My Soundtrack
As a part of working on this blog, I have been using different strategies to get myself thinking and reflecting. One of the tools I have been using is my IPod on the way to work and back. Most people’s playlist says a lot about them. Mine does too; it just seems to belong to four different people. What it also reflects is the different kinds of crowds I have run with.
Normally, I pick my playlist according to my mood. I have folders that separate accordingly (Rock, R&B, Reggae, Jazz, and a couple of lists that could be titled Shake dat ass 1,2 &3). This month, I chose to play my complete list in alphabetical order – I have enough music that I can go at least a week without repeating a song. The only music I skipped routinely was my Christmas stuff.
The thing about music is that for me, with few exceptions, it flashes me back to the time when I first fell in love with the tune. As I explained earlier, my life has been such that I have attended to different parts of my identity at different times. As such, a person could be forgiven for thinking my playlist was made up by different people.
No credible DJ would ever put together such a playlist. For this month however, it has been great. Each weird mix acted as a jolt, and brought my attention to what I was listening to, allowing me to focus into a time period in my life.
Rather than tell you anymore, here was today’s playlist.
On the way to work:
Melissa Etheredge – No Souvenirs
Oliver Jones and Skip Bey – Old Folks
Erykah Badu – On and On
Oscar Peterson –The Street Where You Live
Drake – One Dance
Audrey Hall – One Dance
Oliver Jones – Our Love is Here to Stay
Classified – Payday
Arrested Development – People Everyday
Etana – People Talk
Omarion – Post to Be
Nelly Furtado –Powerless (Say what you want)
Oscar Peterson –Prelude to a Kiss
India Arie – Private Party
Ashanti –Rain on Me
Empire Cast –Ready to Go
Eddie Murphy (with Snoop Lion)– Red Light
Bruce Cockburn – Ribbon of Darkness (I am a diehard Gordon Lightfoot fan)
The Doors – Riders on the Storm ( had to fast forward – too dark of morning)
Genesis – Ripples
Andra Day –Rise Up
Ibeyi – River
Lorde- Royals
Rihanna-Rude Boy
Macklemore&Ryan Lewis – Same Love
Cannonball Adderly &Nancy Wilson – Save Your Love for Me
Michelle Wiliams – Say Yes
On the way home:
Simon and Garfunkel – Scarborough Fair
Little mix – See Me Now
Kreesha Turner – Sexy Gal
Jill Scott – Shame
Ne-Yo with Jamie Foxx – She Got Her Own
Tarrus Riley – She’s Royal
Soweto Gospel Choir – Shosholoza (S.A. National anthem after apartheid)
Danity Kane – Showstopper
Sanchez – Sip my Chalice
Pink – So What
Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill
Fun.-Some Nights
Oliver Jones and Skip Bey – Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Horace Silver – Song for my Father
KMC – Soul on Fire
Jennifer Hudson Spotlight
Cassandra Wilson – Strange Fruit
Stix – Suite Madame Blue
Eva Cassady – Summertime
Karl Wolf – Summertime
John Denver – Sunshine on my Shoulders
Diary of a Lost Black Woman 