"Early In The Mornin'" Johnny Lee Moore & Prisoners Southern Journey Vol.5: Bad Man Ballads
"Go Outside" Cults Cults
"Iko Iko" The Dixie Cups Chapel of Love
"All Eyez On Me" 2Pac All Eyez On Me
"Grown Up" Danny Brown
"Bhangra Fever" MIDIval PunditZ Six Degrees 100
"Boe Money" Galactic Ya-Ka-May
"Theme from Black Belt Jones" Dennis Coffey Can You Dig It? Music & Politics of Black Action Films
"Higher Ground" Stevie Wonder Innervisions
"Get Some" Lykke Li Wounded Rhymes
"Racehorse" Wild Flag Wild Flag
"Whole Hog" (live) Sebadoh Lounge Ax Defense & Relocation CD
"Precious Lord Lead Me On" Sister Gertrude Morgan/King Britt King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan
"Midnight City" M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
"You Put A Smell On Me" Matthew Dear Black City
"Help I'm Alive" Metric Fantasies
"Thunder Road" Bruce Springsteen Born To Run
"Growing Old Is Getting Old" Silversun Pickups Swoon
"Post Acid" Wavves King of the Beach
"Georgia" Yuck Yuck
"Ladyflash" The Go! Team Thunder, Lightning, Strike
"Gentlemen" The Afghan Whigs Gentlemen
"Freak Scene" Dinosaur Jr. Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80s Underground
"Heads Will Roll" Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz!
"Within Your Reach" The Replacements Hootenanny
"Big Poppa" The Notorious B.I.G. Greatest Hits
"Dead Pontoon" Toro Y Moi June 2009
"I See You Baby [Fatboy Slim Remix]" Groove Armada Vertigo
"Hott Bizness" Lyrics Born Later That Day . . .
"Check The Rhime" A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
"Angola Bound" Aaron Neville The Very Best of Aaron Neville
"Don't Miss That Train" Sister Wynona Carr Dragnet For Jesus
"Hard-Core Troubadour" Steve Earle I Feel Alright
"Heroes" David Bowie Changesbowie
"Simmer Down" Bob Marley Songs of Freedom
"Let The Good Times Roll" Harry Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson
"Whipping Post" The Allman Brothers Band At Filmore East
Still not posting enough here - it has been difficult to prioritize this little project the way I would like. Anyway - I just ran a half-marathon with my son (and about 20,000 other people, but really - it was with my son). Since I figured he would leave me behind, I made a race-day playlist so I would have something to listen to while I ran, and rather than my usual alphabet crawl, I just put that up here. He did stay with me for the first hour of the race, but then he set off and ultimately finished about 10 minutes ahead of me. We were both hoping to break two hours - he came close, and I was at about 2:11.
Before I got the boy to run with me, I always described running as my best opportunity to listen to hours of music without interruption (I have been a runner of questionable consistency for about 6 years, when in a fit of turning 40, I ran a marathon). I leave it to the iTunes shuffle to pick the shorter runs, but if I set out for over an hour, I find iTunes likes to say things like "shorter of breath and one day closer to death" a little too often, so I try to lay out the tracks ahead of time. It helps me mark pace as well if I know what song should be playing when.
The goal in making a playlist is to put some interesting stuff on here that was basically up-tempo enough that I wouldn't fall into a stupor. While I try to pick songs that are thematic and make me happy to hear, I try not to pick anything to cliched or ridiculously "inspirational." The obvious exceptions are "Thunder Road" and "Heroes" - which I have put on my long run lists for years. "Thunder Road" marks my halfway point, and "Heroes" marks where I want to be crossing the finish line. Yes, totally over-the-top and idiotic to want to run under that clock with "we could be heroes just for one day . . ." I balance that out with a few cheerful prison songs and a few songs about growing old or dying. "Simmer Down" and "Let The Good Times Roll" serve double duty as either cool-down diddies or cushion between my target time, and when I would start to feel like I might suck as a runner and a human being - 18 minutes of "Whipping Post" is there for that.
Race as metaphor . . .
This was the second half marathon my son and I have run together. He has always been more physically capable than me - when he was thirteen he ran a 5K at a sub-8 pace, just by waking up and saying "okay lets go ahead and do this." The only thing I can give him is guidance. When we ran the first half, he stayed with me the whole time, and if he needed to slow down or rest, we stopped together. This time, he stayed with me out of courtesy and affection. This time though, it was clear to both of us that I was holding him back and at about the halfway point he just took off and left me to my playlist. He ran off, disappearing into a crowd of people. But, after it was all done, he found me and we left together. I guess that is just how things are going to be now.
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