Being a committed musicphile (is there such a word?) I tend to approach every situation in life, hearing a soundtrack in my head for most situations, and I’d like to ask the readership if this is a common thing or if I’m even more special than I already believe? Let me give you a few examples that I’ve either noticed recently or that I have employed for many a year.
Here are a few of my standards to set the ball rolling. In my younger (single) days, I always used to hear the sound of The Theme from Shaft in my head whenever I walked into a club or bar on a Friday or Saturday night. No laughing, please! The guitar line just spoke to my state of mind, I was a bad motherf***er looking for some action. Or so I thought. Similarly, halfway through a parents’ evening, the refrain from Killed by Death would roll around my head. Life becomes so much more technicolour with an additional self-generated soundtrack.
I hear an instrumental version of The Girl from Ipanema when shopping in a supermarket as I idly wander from isle to isle in a trance. Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps is an essential when queuing for a drink, although it is occasionally replaced by See Me, Feel Me when I feel I’m being ignored by the bar staff. Often, Born to be Wild starts up when I fire up the Toyota Aygo on a cold morning, and inevitably, the Theme from Thunderbirds begins as I wheel the lawnmower out of the shed. And when in a hurry because something needs to be done urgently (usually fixing something I have broken before anyone else notices), it is the Theme from The Professionals, or if very urgent, the Dick Barton Theme. And if I’m on public transport and someone stands very, very close to me, it is of course The Carpenters.
If you don’t do this, can I please encourage you to start immediately? Apart from anything else, it can diffuse tense or difficult situations. That was certainly the case when How Deep Is Your Love came to mind during a full cavity search going through customs on my way back from Amsterdam a few years ago… but hey, that’s another story.
This week, I’ve been enjoying the new Other Brother Darryl, a fabulous thing I think, and some classic Ray Charles from 1959, extraordinary. The radio show is full of lovely things, including Kevin Morby, Sunday Mourners, Jeffrey Martin, Small Town Jones, and much more.
