"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe … Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time – to die."

Rutger Hauer ends his acclaimed performance as the menacing, but also magnificent replicant Roy on a rooftop towards the end of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. It is a poignant reminder that however brightly or briefly your life has burned, everything must ultimately end.

Mutability defines life, gives it urgency, energy, purpose and a strange beauty. And the same applies in song, not merely that after a few minutes it must finish, but also that very fact gives it shape. But the brevity of song itself, in content and form, captures impermanence more potently than more expansive forms, such as the symphony, or the novel.

"Life is a spiritual pickle preserving the body from decay," said the author Ambrose Bierce. Yet decay's inevitability also inspires creativity and vitality. That is unless you live in Luggnagg in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, where the Struldbrugs never die, they simply get old, become decrepit, and turn blind. In a form of never ending hell. So even if you go quickly, without a chance to decay creatively, is it better to be James Dean, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding or Amy Winehouse than to have had a long, lingering career that meanders into mediocrity?

So this week's songs must touch on the subject of the transient and our feelings about it, whether that is a relationship, a period in life, an emotion, or any associated metaphor, such a briefly flowering plant, a short-lived insect, animal or bird, the short life of a superstar, a brief encounter or experience, or even a fleeting moment – of perfection or otherwise.

Brevity can come in many forms, banal or brilliant. Several years ago I walked into a pub outside Manchester, and spotted the Fall's Mark E Smith. As a fan of that cantankerous and already half-wizened word sorcerer, and seeing him having almost finished a drink, I spontaneously decided to offer him a pint – of "the same again". He fixed me a wobble-eyed grimace, by then somewhere on a broad spectrum of paralytic, and then uttered this gnomic retort: "Eh? Ow can y'ave the same again?"

I was temporarily flummoxed, but then realised, that even in a state of extreme non-sobriety, characteristically obnoxious and ungrateful, Smith had also simultaneously expressed pedantic profundity. It's true, you can try and have another pint, but it won't be exactly the same again. It was only a couple of years later that I heard this very phrase on a Fall record. It still wonder whether it was born in that moment.

Nevertheless I did buy him that pint. I may not have been as good as the last, or it may have been better. But like my encounter with him it was temporary, which made it good. "OK. Ta," he said, quite pleasantly, and to my mild shock. I even got a smile and brief bit of chat. I think it helped that I said this: "Look Mark. I'm not going to bother you. I'm not some arselicker who wants to hang out with you. I'm just buying you a pint because I like your work. And as you're always working, and probably about to go on tour, I don't want to you to have a mouth as dry as a bag of old socks."

Making song lists is also a transient activity. Here I repeat my mantra – that they are like flower arranging in the jungle. But we must, it is in our nature. Now for caveats. We have previously had topics of change (twice), one-night stands, teenagers, and death, but that still leaves a huge about of transient treasure to nominate. This week's esteemed guru nilpferd will skilfully choose best of them. So please put forward your nominations by last orders (11pm GMT) on Monday 7 April for his special arrangement displayed on Thursday 10 April.

To increase the likelihood of your nomination being considered, please:

• Tell us why it's a worthy contender.
• Quote lyrics if helpful, but for copyright reasons no more than a third of a song's words.
• Provide a link to the song. We prefer Muzu or YouTube, but Spotify, SoundCloud or Grooveshark are fine.
• Listen to others people's suggestions and add yours to a collaborative Spotify playlist.
• If you have a good theme for Readers recommend, or if you'd like to volunteer to compile a playlist, please email peter.kimpton@theguardian.com or adam.boult@theguardian.com
• There's a wealth of data on RR, including the songs that are "zedded", at the Marconium. It also tells you the meaning of "zedded", "donds" and other strange words used by RR regulars.
• Many RR regulars also congregate at the 'Spill blog.