April Fools' Day: March 29, 2011

April Fools' Day is right around the corner, and Variations on a Theme is here to get you ready.

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We start with something we hope you'll be doing a lot of this April Fools' Day: laughing.

* Hooded Fang - "Laughing" - Album (2010)

* St. Vincent - "Laughing with a Mouth of Blood" - Actor (2009)

Now let's hear about another central part of April Fools' Day: being a fool.

* Ween - "You Were the Fool" - 12 Golden Country Greats (1996)

* Jason Collett - "Little Clown" - Motor Motel Love Songs (2002)

* Bedouin Soundclash - "Fools Tattoo" - Light the Horizon (2010)

As the last song suggests, love is one area where everyone is made a fool at some point.

* Aretha Franklin - "Chain of Fools"

* B.B. King - "Fools Get Wise"

* Sam Cooke - "Get Yourself Another Fool"

Love isn't all being fooled though—and that's no joke.

* 2 Mex - "Baby I Ain't Joking" - 2 Mex (2004)

* Eric B. & Rakim - "I Ain't No Joke" - Paid in Full (1987)

Back to laughing for a moment—sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

* The Trews - "Can't Stop Laughing" - No Time for Later (2008)

* Spin Doctors - "The Bigger I Laugh, the Harder I Cry" - Here Comes the Bride (1999)

* Neil Young - "The Old Laughing Lady" - Unplugged (1993)

Finally, we leave you with a savage Jimi Hendrix track to help you laugh all the way to April Fools' Day.

* Jimi Hendrix - "The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice"

Spring: March 22, 2011

It's spring, everyone! This week Variations on a Theme welcomes the return of spring.

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We start with a quintessential happy, sunny spring song.

* The Free Design - "Canada in Springtime" - There Is a Song (1972)

* Hey Rosetta! - "Yer Spring" - Seeds (2011)

Spring also lends itself to introspection—acoustic meditations on the wonder of nature and the beauty of the seasons.

* Bruce Cockburn - "Spring Song" - Bruce Cockburn (1970)

* of Montreal - "Springtime Is the Season" - Cherry Peel (1997)

However, it's not only the introspective singer/songwriters who like spring. The rockers, punks and freaks love it too.

* Leatherface - "Springtime" - Mush (1991)

* Eric's Trip - "Spring" - Love Tara (1993)

* The Flaming Lips - "Can't Stop the Spring" - Oh My Gawd!!! (1987)

Now we'll take a little trip to the North Country with some reflections on how relationships play out in those harsh climes.

* Johnny Cash - "When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)" - Orange Blossom Special (1965)

* Ian Tyson - "Springtime in Alberta" - And Stood There Amazed (1993)

* Spring Breakup (Kim Barlow and Mathias Kom) - "Spring Flings" - Spring Breakup (2010)

Spring is a good time for cleaning—sweeping out the dusty corners of your house, getting rid of the gravel coming in off the streets and clearing out some of the junk that's accumulated around your heart and in your psyche over the winter.

* Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova - "Spring Cleaning" - One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels (2004)

* Greg Brown - "Spring Wind" - The Live One (1995)

* Jimmie Spheeris - "Seeds of Spring" - Isle of View (1971)

Now we come to the end of our Spring show. As color comes back into the world—flowers blooming, leaves growing, birds flitting around—and you marvel at its beauty, sometimes you realize the color and beauty was there all along. It's actually you that has changed—now you can see in color.

* Mary J. Blige - "Color" - Stronger with Each Tear (2009)

Plans: March 15, 2011

As the Northern Hemisphere heads into spring, many of us start making plans for the spring and summer to come. Thus, this week VOAT's theme was Plans.

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Built to Spill - "The Plan" - Keep It Like a Secret (1999)

XTC - "Making Plans for Nigel" - Drums and Wires (1979)

Pedro the Lion - "A Simple Plan" - Achilles Heel (2004)

Lucinda Williams - "Plan to Marry" - Little Honey (2008)

Work of Saws - "Plan Your Ninth Baloon" - Motivation and Watertower Grammar (2001)

Los Campesinos! - "Plan A" - Romance Is Boring (2010)

You Say Party! We Say Die! - "Five Year Plan" - Lose All Time (2007)

Frog Eyes - "Time Destroys Its Plan at the Reactionary Table" - The Golden River (2003)

Dead Prez - "Stimulus Plan" - Pulse of the People (2009)

Wale - "The Perfect Plan" - The Mixtape About Nothing (2008)

Arkells - "Blueprint" - Jackson Square (2008)

Sandman Viper Command - "The Best of Plans" - Everybody See This (2009)

Sleeping States - "Planning My Escape" - There the Open Spaces (2007)

Tower of Dudes - "A Plan" - A Plan (2008)

Zumpano - "Here's the Plan" - Goin' Through Changes (1996)

Dinosaur Jr. - "Plans" - Farm (2009)

International Women's Day: March 8, 2011

The second episode of Variations on a Theme coincided with the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, so I marked the occasion with a show featuring songs by women, about women.

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Judy Collins - "Bread and Roses" - Bread & Roses (1976)

Indigo Girls - "Pendulum Swinger" - Despite Our Differences (2006)

Metric - "Glass Ceiling" - Live It Out (2005)

Ani DiFranco - "Not a Pretty Girl" - Not a Pretty Girl (1995)

Bikini Kill - "Rebel Girl" - Pussy Whipped (1993)

PJ Harvey - "50 Ft Queenie" - Rid of Me (1993)

Nina Simone - "Four Women" - My Baby Just Cares for Me (1959)

Joni Mitchell - "Ladies of the Canyon" - Ladies of the Canyon (1970)

Frazey Ford - "Hey Little Mama" - Obadiah (2010)

Julie Doiron - "Mother" - Loneliest in the Morning (1997)

Wailin' Jennys - "Mona Louise" - Bright Morning Stars (2011)

Mary J. Blige - "Good Woman Down" - The Breakthrough (2005)

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "She Ain't a Child No More" - I Learned the Hard Way (2010)

Blue King Brown - "Women's Revolution" - Worldwize Part 1 North & South (2010)