playlist

Music is important to me. I don’t mean that I am a student of music. I don’t understand how music works. And I have only the sketchiest understanding of music history. I don’t know the names of lots of different genres and sub-genres. I don’t follow music news. 

I’m not particularly attached or averse to specific genres or artists. Music drifts into my world, carried by the random breezes of a friend’s recommendation, something I overhear in a store or bar, or the suggestions of a streaming platform’s algorithms. 

I’ve noticed that some of what has thus drifted into my life stays, sometimes for decades. Other things become temporarily paramount and then disappear forever. Sometimes, I try to understand why. But I don’t get very far. I rarely manage to do more than name the feelings some music has stirred. Mostly, I follow the pull of interest and delight. 

I almost always have music playing at home, whether reading, writing, cooking or even taking a bath. I listen to music when I am running. The only exception is when I am hiking because I like to hear other sounds of the world, like birds, water trickling or dripping, wind moving through trees, or even just leaves, branches, and earth underfoot. But otherwise, I pretty much always have something playing. And in the car, without exception, I always listen to music.

When I started driving, one of the apps advised that a good way to get tips was to ask passengers what they’d like to listen to. I wouldn’t mind hearing what my passengers like. But I’m not very confident with my iPhone. I couldn’t figure out how I’d quickly satisfy whatever request I got while simultaneously operating the rideshare app and getting the trip going in a timely and not embarrassing way. So I’ve never asked. I have occasionally changed what I’m playing based on what I imagine the passenger might like as I pull up to get them or what I’m guessing they might need based on our conversation. But mostly I base my choices on what I need over the course of the day: tranquility, tenderness, energy, laughter, sorrow. 

By now, I’ve spent around 1200 hours in the car driving strangers. It’s said that the average song today is about three minutes and thirty seconds. I think a lot of what I like is longer than that. But anyway, using that figure, I could have listened to 20,571 different songs. I didn’t listen to that many, but I listened to many more than I can list here. So here, off the top of my head, is a partial playlist, in no particular order, of songs that stand out, probably because I’ve played them the most. 

      Recomposed—Max Richter

      “Everything I do Gohn Be Funky From Now On”—Lee Dorsey

      “Space Walk”—Lemon Jelly

      “Me Gustas Tu”—Manu Chau

      “Amore”— Ryuichi Sakamoto

      “Aquarium”—Nosaj Thing

      “I’m Feeling Good”—Nina Simone

      Vivaldi’s “Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major”—Nicola Benedetti

      “Leave Me Alone”—New Order

      “Salvese quien pueda”—Juana Molina

      “Karmacoma”—Massive Attack

      “The Girl from Ipanema”—Stan Getz

      “Sky Blue”—Susumu Yokota

      “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”—Them

      “Aoi Sakana”—Sachiko Kanenobu

      “Song to the Siren”—This Mortal Coil

      “Perfect Day”—Lou Reed

      “Tighten Up”—Archie Bell and the Drells

      “The Paris Match”—The Style Council

      “Joy”—RIOPY

      “Redondo Beach”—Patti Smith

      “Easy to Remember”—St. Germain

      “Good Things”—BoDeans

      “Hideous Towns”—The Sundays

      “CLOUDS”—Park Hye Jin and Nosaj Thing

      “Mystery of Love”—Sufjan Stevens

      “Dancing Queen”—ABBA

      “Alala”—Populous

      “Lift Me Up”— Rihanna

      “Take a Giant Step”—Taj Mahal

      “Morning Has Broken”—Cat Stevens

      “Say A Little Prayer”—Aretha Franklin

      “Thunder Road”—Bruce Springsteen

      “Saint Behind the Glass”—Los Lobos

      “Mural”—Lupe Fiasco

      “Bridge Over Troubled Water”—Johnny Cash

      “Meadows in Japan”—Dreamer Isioma

      “Orphan Girl”—Emmylou Harris

      “The Long Road”—Nusrat Fateh Ali Kan with Eddie Vedder

      “In the Stone”—Earth, Wind & Fire

      “Luv (sic.), Pt. 3”—Nujabes

      “All Blues”—Miles Davis

      “Calm Down”—Rema and Selena Gomez

      “Smile”—Telepopmusik

      “2000 Miles”—The Pretenders

      “Drive My Car”—The Beatles 

Sometimes, passengers remark on the music, either because they recognize it or don’t, but like it and are wondering what it is. Sometimes, passengers put in earbuds and listen to their music. Sometimes, passengers play their music on speaker. I usually turn mine down when they do that. Once, two teenage girls each played two very different songs on their phones’ speakers at top volume simultaneously.

“How do you do that? Do you just like totally tune out the existence of the person next to you?”

One looked up at me in the rearview mirror, smiling benignly.

“Pretty much. Yeah.”

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