Thursday, November 19, 2009

Knowledge November - Day 20 - Sufferin' Shufflin'


I'll come right out and say it - I'm in love with my iPod.

It's right up there with my other favourite electrical appliance the dishwasher except that Big Burly Borry's a lot quieter and pleases the entire family, not just me.

Trouble is, I've got the iPod Mega Giga-Byte-a-Thon Super Schlong model (the official name has escaped me) and Love Chunks and I decided to upload our entire CD collection onto it.

That's a lot of CDs - roughly 400 - and they range from 1960s classics to today. Yes, admittedly most of them reside firmly in the 1980s and contain songs that are commonly played far too often on Fuddy Duddy FM which is why we never listen to them anymore.

Despite this, before we shifted states and houses and jobs and schools I spent a couple of weeks sitting with the poota on my lap in front of the telly in the evenings loading on every single damn album we owned, even the dud ones that only had the one song worth listening to (The Pursuit of Happiness' 'I'm an adult now'), or the choices that were made during more easily impressionable times (yes, 'Metallica' really fits into my music collection. No, it's not because of a bloke, why do you ask?) or those for specific purposes ('Look, the pan pipes sounded awesome when that Peruvian band played them live at the markets and it'll be great for tonight's dinner party, honestly').

So, even with over 4,000 songs to choose from, it's no real surprise that my playlists only number 12 and ten of these are to keep me running.



















Today however, I decided to live on the edge. I was going to press 'Shuffle' and run my strength-sapping, energy-draining, heart-hurting, soul-straining eight kilometres to whatever song turned up. No jumping to the edge to twist the bum bag around to the front, have my sweaty mitts clumsily grapple the slippery silver box and fast forward to the next song, no. I'd put up, shut up and run up to the very end.

Well, what I've learned from that decision is that iPod Shuffle is for idiots.

Shuffle just means that the evil little device picks out songs that Love Chunks must have bought in his pre-Kath, pre-clear-thinking and pre-taste days and that Apple wanted to dust them off and see what they sounded like in my head phones.

I present you with the RUNNING list. Note that I usually need loud, fast, energetic, inspirational and/or angsty rock songs that keep to the rhythm of my legs, the pound of my heart and the gasp of my breathing....

Play me - Neil Diamond
Grasslands Chant - The Lion King original Broadway cast recording
Move Closer - Phyllis Nelson
Save a Prayer - Duran Duran
I've been waiting for you - Abba***
Don't know why - Norah Jones
Fantasy Impromptu in C Sharp - Roger Woodward
Buachail An Eirne - Clannad
Between the Shadows - Loreena McKennit
There's no one - The Whitlams
Vienna - Ultravox

It was, without a doubt, the hardest run I have ever done in my life, including the half marathon where I threw up on the bank of the Torrens River at the 15km mark and the 23km run when my left big toe nail came loose in my shoe.



















***
Yes, dear Abba are my most favouritest band, but this is. not. a. song. to. run. to. EVER.

6 comments:

Cat J B said...

Oh dear, that is SO not a running list and now darn it, I have one of those songs cycling round in my head. I love my mp3 player too (not an Ipod tho I do refer to it as that) but more for listening to crafty and foodie podcasts. I listen when I exercise too, but maybe that's why I jog, sloooowly, instead of run madly.

Louise Bowers said...

I'm so with you on the running songs. I need some ear bleeding grunge to get me within 5 metres of a treadmill. I've got The Clash and Iggy Pop who help me with my cardio, The Cell Block Tango from Chicago is good for weights "he had it coming.." and Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood help me cool down because they are so cool. Oh... and Abba usually pop in of a night after a few wines!!

Kath Lockett said...

Which song is it, Cat? Neil Diamond, I bet!

Lorna, your playlist is right on the money :)

Helen said...

You managed to keep runnning through Norah Jones? You must be some kind of superhero!

I find Shuffle quite entertaining, I have a good 10 000 songs and it never fails to amaze me how my ipod seems to 'like' some of them more than others. and there are days when I'm in a difficult mood and it obliges by playing every song I hate in a row... I hold my Ipod in my left hand when I run so I can hit the skip button when needed!

And there' a time and a place for MEtallica. You should burn the pan-pipes CD though unless you want people to thin you live in a dentist's reception area.

Just a thought.

Cat J B said...

No, would you believe it's 'Move Closer - Phyllis Nelson'......and now it's there again, eeek!

River said...

Shuffle really only works when you've only loaded song that you REALLY love. Even songs you love but can happily skip over because you're just not in the mood for them have to be left off such a list. Stick with your selected playlist. My i-pod shuffle holds only about 140 songs, so I've loaded it with the best of the best, the other holds about 2000, but I just don't have that many that I love enough....