Despite spending decades carefully constructing mixed tapes, CDs and minidiscs in order to introduce friends to new music, I find that I happily passed control to my Creative Zen Vision M and have still been unable to take it off random play. The once or twice when I sorted a playlist so I could better get to know my new albums, which are otherwise completely lost amongst the nearly 7700 tracks, I’ve found myself feeling depressed and missing the delight of suddenly being presented with a nostalgic 80s memory or having my heart lifted at some ultra-boppy song I hadn’t thought of for ages. My Zen also usually seems adept at determining my mood, playing cheerful songs when I really need them or switching to gentle classical music when Southeastern are announcing their latest horror to us train passengers. (Does my Zen subscribe to Zen Buddhism?)
I shall expand on that theory when I have more time, but for now, I will just insert the random playlist it provided one stressful day when the expected length of my trip to work doubled. I tried to concentrate on the samples of fine music and remain calm, and I jotted down the tracks to keep myself focused on something other than wanting to kill the sadistic train managers. So for now, here’s a glimpse of a morning’s random choice by my Zen:-
Jackie Wilson Said – Dexy’s Midnight Runners (I prefer Van’s original but this is good fun)
Fantastic Day – Haircut 100 (you’ve lost all respect for me now, haven’t you?)
Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A – Angela Malsbury & London Mozart players (played as danger of train being cancelled was announced)
Don’t Cry Baby – Madeleine Peyroux (like new Billie Holiday)
Little Cowboy – Harry Nilsson
Man That I’ve Become – Nick Lowe
You Made a Fool of Me – Tasmin Archer
Something Stupid – Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra
Honey Honey – Feist
People Gonna Talk – James Hunter (like new Sam Cooke)
Anytime - Neil Finn
Rebel Rebel – David Bowie
There Stands the Glass-Ted Baxter (everyone should hear his Biloxi)
Vehicles and Animals - Athlete
Bosom Buddies – Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur (from Mame)
Kids (Rise from the Ashes)-- Ed Harcourt
All I Want is Everything—Darden Smith & Boo Hewerdine
Happy Birthday – Altered Images
Help Yourself - Amy Winehouse
Speaking Confidentially – Cowboy Junkies
Pollution – Tom Lehrer
Different God – Brian Kennedy
Graceland (Live) – Boo Hewerdine (performing his hit with The Bible; did the Zen know he’d written the previous BK song?)
Surf (Live) – Roddy Frame (Everyone must get his Surf album)
In Your Sway – Tim Finn
It’s Been a Long, Long Time – Keely Smith (wife of King of the Swingers Louis Prima)
Carolina – Rico
Bare – Matt Nathanson
Mr Harris – Aimee Mann
Ramshackle Day Parade – Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
You Dream Too Much – Richard Thompson
Best Friends – Ron Sexsmith.
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2 comments:
Ah, I love how the mix you get from random can often end up so cosmically right. :)
I love your selections. Let me say four words to you: Marshall Chapman and Dolly Lyon. Unfortunately, neither has a good video, but both links will take you to complete audio renditions of some great songs.
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