My Imaginary Ipod Playlist

Ok, let me start by saying that I have never, ever worn headphones listening to music while running. I run trails, love being in the woods while experiencing nature so for me, running while listening to music just seems wrong. I want to get away from anything to do with civilization and just experience life in the great outdoors. Many runners and ultra runners can’t seem to get through a run if they are not plugged in, and that’s fine, but it’s just not for me.

Having said that however, there are many times during a run that I will be singing along in my head to some of my favourite songs. During a recent long run, I was thinking about what songs and bands I think about most and came up with the following playlist imaginary playlist:

1. ‘Just look them straight in the eye and tell them Pogue Mahone’ by The Pogues: I have to admit that I don’t have this boxed set yet, but probably have a lot of it on other releases. I’m a huge fan of the Pogues. You could play a number of different songs by the Pogues and please any musical taste. Just brilliantly written songs and played and sung with passion. I still have not seen the full Pogues lineup in concert, which is disappointing. The first time I tried, the concert was cancelled. The second time Shane MacGowan had just been kicked out of the band. I did finally see Shane MacGowan with his other band The Popes, but musically they were just not the same. The one good thing about the Pogues concert I did see was that Joe Strummer from The Clash was the replacement vocalist and the concert was incredible.

2. ‘Never mind the Bollocks, here’s the Sex Pistols’by The Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols really started the whole punk movement. Incredible energy and passion for the music they were playing and the message they were trying to get across.

3. ‘London Calling’by The Clash: More punk! Labeled as the ‘only band that ever mattered’, The Clash were very political with great lyrics and a mix of punk, ska, reggae and rockabilly. London Calling was awarded the best album of the decade (1980’s) by Rolling Stone Magazine.

4. ‘The Ramones’ by The Ramones. Early American punk. Guaranteed to make you run fast listening to the Ramones……1,2,3,4!!!!.......

5. ‘El Corazon’ by Steve Earle. Folk, Country, Bluegrass, Punk, Celtic…Steve Earle does it all and this album is a great example. We saw Steve Earle last year in Gananoque and he put on an amazing solo show. The only thing better than Steve Earle’s singing/songwriting is his social commentary.

6. ‘The Best of The Mahones’ by The Mahones. The Mahones are from Kingston and started out as a Pogues cover band, but have evolved into a great international band with their own interpretation of Celtic Punk. I used to watch these guys at the Toucan Pub when there were only a handful of people in the audience. Great to see them still at it. Their song ‘Paint the Town Red’ kept going through my head for the duration of my marathon PB.

7. ‘Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits’ by Bob Dylan: No list is complete without at least one Bob Dylan album. We saw him in Kingston this year which was good, but probably would have preferred a concert from about 25years ago instead.

8. ‘Into the Wild’ (soundtrack) by Eddie Vedder: Probably a little surprising to be on this list and might not be in 10years time, but I find myself listening to this CD in the car a lot and the music sometimes gets into my head when I’m out for a long trail run and seeing beautiful country.