The Weston Super Half playlist

I wrote recently about how much I love Spotify and how important it has been to me lately. My husband loves Spotify too and was even later to the party than I was! He created his own playlist for Weston Super Half, then decided to make one for me.

I requested rock and indie, as although I like 90s pop (Steps, Spice Girls, Five and a bit of East 17 and Take That), I find running to rock and indie more helpful. Rock helps me to dig in, while pop would have me floating around like a fairy with a silly grin on my face.

My husband promised all my favourite artists and wouldn’t let me check the playlist before the race, so it was all a surprise.

And the choices were very good! I actually don’t think I could have come up with a better playlist myself. I was particularly impressed where my husband had chosen a more niche song by an artist, when I didn’t realise he knew it was my favourite. Nearly all of the tracks have a lot of meaning to me and/ or my family. So this is what I had the pleasure of running to on Weston Super Half:

• Shotgun – George Ezra – a family favourite and also my ringtone. It always gets played in the car when we go out as a family.
• Eyes Closed – Ed Sheeran – the best song of the year so far and I went to see Ed Sheeran live a few weeks ago.
• Cold Heart – Elton John & Dua Lipa – my husband and I went to see Elton John last summer.
• The Funeral – YungBlud – my favourite song and album of last year, which helped me through my son going to uni.
• Higher Power – Coldplay – a family favourite artist (although I would have picked an older track). My husband and I went to see Coldplay last summer and in 2016.
• Harmony Hall – Vampire Weekend – one of my husband’s favourite songs (I wouldn’t have chosen this one myself, but it’s quite good).
• Anti-Her0 – Taylor Swift – Taylor Swift’s best song and my second favourite song of last year. I didn’t know my husband knew it was my second favourite song of the year!
• I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues – Elton John – my favourite Elton John song. I didn’t know my husband knew it was my favourite.
• Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon – a very special song to us. It was the opening song of my daughter’s first panto in 2015 and the closing song of her panto in 2021.
• 30 Years in the Bathroom – The Wonder Stuff – a very niche Wonder Stuff choice, which I was very impressed with!
• Walkaway – Cast – a favourite band from the 90s that we’ve recently rediscovered. For some reason, this didn’t actually play while I was running, so I didn’t hear it!
• Losing My Religion – REM – no words needed!
• We Will Rock You – Queen – my favourite childhood band and I still love them. This song is a great choice for running.
• 15 Years – Levellers – the Levellers are my favourite band ever and this is their second best song.
• Animal Nitrate – Suede – a genius choice from a favourite 90s band. I would probably have forgotten to add Suede if I’d made the playlist!
• Time Warp – Rocky Horror Show soundtrack – another genius choice. I loved Rocky Horror in the 90s and went to see it at the theatre recently.
• Something Changed – Pulp – not the best Pulp song for running, but this was the first song at our wedding in 2000. (As a side note, on the day of the Weston Super Half we’d actually been together for 30 years!)
• Watermelon Sugar – Harry Styles – I wouldn’t have chosen this one, but it is Harry Styles’ best song and was also a panto song in 2021 (panto songs are always more meaningful to us than other songs).
• Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana – no words needed!
• Don’t Look Back in Anger – Oasis – I would probably have chosen Live Forever, but all the Oasis songs from the first two albums are brilliant.
• Parklife – Blur – I wouldn’t have chosen this one, but still a 90s indie disco classic. In Blur v Oasis, I was always Team Oasis.
• Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chilli Peppers – another 90s indie disco classic.
• Motorcycle Emptiness – Manic Street Preachers – another favourite 90s band and one of their best tracks.
• Everybody’s Changing – Keane – favourite noughties band and this is my favourite song of theirs. It takes me right back to when my younger son was a baby, 19 years ago.
• Mr Brightside – The Killers – no words needed.
• Green Light – Lorde – one of the best songs ever.
• Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve – an absolute 90s classic. I listened to this album a lot when I was living on my own in London 1997-1999.
• Firework – Katy Perry – a brilliant song to run to and reminds me of when my daughter was little.
• Never Forget – Take That – another triumphant song to run to. Our family have been Take That fans since the noughties (and I kind of liked them in the 90s too). Gary Barlow went to the same school as my husband!
• One Way – Levellers – THE BEST SONG EVER. I actually finished the run to this one.

There were two tracks I didn’t get to listen to:

• We Are the Champions – Queen – could there be a better song for ending a run?
• Seventeen Going Under – Sam Fender – the best song of 2021 and a real family favourite.

Does music help you to run? What would you have on a running playlist? And would you trust your other half to make a playlist for you?