalgic kind of way which I love for late night listening.
For Good from Wicked → 'I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those who help us most to grow...Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun, like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood, who can say if I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better, and because I knew you, because I knew you, because I knew you I have been changed for good...'
→ This one makes me think of My Jellicles every time.
Forever Ago by Woodlock → 'Don't go changing...hope you shine a light that covers me...' → There is a dreaminess to this song and a wistfulness which fits with both a journey home and a late night.
Forever For Tonight by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'Forever for tonight, I will be there...' → For me it's just that "forever for tonight" sentiment which resonates with me so hard in this song.
Found You by Ross Copperman → 'Well, I saw you there just the other day, you smiled at me in a secret way, so I let you in and you captured me...All the stars lift you up, to place you high above on top of the world...Such a pretty face, it warms my soul...'
Freeze by Take That → 'Am I asking too much to remain in your company? Stop everything, we can stay here if you hold still, we can stay here for life if you say you will, we’ll be caught in a moment of time if we all freeze, don’t even breathe, everyone freeze, then you won’t leave...But whatever you want, whatever you want, don't change, please don't change...' → This song is one of my favourite songs off one of my favourite ever albums, and it has a simply beautiful atmosphere and the whole production of it feels almost magical, which never fails to make me smile even when I'm sad - plus, it's quite an appropriate post-show sentiment. The song is likely written about my favourite member of the band Jason Orange leaving them, and I always think of what a coincidence that i s since I found out that news on what was my last night seeing the Cats UK Tour Cast in Birmingham - as Jason himself once said, I suppose: "Life is beautifully strange sometimes."
The Garden by Take That → 'We could hear the sound of sirens all around us, and the scent of burning oil was in the air, and the music played and it felt so good to hear, this is the life we've been given, so open your mind and start living, we can play a part if we only start believing...This is the life we've been given, so open your mind and start living, we can play a part if we only start believing...Then the crowd began to head for the horizon, a million people walking back to work, but you and me, we just lay down in the garden...' → Another of my favourite ever songs. To me this is song is just...all the magic, the wonder, the excitement, the joy, the sandness, the wistfullness...the ineffableness. This is a perfect song for late night listening, next day listening and looking back a year later listening; it never fails to send shivers down my spine.
Ghost by Mark Owen → 'Tell me it’s not 24 days, almost a year since yesterday, I thought that I was over you last night, but there’s no getting over you tonight...I can still feel the ghost walking through the walls, and it’s calling every night...I can still feel the ghost, and I hope you’re happy now, and I have to let you go, but I wish that you were here, all things will pass, you told me that, I watch the stars bringing me back, and I don’t know what day it is no more, never see the way it is no more...' → This song is just gorgeous and sad and nostalgic and I adore it - it always makes me feel better on the way home from a show - particularly Cats.
Girl In The Moon by Darius → 'How can I sleep tonight? Tell me how Mars survived, fallen with stars, she opened her arms, Venus was in my sky, how could it pass me by? You silently served my time, even through chains, rust and the rain, you pulled away the tide, girl In the moon, I'm halfway there, girl in the moon, I see you everywhere, help me find a way of falling closer to you...How could I weep tonight? Touch and tears collide, gravity spins me into your wings, and covers me in your light...' → I just love the feeling of this track - it has a beautiful contented-but-sleepy, wistful sound.
Glitter In The Air by P!nk → 'Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight? Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight?'
Gold by Owl City → 'Stand on up and take a bow, there's something there and it's showing, there's no need to look around, you're the best we got going, shout out to the dreams you'll chase, shout out to the hearts you'll break, nothing's gonna stop you now...inside of my heart you're here, go on, it's gotta be time, you're starting to shine 'cause what you got is gold, I know, you're gold, oh, I know I know I don't need the stars in the night, I found my treasure, all I need is you by my side, so shine forever...' → This always just makes me think of my gorgeous, talented stage door friends.
Gold Rush by Taylor Swift → 'Gleaming, twinkling, eyes like sinking ships on waters so inviting...everybody wants you, everybody wonders what it would be like to love you, walk past, quick brush, I don't like slow motion double vision in a rose blush, I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush...' → There is something very daydreamy and wistful about the feeling of listening to this song which is beautiful and reflective for after a show whilst the energy and chorus make it perfect to sing along to before a show.
Gone, Gone, Gone by Mark Owen → 'I can see the moon shining through the cracks outside the windows, see you dancing on the ceiling, and I know that you're gone, gone, gone...'
Good Goodbye by ONE OK ROCK → 'Good goodbye, yeah, little time not a moment wasted with you...'
Good Life by OneRepublic → 'This has gotta be the good life, this has gotta be the good life...got this feeling that you can't fight, like this city is on fire tonight...Sometimes there's airplanes I can't jump out, sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now, we all got our stories but please tell me what there is to complain about, when you're happy like a fool, let it take you over...Hopelessly, I feel like there might be something that I'll miss, hopelessly, I feel like the window closes oh so quick, hopelessly, I'm taking a mental picture of you now, cause hopelessly the hope is we have so much to feel good about...'
Good Ol' Days by The Script → 'Oh, we'll remember this night when we're old and grey, coz in the future these will be the good ol' days...It's two am now we're dancing in the rain and uh, hanging out of each other like the pain is gone, these are my people, these are my crowd...'
Good One by Busted → 'It’s been the greatest time but it’s time we’ve borrowed, we’ve got our separate ways to go, wish I could follow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you again, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend. It’s such a bitter taste, so hard to swallow, I’m gonna miss that face when I’m home tomorrow, so make it a good one and I’ll see you God knows when, make it a good one and I’ll see you, my friend...' → The energy and feeling of this song combined with the lyrics just sums up so much of the theatre trip experience for me and it is good for both getting hyped up pre-show and also for reflecting post-show just because of the combination of the high energy and bittersweet lyrics.
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by Green Day → 'So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind, hang it on a shelf in good health and good time, tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial, for what it's worth it was worth all the while, it's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life...'
Good Times by S Club 7 → 'We all need a change once in a while, the time to make a change is right now, this is for the good times, good times, this is to the good life...'
Gotten by Slash → 'So nice to see your face again, tell me how long has it been since you've been here, since you've been here, you look so different than before, but still the person I adore...So nice to see you face again...'
Gravity by Coldplay → 'Can you hear that sound? 'Cause I can't help thinking, and I won't stop now, and then I looked up at the sun and I could see, oh, the way that gravity pulls on you and me, and then I looked up at the sky and saw the sun, and the way that gravity pushes on everyone...'
Greatest Day (Abbey Road Version) by Take That → 'Today this could be the greatest day of our lives, before it all ends before we run out of time...Watch the world come alive tonight...Tonight this could be the greatest night of our lives, let’s make a new start, the future is ours to find, can you see it, can you see it in my eyes? Can you feel it now, can you hold it in your arms tonight?' → There are several versions of this song on my playlist, and whilst the original is beautiful the one I'm going to recommend here is the Abbey Road Version as it still captures all the joy of the original whilst turning it into a softer and more reflective song which is soothing and calm for that sleepy post-show feeling.
Hail, Rain Or Sunshine by The Script → 'We're late to bed, we're early to rise, wipe the sleep from our eyes...We open up, we start to wake, maybe it's gonna be our day, and suddenly we start to smile, the sun is out for a while, and you may see this place and find no worth, but it's a little piece of heaven here on Earth, yeah, we always have a good time, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, yeah, we're all living the good life, whether it's hail, rain or it's sunshine, we reach the top, we took the fall, but we laughed through it all, cause dreaming of them better days has always been our way, and you may see my friends and find no worth, but, no I'll never go and change them for the world...'
Half A Moment from By Jeeves → 'Half a moment I shall treasure, keep it locked away for some future rainy day, should you leave me with just this moment, in my mind I shall capture it anew, like some picture taken in my childhood, half a moment spent with you...Countless vivid memories spin before my view, like some toy kaleidoscope...Turn a moment to a lifetime, making it to last, blending future with the past...Even though half a moment is too few, I shall save it 'til I have another, making one whole moment filled with you...'
Handbags And Gladrags by Stereophonics → 'They told me you missed school today, so what I suggest you just throw them all away, the handbags and the gladrags...'
Happiness by Orson → 'And when the world don't feel like turning, and the sun just wants to hide, all the stars come out to remind me of the universe by my side, all that happens is happiness...'
Happiness by Rachael Sage → 'I've waited my whole life for the chance to become hopeful, I've waited my whole life for the chance to become soulful, and now you...follow through...'
Help Me Suzanne by Rhett Miller → 'I've been living on the memory of a dream I once I had, you gave me the reason for feeling like I do, you gave me the reason I'd like to thank you, help me, Suzanne, I've got to set my sights on a bright sunshiny day, cause my whole world's gone grey and it's going wrong, you got a big heart beat...you could do me a world of good, yeah you could and you did and I am begging you to keep on...I had lost my way, like I always do, you gave me the reason I'd like to thank you...'
Here's To The Night by Eve 6 → 'Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well, here's to the nights we felt alive, here's to the tears you knew you'd cry, here's to goodbye, tomorrow's gonna come too soon...'
High Hopes by Kodaline → 'Broken bottles in the hotel lobby, seems to me like I'm just scared of never feeling it again, I know it's crazy to believe in silly things, but it's not that easy, I remember it now, it takes me back to when it all first started...I've got high hopes, it takes me back to when we started, high hopes, when you let it go, go out and start again, high hopes, when it all comes to an end, but the world keeps spinning around, and in my dreams I meet the ghosts of all the people who have come and gone, memories they seem to show up so quick, but they leave you far too soon...'
Holy Ground by Taylor Swift → 'I was reminiscing just the other day, while having coffee all alone and Lord, it took me away...And darling, it was good never looking down, and right there where we stood was holy ground, spinning like a girl in a brand new dress, we had this big wide city all to ourselves...Tonight I’m gonna dance like you were in this room, but I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you...'
How Did It Come To This by Take That → 'All this noise and all these lights, all this talking through the night, all this expectation now it's making me neurotic...'
Hurts Like Heaven by Coldplay → 'Yes, I feel a little bit nervous, yes I feel nervous and I cannot relax...and it hurts like heaven...'
I Can't Come Down by Embrace → 'I'm in hope, and I can't come down anymore...'
I Had A Time by Embrace → 'I won't see your smiling fade, and know I had the time of my life that day...' → This is rapidly becoming one of my favourites songs of the whole playlist, especially for looking back on old theatre memories.
I Hear The Bells by Mike Doughty → 'I hear the bells, they are like emeralds and, glints in the night, commas and ampersands, your moony face, so inaccessible, your inner mind, so inexpressible, I can I can hear the bells are ringing joyful and triumphant, and I can I can, hear the bells are ringing joyful and triumphant and...'
I Heard Your Voice In A Dream from the SMASH Soundtrack → 'So sing to me and I will forgive you for taking my heart in the suitcase you packed, sing to me like the lights didn't blind you, like you blinded me when I heard your voice in a dream...' → As the name suggests, there is something dreamy about this song which I love to unwind to.
I Lived by OneRepublic → 'Hope when the crowd screams out, they're screaming your name...Hope when the moment comes, you'll say: I did it all, I did it all, I owned every second that this world could give, I saw so many places, the things that I did, yeah with every broken bone I swear I lived, hope that you spend your days but they all add up, and when that sun goes down, hope you raise your cup, I wish that I could witness all your joy and all your pain, but until my moment comes, I'll say, I did it all...'
I Miss You by Blink 182 → 'And in the night we'll wish this never ends, we'll wish this never ends...'
I Will Remember You by Ryan Cabrera → 'Eight years later, time goes by fast, got my memories and they will last, I try to keep it simple 'cause I hate goodbyes, I try to keep it simple by telling myself that I, I will remember you...'
I Wish You Would by Taylor Swift → 'I wish you knew that I'll never forget you as long as I live, and I wish you were right here, right now, I wish you would...' → This lyric is pretty much the sole reason for me putting this song on the playlist, but I do also love to sing along to this song.
I'll Be Ok by McFly → 'And overhead, the skies are clear, but it still seems to rain on you...When you're down and lost and you need a helping hand, when you're down and lost along the way, oh, just tell yourself, I'll, I'll be ok...'
I'll Hold My Breath by Ellie Goulding → 'Breathe air you're not used to, tread floors you don't fall through...And I'll hold my breath, I'll hold my breath, until you see me in your dreams, we'll stay awake beneath the trees, we'll watch the buildings turn to dust, a sky of diamonds just for us, you are the risk I'll always take, the only branch I'll never break, those fears we'll blow them all way...'
I'm Still Here by Knightsbridge → 'And I want a moment to be real, want to touch things I don't feel, wanna hold on...'
If I Lose Myself by OneRepublic → 'I stared up at the sun, thought of all of the people, places and things I’ve loved, I stared up just to see, with all of the faces, you were the one next to me...'
In My Veins by Andrew Belle → 'Nothing goes as planned, everything will break, people say goodbye in their own special way, all that you rely on and all that you can fake will leave you in the morning, but find you in the day...But you catch a glimpse of sunlight shining down on your face...'
In The Stars by ONE OK ROCK → 'Forget about tomorrow, bring it on tonight, the sky's burning bright, we're all the way up up up, never look down...'
In Too Deep by S Club 7 → 'Bring on the one to save me, to you it might sound crazy, way down inside my heart
I'm drowning...'
Inside Your Head by Eberg →'Ding dong, the clock is wrong, dong ding, I wouldn't want to be inside your head...'
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls → 'You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be, and I don't wanna go home right now, and all I can taste is this moment...When sooner or later it's over, I just don't wanna miss you tonight...'
It's The End Of The Road by Matt Goss → 'When something ends something begins, but now it's just the end of the road, when someone loses someone wins, but now it's just the end of the road, don't get to fix it if it doesn't break, but now it's just the end of the road, when you gotta leave, makes you wanna stay, I know, it's the end of the road...' → I remember this song in particular from my first experience of a cast change at Cats.
Just My Imagination by The Cranberries → 'There is a game I like to play, I like to hit the town on Friday night and stay in bed until Sunday, we'll always be this free, we will be living for the love we have, living not for reality...'
Kettle's On by The Feeling → 'I turn on the tap and run some water, flick a little switch on the wall, I'm hoping you remember what I taught ya, hoping you remember me at all, I'm strong but I feel like a mouse when you're gone, yes, and I'm, weak, but I'll take on the world when you're here...'
Kind And Generous by Natalie Merchant → 'You've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving, for your kindness I'm in debt to you, for your selflessness my admiration, and for everything you've done, you know I'm bound, I'm bound to thank you for it, you've been so kind and generous, I don't know how you keep on giving, for your kindness I'm in debt to you...I want to thank you, show my gratitude, my love and my respect for you. I want to thank you...'
The Lamb by Mark Owen → 'Everyone has a journey, filled with hope and adventure, every journey leads somewhere, I will wait for you there...'
Land Of A Thousand Words by Scissor Sisters → 'This is the land of a thousand words, but it seems so few are worth the breath to say, except I'll be looking after my own world, and you just keep on saving the day...'
Last Dance by Camera Can't Lie → 'I'd wait in the rain, just to see your face, if this was our last chance, I'd ask you to stay for one last dance...'
The Last Poet by Take That → 'When we see something so beautiful, a monastery of light and soul, stand taller than the high cathedral walls...but for you I can't find words, 'cause for you there are no words...' → This is one of my favourite songs on the whole list. Not only is it just the perfect sentiment and atmosphere, but it is also very dear to me as the song I listened to after my last time ever seeing Joel Morris play Carbucketty in Cats, and again on the plane home.
The Last Song Of Your Life by P!nk → 'Tell me what you dance for, how you've been a fool, I don't want the headlines, I just want the truth, it would be so good to see the real you again, it's been a long time, my friend...When you're authentic, you're incredible, I like the view behind your eyes, There was no one else who could break it down and cut right through to the heart...'
Last Summer by Busted → 'You cast a spell you put me under...And now I know I wont forget when we met last summer...'
Latch by Natalie Taylor → 'You lift my heart up when the rest of me is down...'
Learning To Breathe by Switchfoot → 'Hello, good morning, how you been? Yesterday left my head kicked in...' → I love to play this on a sleepy morning after a show.
Let Her Go by Passenger → 'Only know you've been high when you're feeling low, only hate the road when you're missing home...Dreams come slow and they go so fast...'
Let It Go by Busted → 'Pull the bedcovers over your head...let it go...' → Honestly this has just been a comfort song for me for forever abecause it is so gentle and quiet.
Let Me Sleep by S Club 7 → 'Let me sleep for a while, let me dream of your smile...' → This just makes a great lullaby if you're finding it hard to sleep after all the excitement of a show.
Let There Be Morning by The Perishers → 'Let the sun rise, let the birds sing, let there be light, let there be morning...'
Life Less Ordinary by Carbon Leaf → 'That night you came into my life, well it took the bones of me, you took the bones of me, you blew away my storm and strife and shook the bones of me...Live a life less ordinary, live a life extraordinary with me...' → This is a more mellow feel for before a show but it's perfect for the journey to a theatre.
Living In A Suitcase by Jack McManus → 'Caught up in the city lights, losing every sign of life, just chasing shadows in the crowd, 'til they all fall down, shadows they hit the ground, I'm just living in a suitcase...I'm sailing in the distance, I'm blowing in the wind, you're waiting for tomorrow, to do it all again...'
Long Live by Taylor Swift → 'Hold on to spinning around, confetti falls to the ground, may these memories break our fall...And I was screaming long live all the magic we made...'
Long Story Short by Taylor Swift → 'Past me, I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things...and he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky...' → Really this is on here more for the feeling of resolution and of coming a long way which I get from this song which is something really good for a journey home.
Looking As You Are by Embrace → 'And though they tell you things would be alright, it never really seems that way late at night, when you did it looking as you are...'
Lost & Found by Adrienne Pierce → 'And now we're sleeping with the television and all the lights on, one of us is leaving soon but we're both already gone, stuck at the lost and found we watch things disappear...'
Lost And Found by Katie Herzig → 'Somebody found me here, somebody held my breath...If you’re gonna cry my tears, if you’re gonna hold my breath, if you’re gonna let me see the sun you set, oh I am lost and found...'
The Love It Takes by Embrace → 'When I needed someone you left me floored, that feeling has gone, I can't let go...'
The Lovely Machine by Head Popping Through → 'Come see the lovely machine break down...'
Lullaby by Newton Faulkner → 'Close your eyes, get some sleep, it's too late now to change anything, but it's all right, get some sleep, it's so dark outside, so close your eyes and feel the world turn round, if you're not lost, I guess that makes you found...'
Lullaby by OneRepublic → 'Oh as the night comes in, dreams start their drifting, and you hear a lullaby...'
Magic by Coldplay → 'Still I call it magic, you're such a precious jewel...'
Malibu Nights by LANY → 'I drive circles under street lights, nothing seems to clear my mind, I can't forget, it's inside my head, so I drive chasing Malibu nights...'
Memory (Reprise) from Cats the Musical → 'The stale, cold smell of morning, a street lamp dies, another night is over, another day is dawning...When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too, and a new day will begin, sunlight through the trees in summer, endless masquerading, like a flower as the dawn is breaking, the memory is fading...Look, a new day has begun.' → This song is, obviously, so important to me and has a lot of fond memories (yeah, I know) attached to it. That final line makes my heart leap every time when it's sung in the show, because you know, in that moment, exactly the emotions the song is describing - the show is almost over and it's nearly time to go and everything you've just been absorbed in is about to become nothing more than memory.
Metropolis by Owl City → 'A thousand miles feels like a million years, like hundreds of postcards that say I wish you were here, airplane through the sky, greyhound racing by, dirt bike on the beach, sailboat on the sea, don't matter much to me what it is that I do...I left my heart in Metropolis...'
Millionaires by The Script → 'Spending our time like we are millionaires, check out us at six in the morning, if time was money, yeah we'd be worth a fortune...'
Miss You (Piano Version) by Gabrielle Aplin → 'Oh god, I miss you too...'
Mobile by Avril Lavigne → 'Start back at this life, stretch myself back into the vibe, I'm waking up to say I've tried...It's time now to turn around, turn and walk on this crazy ground, everything's changing when I turn around, all out of my control I'm a mobile...'
Momentary Thing by Something Happens → 'After all, well, isn't this just a momentary thing...'
The Moments Of Happiness from Cats the Musical → 'The moments of happiness, we had the experience but missed the meaning...not forgetting something that is probably quite ineffable...' → This song holds a very dear place in my heart and is of course associated with a lot of wonderful theatre nights, but the lyrics are also very, very apt.
More Than A Feeling by Boston → 'So many people have come and gone, their faces fade as the years go by, yet I still recall as I wander on, as clear as the sun in the summer sky, it's more than a feeling when I hear that old song they used to play...'
Never Forget by Take That → 'I understand the meaning of "I can't explain this feeling" now, and it feels so unreal...' → This line is always one which sticks with me so much so this song is just perfect for my playlist before and after a show - the Progress Live has a really atmospheric intro so I prefer that after a show.
Never Forget You by Noisettes → 'I'll never forget you, although at times we couldn't shake it, you're my joy, always remember me, don't you know that you're my joy...'
Never Had A Dream Come True by S Club 7 → 'Everybody's got something they had to leave behind...somewhere in my memory I've lost all sense of time, and tomorrow can never be, 'cause yesterday is all that fills my mind...'
New Year's Day by Taylor Swift → 'There's glitter on the floor after the party...hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you...'
New York by The Boxer Rebellion → 'And distance leaves a bitter taste...'
New York by Busted → 'I'm just drifting as the day turns into night, I'm a little bit tired, I'm a little hungover, I don't know how to spend the day...'
New York by Snow Partrol → 'If our hearts are never broken, and there's no joy in the mending...and there's distance and there's silence, your words have never left me...The lone neon lights and the ache of the ocean and the fire that was starting to spark, I miss it all, from the love to the lightning and the lack of it snaps me in two...'
No Use Crying by Embrace → 'I kick to stay afloat, and end this sad song on a happy note, no one else came close to making my heart stop, so you gotta wipe your eyes, 'cause there's no use crying...'
No Words by The Script → 'But what can I say about something that blows me away, without it soundin' like another cliché? From what I've seen and I've heard, when it comes to you, baby, no, there are no, there are no words...'
No Worries by McFly → 'Captivated by the way you look tonight, the light is dancing in your eyes, your sweet eyes, yeah, it’s times like these we’ll never forget...'
Nobody Compares To You by Gryffin → 'Nobody, nobody, nobody compares to you, somebody, somebody please help me get over you...'
Nostalgic by A R I Z O N A → 'Ok, fine maybe I'm just a little nostalgic, 'cause the memories are flooding my mind...'
O by Coldplay → 'A flock of birds hovering above...Following them up, still I always look up to the sky...'Cause they fly always, one minute they arrive, next you know they're gone, they fly on...'
Oceans by Coldplay → 'Meet me in blue sky, meet me again in the rain...'
On Your Porch by The Format → 'So I came inside to be with you, and we talked all night about everything we could imagine, coz come the morning I'll be gone...'
Once Again by Frankie Jordan → 'I welcome you inside my life for what you do, oh you make me happy, so very happy, once again...'
One Day by Kodaline → 'One day it's here and then its gone...'
Only You by Matthew Perryman Jones → 'How can I forget you, the memories come and go...'
Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton → 'Just a day, just an ordinary day, just trying to get by, just a boy, just an ordinary boy, but he was looking to the sky...Like a shooting star he shines...' → This song is very special to me as one of my favourite songs at the time I first started stage dooring, but the idea of a seemingly ordinary day being made magical by a shooting star is also a very perfect image for a theatre trip.
Original Of The Species by U2 → 'And you feel like no one before...'
Out Of Reach by Matthew Perryman Jones → 'So do I leave it all to history?...While the world unravels, we're kicking at shadows, and everyone around us is making up chaos...Am I just out of reach?'
Paradise by Coldplay → 'So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, every time she closed her eyes...In the night the stormy night she'll close her eyes, in the night the stormy night away she'd fly, and dream of para-para-paradise...This could be para-para-paradise...'
Peace And Love by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'May every star you wish upon and every hope you're hangin' on come true, out of everybody in the world there's no one who deserves it more than you, I hope you find everything you've been dreaming of, only good things, no in betweens just peace and love...You must know what you mean to me, I wish that you could always be around, I hope you find everything you are worthy of, I'm gonna miss you, but I only wish you peace and love, peace and love, tears of joy, kindness of strangers, all of your roads paved in gold by guardian angels, wherever you may be in this world, my salutation says it all, may you always have enough peace and love...' → This is another song which will always make me think of My Jellicles.
Permanent by Kygo → 'And we held the world, we were turning it, for a moment there, it was permanent...'
Photograph by Ed Sheeran → 'We keep this love in a photograph, we made these memories for ourselves, where our eyes are never closing, hearts are never broken, and time's forever frozen still...'
Pieces Of Heave by Mark Owen → 'We cry, we learn, we think about the things we're crying for...Still looking for pieces of heaven...'
Please Don't Go by Barcelona → 'Oh, please don't go...'
Porcelain by Lucy Schwartz → 'I've been waiting all my life for this feeling to be mine...'
Quiet Times (Acoustic) by Dido → 'It's hard enough to feel the world as it is, and hold on anything.
Without these quiet times you've brought 'round here...'
Raven by Mark Owen → 'And we don't want much that we don't have now, we could ask for more but we don't know how, it's a choice we made, it's the life we know, when my raven calls and it's time to go...'
Reach Out by Take That → 'The world sleeps at different times, with one turn your day is now my night...'
Revelation by Troye Sivan → 'You're a revelation...Hey, dear, you're a wrecking ball...'
Rhythm Of The Rain by Mêlée → 'Songs from your past will play, through the rain, the rhythm of the rain, the rhythm of the rain, falling down in every way and letting go of memories, they float away, far away, trying hard to keep them mine, when something's gone you never can go home again...'
Rule The World by Take That → 'You light the skies up above me, a star so bright you blind me...all the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight, for you...'
Runaway by The Corrs → 'I have runaway, runaway, I have runaway with you...' → This is another song I just have a lot of memories associated with; I think it's the dreamy sound of it which makes it so good for a post-show late night journey home.
S.A.D. by Mark Owen → 'We could have been sad, for just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer...' → I simply love to listen to this song after a show as it has such a mellow, bittersweet atmosphere to it which is both comforting and cheering somehow.
San Francisco by 5 Seconds Of Summer → 'Holding on to memories, and I can't let go. I wanna get back to where we started, to the summer night...'
Satellite Call by Sara Bareilles → 'You may find yourself in the dead of night, lost somewhere up in the great big beautiful sky, yeah we're all just perfect little satellites, spinning round and round this broken earthly life, this is so you'll know the sound of someone who loves you from the ground, tonight you're not alone at all, this is me sending out my satellite call...'
Say Goodbye by S Club 7 → 'In the years to come, will you think about these moments that we shared? In the years to come, are you gonna think it over, and how we lived each day with no regrets? Nothing lasts forever though we want it to, the road ahead holds different dreams for me and you...In a year from now, maybe there'll be things we'll wish we'd never said, in a year from now, maybe we'll see each other, standing on the same street corner, no regrets, each and every end is always written in the stars, if only I could stop the world, I'd make this last...'
Season Of Love by Shiny Toy Guns → 'It's all memory in the sun, or it's all in the darkness, maybe it's all around to see
If we try...Crazy with it, crazier without, never certain never full of doubt, now you feel it now you don't, do you know what you're feeling?'
Second Chances by Gregory Alan Isakov → 'I'm running from nothing, no thoughts in my mind, oh my heart was all black, but I saw something shine...'
Shadow Of The Day by Linkin Park → 'And the shadow of the day, will embrace the world in gray, and the sun will set for you...'
Shine by Hilary Duff → 'Everyone knows that I'm ten feet under, 'til you come along and brighten my day...' → That line is what always strikes me most with this song as it reminds me of all the times the theatre has been a bright spot or something to look forward to for me.
Shine by Shannon Noll → 'This is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, al the world will stop to watch you shine, this is the time, this is the day that we've been waiting for, when all the world will stop to watch you shine....' → If you have a theatre friend you've followed and championed, this is the perfect song to make you smile and be proud of them.
Shine (Abbey Road Version) by Take That → 'Hey, so come on yeah, shine all your light over me...' → This song is lovely if you have a theatre friend you're proud of and the softness of the acoustic version is very soothing and contented.
Shine by Skies Of America → 'I gotta be the one now to tell you that you'll forever shine...'
Shine On by James Blunt → 'And when silence greets my last goodbye, the words I need are in your eyes, and I'll sing, shine on, just shine on, close your eyes and they'll all be gone, they can scream and shout, that they've been sold out, but it paid for the cloud that we're dancing on, so shine on, just shine on, with your smile just as bright as the sun...'
Shooting Star by Owl City → 'When the sun goes down and the lights burn out then it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are, fill the darkest night with a brilliant light coz it's time for you to shine, brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are tonight...' → I have met more than one shining shooting star at stage door and this always makes me think of them with a fond smile before or after a show.
Shouldn't Be A Good In Goodbyeby Jason Walker → 'This is the bitter not the sweet, this is the take and not the keep...There shouldn't be a good in goodbye...'
Silhouette by Owl City → 'I'm a Silhouette chasing rainbows on my own, but the more I try to move on the more I feel alone, so I watch the summer stars to lead me home...'
Sleepless Nights by ayokay → 'It takes me back to windows down in ocean air, sunset eyes through messy hair, I miss chasing down the morning light, and all those sleepless nights, I know that it's over, but it's haunting me, like a ghost of the summer I still see...'
Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers → 'Step from the road to the sea to the sky...'
So Here We Are by Bloc Party → 'I caught a glimpse, but it's been forgotten, so here we are again...'
Somebody by Bonnie McKee → 'But I know I won't cry, coz there is somebody, somebody, somebody waiting for me out in the rain, won't cry, not tonight, coz there is somebody waiting for me...'
Something About You by Five For Fighting → 'Baby there's something about you that I can hold on to, I'm going to hold on to that...'
Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers → 'Oh I want something just like this...'
Somewhere In The Audience by Eric Woolfson → 'The traveling show will play another town, but leaves behind a broken-hearted clown, and from somewhere in the audience the order comes to bring the curtain down...The comedy will play and then it's gone, for every day's a show that must go on...'
Song For Shelter by Fatboy Slim → 'I get deep, I get deep, I get deep, I get deep, he takes all the bass out of the song and all you hear is highs...' → This song is great for just spacing out to and helping you calm down the emotions after a stage door, something about its atmosphere is so soothing.
Souvenir by Avril Lavigne → 'Say, say what you want, just don't say that you're leaving, I hope this summer breeze will last more than a season...'
Spin by Take That → 'Counting up the days and the ways I'm gonna make it happen, I feel the walls are tumbling, I see the doors are opening, it's been a long time but I know that you've been waiting for me, and the world will always spin, 'cause love will always win...'
Stardust (ft. Karen Mok) by MIKA → 'I could put a little stardust in your eyes, put a little sunshine in your life, give me a little hope you'll feel the same, and I wanna know will I see you again...'
Starlight by Taylor Swift → 'Oh my, what a marvelous tune, it was the best night, never would forget how we moved, the whole place was dressed to the nines, and we were dancing, dancing, like we're made of starlight, starlight...Like we dream impossible dreams, like starlight, starlight, like we dream impossible dreams, don't you see the starlight, starlight? Don't you dream impossible things?'
State Of Grace by Taylor Swift → 'And I never saw you coming, and I'll never be the same...'
Stay Beautiful by Taylor Swift → 'You're beautiful, every little piece love, and don't you know, you're really gonna be someone, ask anyone, and when you find everything you looked for, I hope your life leads you back to my door, oh but if it don't, stay beautiful...'
Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding → 'Your heart gave me new kind of highs...'
Stolen by Dashboard Confessional → 'We watch the season pull up its own stakes, and catch the last weekend of the last week, before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced, another sun soaked season fades away...' → The slower album version of this song is pure warmth and nostalgia and is perfect for a journey home.
Straight From The Heart by S Club 7 → 'Straight from the heart you changed my life forever more...'
Strange And Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You) by Aqualung → 'To me, you're strange and you're beautiful...'
Stuck by Imagine Dragons → 'Time goes by and still I'm stuck on you...'
Such Great Heights by The Postal Service → 'They will see us waving from such great heights, "Come down now" they'll say, but everything looks perfect from far away, "Come down now", but we'll stay...'
Summer Sunshine by The Corrs → 'To sweet beginnings and bitter endings...In the heat of summer sunshine, I miss you like nobody else...' → As a pure singalong this is lovely pre-show, but there is something so powerfully nostalgic and reflective about it to me too for those times after a show when you want to look back.
Sunlight by Diana Vickers → 'After the day goes, and all the tears flow, when there is no-one, nothing by your side, where do the dreams go, when we're not sleeping? Is there a world outside that's waiting just for us? I wanna wake up with the sunlight in my eyes...'
Sunset Borderline by Sandi Thom → 'Now I'm waiting for the sunset borderline, every suns gotta set with time, but I'll remember those moments for evermore as the days where nothing had changed at all...' → One of my all-time favourite songs to play after a night at the theatre, it's so perfect and has come to have so many memories attached to it for me, especially of times I was lucky enough to stay and take in multiple shows over several days at a theatre.
Sunshine by S Club 7 → 'And let me say from the bottom of my heart, I wanna thank you for making the sun come shining through...' → This is another song which always makes me smile as it reminds me so much of My Jellicles.
Sunshine In The Rain by BWO → 'Sunshine in the rain, love is still the same, sunshine in the rain , even if we call the highest power, we can only do one town a time...'
Sway by The Perishers → 'I've always been a dreamer, I've had my head among the clouds...You gathered my dreams in when they all blew away...'
Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap → 'A moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry...'
Tail Of The Sun by Stroke 9 → 'This is the summer that'll never come, it's like someone's holding on to the tail of the sun...'
Target by Embrace → 'You flicker like a mile high neon sign...For an hour I held the moon on a string, now there's moments left 'til the world begins...'
Thank You by Dido → 'I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life...'
That Feeling When by Dagny → 'I wasn't expecting you, like a punch that knocks the wind out...hey, I feel it, I'm feelin' that feeling, that feeling when...'
Thinking Of You by Busted → 'Nowhere else I'd rather be today, in my mind a million miles away...'
This Fire by Sawyer Fredericks → 'There goes the night, there'll be another, so darlin' you don't have to go...'
This Love by Taylor Swift → 'This love left a permanent mark, this love is glowing in the dark, these hands had to let it go free, and this love came back to me...'
This Town by Niall Horan → 'Yesterday I thought I saw your shadow running round, it's funny how things never change in this old town, so far from the stars...'
Those Days Are Gone by Busted → 'Well it's hard just to say goodbye to the times we had, all the summers spent together, now we leave it all behind, sooner or later when the winter comes, I will picture us together in my mind forever, I will be holding on, oh well, those days are gone...'
Those Were The Days by Midnight Kids → 'Could reminisce forever, those were the days...'
Time by Chantel Kreviazuk → 'Time, where did you go? Why did you leave me here alone? Wait, don't go so fast, I'm missing the moments as they pass...'
Time by Sandi Thom → 'Time catches everyone, and the world goes round the sun, but the memory lives on in my heart, going back to the start, forever forever forever...'
Time Flies Tomorrow by Paul Westerberg → 'Time flies tomorrow, but it ain`t made a move yet, time flies tomorrow, and tomorrow will make a day since we`ve met...'
Time Of Our Lives by Tyrone Wells → 'We say goodbye, we hold on tight to these memories that never die, we have had the time of our lives, now the page is turned, the stories we will write, we have had the time of our lives, and I will not forget the faces left behind, it's hard to walk away from the best of days, but if it has to end, I'm glad you have been my friend in the time of our lives...'
Time To Pretend by MGMT → 'But there is really nothing, nothing we can do, love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew...'
Tiny Star by Eric Woolfson → 'The sun is just a tiny star, the moon is not so very far...So you must sleep and then morning comes, dawn will break, the sun will shine again...' → The first song I ever put onto My Stage Door Playlist and one of the single most comforting songs the night after a show but also for the next day too.
Tomorrow by MIKA → 'Oh, who gives a shit about tomorrow, when you know how lucky we are, oh tomorrow worry 'bout tomorrow...'
Top Of The World by Mandy Moore → 'I'm starting to dream again again, was a matter of when, I guess we all lose our way now and then, you lift me up when I am falling...Now I'm on top of the world, top of the whole wide world...'
Until We Leave The Ground by Emmit Fenn → 'Days just turn into months, city smoke's burnin' my lungs, summer fades into a glow, I'm low, head down...'
Up by Take That → 'Reaching up to turn the clock around, it's like a ladder to my heart, a feeling that I got when I was young, like the days, the days, were folding up into my pocket, when honestly I wouldn't change a single thing about the time we had...' → The whole atmosphere of this song is so peaceful and contemplative, it's so beautiful. It's also another song I remember listening to and feeling in my bones after seeing Joel Morris as Carbucketty for the last time.
Up All Night by Take That → 'Pour another glass, while I watch the bottle disappear, while I watch the morning light appear, thinking about you...'
Us Against The World by Coldplay → 'Oh, morning come bursting the clouds amen, lift off this blindfold let me see again...'
Vanilla Twilight by Owl City → 'The stars lean down to kiss you, and I lie awake and miss you, pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere...'
Vienna by Billy Joel → 'Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight...Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while, it's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two, when will you realize, Vienna waits for you?'
Viva Forever by Spice Girls → 'Promises made, every memory saved as reflections in my mind...Viva forever, I'll be waiting, everlasting, like the sun, live forever, for the moment...'
Wait by Over The Rhine → 'Life is a beauty that's mocking you, she's a river to drown in while singing the blues, let the backstroke pull you in...'
Waking Light by Beck → 'Waking light, it grew from the shadow, brace yourself to the morning low, night is gone, long way turning, you've waited long enough to know, when the memory leaves you somewhere you can't make it home, when the morning comes to meet you, lay me down in waking light...'
Walk In The Sun by McFly → 'I wonder what it's like to fly so high, or to breathe under the sea, I wonder if some day I'll be good with goodbyes...Such a long, long way to go, where I'm going I don't know, I'm just following the road, for a walk in the sun...'
Walk Me Home by P!nk → 'There's something in the way I wanna cry, that makes me think we'll make it out alive...Walk me home in the dead of night, I can't be alone with all that's on my mind...'
Way Back When by Kodaline → 'Some things are made to last, here's to you , my dear old friend from way back when, yeah those will be the days that I will be missing...I hope that I can say when all my days are done that I had my fun...'
We Are Young by Fun. → 'Tonight we are young, so let’s set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun...'
What A Time by Julia Michaels → 'I think of the night in the park, it was getting dark and we stayed up for hours, what a time, what a time, what a time...'
What About Everything? by Carbon Leaf → 'Get away and come with me...before time takes each year, like a knife cuts it clear, it's school then work and then life that just sharpens the blade, I think about time for fun, I think about time for play, then I think about being done with no resume...Holiday quiet on these streets, except for some reason me, the hometown harbor lights bright, the sailboats clatter in vain, holiday sky, midnight clear, wind is high on this pier, I find it hard to complain when compared with what about, what about everything...'
When The Day Turns Into Night by Busted → 'I hate to say goodbye, it gets harder every time...when the day turns into night, another tired afternoon, another dusty motel room...I'm counting down the days till I get there...'
When We Were Young by Adele → 'Everybody loves the things you do, from the way you talk, to the way you move. Everybody here is watching you...you're like a dream come true...You look like a movie, you sound like a song...'
When We Were Young by Take That → 'In a moment of grace, a long leap of faith, the still more glorious dawn awaits my life, I'm here with the lovers...'
Where We Were Before by Blessid Union Of Souls → 'Is this what I've been dreaming of, coz I'm needing so much more, I'm just trying to get back where we were before...'
Whispers by Dave Baxter → 'Our stories and pictures, oh we let them go, let them go home, oh I have seen your beauty grow, where all this fades, you shine and glow...'
White Balloons by Stephen Ashbook → 'I'm not quite sure if this is something that'll comfort you, if it hurts, it's supposed to, and the world keeps spinning on all around you, watching white balloons disappear into the blue...'
Who Knows by Avril Lavigne → 'So you go and make it happen, do your best just keep on laughing, it's all on you, there's always a brand new day, who knows what could happen, do what you do just keep on laughing, one thing's true, there's always a brand new day, I'm gonna live today like it's my last day...'
Whole Heart by Gryffin → 'Head first, past the point of no return, it's the only way left to go, can't keep taking while the years go by, gotta go whole heart this time...'
Why Can't I? by Liz Phair → 'Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you?'
Without You by Busted → 'The way I never thought I'd leave this place, the way you made it seem so real...'
Wolf's Law by The Joy Formidable → 'I want to go along and pretend that it's dawn, that's the start not the close...'
Wonderful World by James Morrison → 'But who am I to dream? Dreams are for fools, they let you down, when I know that it's a wonderful world but I can't feel it right now, I thought that I was doing well but I just wanna cry now...'
Wonderful World by Take That → 'Time was all we had, but it was never ours to keep, time can help you find the ground and knock you off your feet, all those minutes get lost in time, one step forward two steps behind, so before I think myself too deep, what a wonderful world this is...'
Wooden Boat by Take That → 'Sometimes we don't know what we're waiting for, that's the time to be the first one on the dance floor, we go from green to blue to go to black, breathe deep, who knows how long will this last...'
World by Mark Owen → 'Every time the sun sets, over your garden comes the night, feelings come, then they go, will I ever know which they may be heading? I don't know. Nothing ever stays the same...'
World Spins Madly On by The Weepies → 'I let the day go by, I always say goodbye, I watch the stars from my window sill, the whole world is moving and I'm standing still...I thought of you and where you'd gone, and the world spins madly on...'
Worlds Apart by Joshua Randin → 'So when you leave the sun for the snow crossing ocean tides, know you will be safe there at home, rest now close your eyes...Though we are worlds apart, I want you to dream in fields of flowers, and know that you're not alone, soon come morning hours, the sweetest winds will blow...'
Yellow by Coldplay → 'Look at the stars, look how they shine for you, and everything you do...'
You & Me by Lifehouse → 'What day is it, and in what month? This clock never seemed so alive, I can't keep up and I can't back down, I've been losing so much time...'
You Gotta Be by Des'ree → 'You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together...'
You're Lovely To Me by Lucky Jim → 'You're lovely to me yes you are...I've seen how you shine...'
You're Not Alone by Embrace → 'But you, one of the scene, trying to be like no ones ever been, and everybody knows that that's the way it goes, and that's alright with me, I've got time...'
4am In London by Benjamin Francis Leftwich → 'I've heard If birds fly over the time zones, nobody can tell us what we don't know, distance is easy, you make me completely alive...'
5 More Minutes by Mull Historical Society → 'Five more minutes, five more minutes with you...'
17 Again by Eurythmic → 'Looking from the outside in, some things never change, hey hey I'm a million miles away, funny how it seems like yesterday...'
100 Bad Days by AJR → 'When all is going wrong and you're scared as hell, what you gonna do, who you gonna tell? Maybe a hundred bad days made a hundred good stories..'
100 Years by Five For Fighting → 'And I'm just dreaming, counting the ways to where you are...'
1000 Nights by Frenship → 'I heard you calling me, calling me, calling me through the dissonance, I've been known to run, just to feel the rush, but the dying sun illuminates so much, it's hard to see beyond what's in sight, but when you tilt the light I realize, for a thousand nights I've been a restless soul, just wasting time digging up fool's gold, it took a thousand lives being on my own, for me to find it was all fool's gold...'
For more of my theatre trip ideas and experiences then feel free to explore My Theatre Diary.
If you can't find the answer to your burning theatre questions on this site or if you simply want to know more about anything you read here, please feel free to get in touch through my contact page or find me on social media.
If you can't find the answer to your burning theatre questions on this site or if you simply want to know more about anything you read here, please feel free to get in touch through my contact page or find me on social media.
