iPods are Windows to the Soul

Disclaimer: I don’t own an iPod.

I use a SansaClip mp3 player, and even that is a bit of a misnomer: most of the songs I listen to are in .wma format.

But statistically, you probably know what an iPod is better than what a SansaClip is. Oh, the concessions we make for art.

Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city, linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty, how can you lose?

Also, I’m listening to music (and usually singing along) while I’m reading…so you might as well listen too, if only with your eyes.

(And thumbs up to anyone who knows the song name and artist that go with any, many, most, or all of the lyrics in this post.)

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Yesterday, my Sansa went on the fritz, refusing to play music, and eventually deleting all the music I kept on there, close to 12 GB’s worth of such.

Work it harder, make it better, do it faster, makes us stronger, more than ever, hour after, our work is never over.

I reformatted the player, which seemed to make it a working Sansa once more…though a Sansa sans songs.

I’m reading a book, I’m reading a book, don’t you ever interrupt me while I’m reading a book!

With 12 GBs to fill, it would be easy enough to transfer my entire music library onto the player, but then I remembered my mistakes of the past.

Why do you build me up, Buttercup, baby, just to let me down, and mess me around?

The fact of the matter is that I don’t actually like all of the songs I own. There were albums I bought only because I liked two or three songs, and even in the last year, I have acquired new favorite bands and songs, and old favorites have faded into disrepute.

I used to be love drunk, but now I’m hungover; I love you forever, forever is over.

When I use my Sansa on shuffle, sometimes I will spend two or three minutes skipping tracks to find a song I like or recognize.

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?

Now, as I add songs, I feel drawn to put certain CDs on the music player because I have always done so, bands I still consider favorites despite never actually listening to them.

theothernightidreamtofknivescontinentaldriftdividemountainssitinaline LEONARD BERNSTEIN 

Reluctantly, I leave them behind. Some I may return to, but others will be left by the roadside, outgrown sounds that I can no longer fit my ears into.

Sailors fighting in the dance hall, oh man, look at those cavemen go…

I’ve started to enjoy oldies more than I used to. Classics from the 60s through 80s pop up in my “Most listened to” more these days.

Out of college, money’s spent. See no future, pay no rent. All the money’s gone, nowhere to go.

When it comes to contemporary music, I’ve no longer listen to primarily Christian music. A lot of popular, mainstream artists have worked their way into my playlists.

I am in misery, there ain’t nobody who can comfort me. Why won’t you answer me? The solitude is slowly killing me.

I also love soundtracks, especially when I’m writing and don’t want to be distracted frequently by lyrics.

Daa-dum. Daa-dum, daa-dum. Daa-dum-daa-dum-daa-dum…

I get songs stuck in my head, and they refuse to leave. I sometimes play them in an endless loop for hours, as long as there’s no one around to protest. These usually go as easily at they come, dissipating like common fads.

Searching for more than mere tastes of living water, tired eyes tend to wander, seek the light.

But I think that’s good. It’s good to constantly find new interests, not just be satisfied to sit in a rut, unable to move.

Here lies everything, the world I wanted at my feet–my victory’s complete, so hail to the king.

And so I bid you adieu for the night, and bid you also to listen to music. Close your eyes, and let the melodies and harmonies carry you away.

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you. Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you. Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind, in this darkness that you know you cannot fight, the darkness of the music of the night.