Ride, Ride, Ride to Your MP3 Player

I wouldn't call myself an iPod fanatic, but I do own one and it is full.  I also have a collection of almost 600 CDs by artists from many genres.  I can thank my parents for introducing me to different music when I was kid, and by different, I mean not popular.  We didn't have enough money for my sister and I to go buy the latest albums, so the music we were exposed to was considered "lame" by our peers.  Although I don't think the word "lame" was used back then.

For example, my peers at the time would not know Lynn Anderson, but their parents' may have.  Lynn Anderson had a hit in 1970 or 1971, "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden".  My sister and I were 1 or 2 at the time it was released, but my parents were still playing the album when we were 6 or 7 and we loved it.  There was another song by Anderson called, "Ride, Ride, Ride" and my sister and I would play this song and gallop around the room, pretending we were on horses.  I'm rejoicing that no photos exist of these impromptu rodeos.

Fast forward to present day, 2009.  I'm 40 years old and would you believe I have the song "Ride, Ride, Ride" on my iPod?  I do, I swear.  I have an eclectic mix of music on my iPod, some songs, including Ms. Anderson's, are there for sentimental reasons.  It's OK.  Your MP3 player is your sanctuary, and it's OK to have whatever you want on there, no matter how goony!  My iPod is full of indie, folk, dance, electronic and ambient tunes, but every once in a while, on shuffle, these sentimental "uncool" tunes pop up, and I pause to sink back to my childhood (I seem to be doing that a lot lately) for a brief moment, fiercely suppressing the urge to take off galloping in public.

--Fortuitous Observer

Comments

[Ariel]

I noticed you missed mentioning the majority of the music on yr iPod: hateful, asymmetrical freeform skronk jazz. Or some relative or another clipping his/her toe nails and whistling or humming a tune. Or a sound collage made from buzz saws, tractor pull contests and swiss yodellers. Hell, most of what you have is only the most esoteric, hipper-than-thou, avant garde stuff you can find ("I just tracked down this yemenese yak calling comp from 1968. It was just reissued last month as a limited, 500 copies only pressing. You just gotta hear it, shit'll blow yr mind!"). Occasionally you'll bust out some pop country, but only for ironic value and nothing else. You're a mess!