April 17th, 2009
It’s hard to be on the trail and not have a song going in your head. I think the natural rhythm of walking has a lot to do with it. The songs that loop in my head change from day to day, and even multiple times a day, but when I was starting out these ones would get stuck quite often:
- House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
- Walk of Life – Dire Straits
- Planet of New Orleans – Dire Straits
- City of New Orleans – Arlo Guthrie
You can see that leaving New Orleans probably had some sway over my audio selection.
Other things I’ve noticed are that ZZ Top only works when you’re going down hill cause it’s so fast, where as things like Joanna Newsom and other folk songs work better going up hill cause they are too slow. I was listening to my iPod for the second time so far today and realized that Man-O-War makes excellent hiking songs.
But a lot of the time you get songs that you don’t really like, or haven’t heard in years. For instance, yesterday was full of Hootie and the Blowfish… A few days ago it was Barbie Girl by Aqua… And when the sun broke after all that rain it was Pepper by the Butthole Surfers.
The trail also gives you a lot of time to think about the songs, and you start to realize things, like how aweful a song Whatever You Like by TI is for society, and how positive The Way I Are by Timberland is.
So yeah, music is great. It helps pass the time. I’ve even lost enough of my sanity to start singing these songs aloud as I’m hiking, which helps ward off bears, and other hikers.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
How about Green Green Grass of Home, Johnny Cash or Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynrd or I ‘m Going Home, Arlo Guthrie or Tennessee Homesick Blues, Dolly Parton or Homeward Bound, Simon and Garfunkle or Take Me Home, Country Road, John Denver or Home Again, Carol King or, well you get my point, right??????
April 21st, 2009 at 11:49 am
Oh, I just remembered, when I was crossing max patch in the snow and not freaking out I was singing Good King Wenceslas…