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May 29, 2005
Personal Soundtrack
I know that everybody and their dog's nephew has some sort of portable music thingummy these days. I find it interesting that people need to carry music with them. I don't. I hardly even listen to it in the car, because I discovered years ago that I have my own internal musical soundtrack.
I really became conscious of it the day I made my first cigar box. There was a whole group of people working, and someone asked if we could have music. And the group leader said, no, it's a meditative sort of exercise and music might interfere with someone expressing their personal vision. Which is when I realized I'd been "listening" to Hang Fire by the Rolling Stones.
That's when I really clicked to it, though I've been hearing the music all my life. Sometimes it's other people's stuff, sometimes it's "my own invention" as the white knight says to Alice in Through the Looking-Glass. Whatever it is, the piece of music is always indicative of my mood in some way, usually more through the tune than the words, but sometimes it's the lyrics.
This morning, I became aware of just how extensive my personal collection is. Yesterday, I was humming the Bob Seger cover to Chuck Berry's C'est La Vie. This morning, it's The Distance by Cake I do not know why this song is running through my head when I hadn't thought of it in years, but it is. Maybe the Indianapolis 500 is so at the fore of the collective consciousness today that it's affecting my reception.
Posted by sally at May 29, 2005 09:17 AM
Comments
My cast gift of choice, especially in the last couple of years, has been to distribute customized mix cds, specific to each production. They're usually an equal combination of apt incidental music (e.g., The Beatles' "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" will definitely make it on the Othello mix) and whatever amazing find I've been listening obsessively to, courtesy of the Multnomah County Library.
I know a number of fellow actors who craft mixes that prep them for their onstage work. There's a certain quality of focus attached to the immersive aspect of good music, which serves these certain actors well.
A small handful of songs regularly reappear in my successive mixes--not every mix, of course, but they crop up individually from time to time, in varying combinations. Madeleine Peyroux' "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome", the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" (If I were a sitcom, I suspect 'Beast of Burden' would be my opening credits), the Temptations' "Get Ready", Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful", the Indigo Girls' rendition of "Midnight Train to Georgia", Lou Reed's "Dirty Blvd.", Ida's "So Long", The Notwist's "Neon Golden", Johnny Cash's "Down There By The Train", U2's "One" (live in Mexico City)...
It's an old habit. Tapes of Bach concertos, the A-Team soundtrack and stuff like Cake's "The Distance" got me through many a long mile on my bike during high school. I look forward to the day when I get to have my own horn section follow me around wherever I go.
Posted by: paul at May 30, 2005 02:39 AM
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