I'm one of eight million people living in New York City. Like most of them, I commute by subway and don't own a car. And thus, I haven't really listened to the radio since moving here five years ago.
For anyone who regularly drives, this post might seem a bit frivolous, but for those of us who rely on portable music devices instead of the radio, well, hopefully you understand where I'm coming from.
I decided to stop hitting Fast-Forward on my iPod. This sounds like I'm saying "no," but really, it's more about saying "yes" to the songs that pop up randomly.
Not really a matter of consequence, you'd say, but during my 40-minute commute to and from work (not to mention all the other hours I'm riding the subway or bopping around the city), I usually end up fast-forwarding past hundreds of songs to hear one of the five I'm actually in the mood for. Really, my iPod should just have five songs.
(There are a few exemptions to this decision, notably that 34-minute song by Jarvis that is mostly silence or that weird track that's just a drum solo. I've gotta remove those from the iPod.)
Anyway, I decided to stop fast-forwarding when an unfamiliar song popped up during yesterday's morning commute. I have a bunch of unfamiliar songs on my 2-gig Nano (that's all I need, seriously, my mp3 collection is very small), most of them from birthday mixes or from random albums I'm taking for a test drive. And most of the time, unfamiliar = skipped.
But because 2008 is the Year of Yes, I didn't fast-forward past Sly and the Family Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay," I stayed. And I stayed for every song that my iPod decided to shuffle my way.
I thought this would be much harder to stick to, because I'm apparently very impatient when it comes to music. But really, it's made the commute a bit easier. And I'm enjoying the experience so far, which is the most important thing.
And in case you were wondering, "If You Want Me to Stay" really was the song that came up when I made this decision. It's like Fate, only more ridiculous.
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2 comments:
"if you want me to stay" is one of my favorite songs ever. one reason that's so is that it's a perfect song to imagine the security guard at santa monica high school in the early nineties, benny, singing.
it's also an amazing track.
there's a shuffle feature? i just listen to albums.
-mm
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