"Being Born"
Another brief disorientation to the flow of the album, a disjointed collage of images. Intentional? Brilliant in an avant-garde sense? Tapping into James Joyce and Bob Dylan's experiments with stream of consciousness? Or... should this track be skipped?
"White As Snow"
But maybe I need to be disoriented just a bit, so I can be brought to the familiar "Veni Veni Emmanuel" hymn based "White As Snow". A soulful, pleasantly melodic lamentation of a song, this perfectly hits the spot as I'm starting the last mile or two of my run. If I could just.... keep ..... running..... a bit longer.... slowly..... breaking down.... gently...
"Breathe"
And then a jolting reminder to make a strong finish and survive. People are likely to see you finish your run, since you probably parked in a lot somewhere. Better look sharp! Also a reminder of why I got out to run in the first place: "Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn \ Every day I have to find the courage \ To walk out into the street". This is life. As long as each day is a new challenge, you can't really go wrong. Even the fastest marathoners have to tap into will power to get a run in.
And the BEST line: "But I’m running down the road like loose electricity". Accompanied by a classic U2 anthemic, soaring guitar melody to drive this image home. It's time to let myself go and stop fretting over my midfoot strike, supinations, and cadence. Run like you did in the game of freeze tag when you were five.
A miscellaneous Easter Egg: "This song also functions as a narrative of the day of June 16th" Eye see what Bono is doing there. (No eye didn't, but eye looked it up on wikipedia.)
"Cedars of Lebanon"
Great job, you finished your run with a slow, building tempo, culminating in a free-form sprint to the finish. And it's time to stretch, to cool down, to relax. Take in some replenishing carbohydrates and proteins, chocolate milk FTW! And as I plop down in my carseat and start to remove my iPod ear buds while the album finishes with what at first seems to be a throwaway song, I catch myself tuning in to the last stanza.
"Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you
Make them interesting ‘cos in some ways they will mind you
They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friends"
Wow.
Another brief disorientation to the flow of the album, a disjointed collage of images. Intentional? Brilliant in an avant-garde sense? Tapping into James Joyce and Bob Dylan's experiments with stream of consciousness? Or... should this track be skipped?
"White As Snow"
But maybe I need to be disoriented just a bit, so I can be brought to the familiar "Veni Veni Emmanuel" hymn based "White As Snow". A soulful, pleasantly melodic lamentation of a song, this perfectly hits the spot as I'm starting the last mile or two of my run. If I could just.... keep ..... running..... a bit longer.... slowly..... breaking down.... gently...
"Breathe"
And then a jolting reminder to make a strong finish and survive. People are likely to see you finish your run, since you probably parked in a lot somewhere. Better look sharp! Also a reminder of why I got out to run in the first place: "Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn \ Every day I have to find the courage \ To walk out into the street". This is life. As long as each day is a new challenge, you can't really go wrong. Even the fastest marathoners have to tap into will power to get a run in.
And the BEST line: "But I’m running down the road like loose electricity". Accompanied by a classic U2 anthemic, soaring guitar melody to drive this image home. It's time to let myself go and stop fretting over my midfoot strike, supinations, and cadence. Run like you did in the game of freeze tag when you were five.
A miscellaneous Easter Egg: "This song also functions as a narrative of the day of June 16th" Eye see what Bono is doing there. (No eye didn't, but eye looked it up on wikipedia.)
"Cedars of Lebanon"
Great job, you finished your run with a slow, building tempo, culminating in a free-form sprint to the finish. And it's time to stretch, to cool down, to relax. Take in some replenishing carbohydrates and proteins, chocolate milk FTW! And as I plop down in my carseat and start to remove my iPod ear buds while the album finishes with what at first seems to be a throwaway song, I catch myself tuning in to the last stanza.
"Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you
Make them interesting ‘cos in some ways they will mind you
They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friends"
Wow.
I've been using Spotify for my playlist and working on crafting the perfect mix.
ReplyDeleteIt starts with a couple Coldplay songs as warmup: Don't Panic and Yellow. If you've ever watched the music video for Yellow - that's pretty much how I feel when I run early in the morning.
I then move it up a bit with Good Time (Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City) and Party Rock Anthem to get going. I haven't figured much out beyond that.
Right now, I listen to Take Care by Drake as a bit of a slow down so I don't get over-amped. What follows is a lot of steady top-40 dance music: All of the Lights, Levels (Avicii), Call me maybe, Yeah 3x.
Nice Allen, yeah I'm always in a mildly guilty happy mood after hearing Call me maybe. Have seen the Yellow video... suppose I should get in the habit of running earlier...
ReplyDeletegood posts! i usually just run to something that makes me feel like an energetic robot or something super heavy. examples might by kaskade and death from above, respectively.
ReplyDeletewhoa i have a blogspot.
ReplyDeleteYup, that's the point, to give you more energy!
ReplyDelete