fire all of your guns at once and explode into space...

Earworms of the Week

It's all about my running playlist this week.  I've been listening to the same selection (on shuffle) for most of the last few months, but for sunday's run, I'm treating myself to a new one.  Knights of Cydonia will be on there, obviously, but I do like to mix it up a bit.

Toto - "Africa"

Apart from being a marvellously cheesy slice of AOR and conjuring up marvellous images of the triumphantly awful video, this record is worth including for the happy memories that it conjures up of the time that we've spent in Africa.  I may have learned that Kilimanjaro does not, in fact, rise like Olympus above the Serengeti and that this song is a magnet for rainfall when on safari, but it makes me feel good and puts a smile on my face.  It will probably be welcome at about the ten mile point.  Smiles are becoming somewhat harder to come by around then.

U2 - "Beautiful Day"

I'm not the biggest U2 fan in the world, but I do like the lyrics in this song, and that's a mighty uplifting tune.  Also it makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck as a result of its appearance in that marvellous World MS Day clip.

Tight Fit - "The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)"

It's not all driving rock on my playlist, you see.  Who doesn't love this song?

Simon & Garfunkel - "59th Bridge Street Song (Feelin' Groovy)"

I usually put a fair bit of Paul Simon on my running playlists.  Obviously it's not because of the slashing guitar work and monstrous drums, but there's something I like about them.  If this makes me feel in the least bit groovy, then it's all the more welcome for that.

The Osmonds - "Crazy Horses"

Rock, but rock that makes me smile.  It's ridiculous, isn't it?  All rock is, obviously, but this more than most.  The idea that this might have invented heavy metal is so laughable that you surely can't help but be amused by it, right?

Neil Young - "Rockin' in the Free World"

This saw me up a particularly troublesome hill in the 2009 race, and those guitar solos are so epic that I'm not sure I'd risk running without it.  I once made the mistake of accidentally putting the acoustic version from "Freedom" onto a playlist by mistake.  Let me tell you, it doesn't have the same effect at all.  I like to think that, in another universe, Neil Young is still on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, playing this song endlessly in front of an audience of cows.

Morrissey - "Irish Blood, English Heart"

Short, but sharp and satisfying.

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - "Bats in the Attic"

Another lovely change of pace amidst all the Metallica, Iron Maiden, Muse and Rage Against the Machine that usually fills out my running playlists.  I know I haven't listed too many metal bands in this list, but trust me, they're there in spades.  Oddly though, it's often the slower songs that give me a lift.  Perhaps it's the change in tempo.  "I'm So Ronery" from the Team America OST is another inclusion that puts a spring in my step.

Arctic Monkeys - "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"

The first time I heard this song on the radio, it made me dance in the shower.  You can only imagine what a twat I look like when this comes on when I'm out running in public.  Running air guitar is quite a thing to see.

Steppenwolf - "Born to be Wild"

Not only is this the first track on the first CD I ever owned, but it's a fantastic driving song too.  I'll be running, but what's not to like about an exhortation to get your motor running?

Right.  See you on the other side.  Have a good weekend, y'all.  Oh, and you can still sponsor me here...... http://www.justgiving.com/brokenrunner/