Song On Repeat

My family is really good at this.  Well, to be fair, the female members of my family.  My mom trained us oh-so-well in how to fall in love with one song on an album and listen to it over and over again.  (This is also the woman who watched Ever After so many days in a row that we know the entire movie by heart.)

In fact, it was such a bad habit of hers that, in late junior high, I actually made her a series of albums combining all of her favorite singles onto a couple CDs.  No longer did she need to have twenty CDs in her car – now two would do!  To her credit, she’s still listening to them, so I guess she had good taste.

So of course, despite my best efforts at listening to full albums and keeping my iTunes on shuffle, occasionally I will get stuck on a song and play it over and over again.

And over and over again.

And again.  And again.

My poor husband right now.  Though mercifully he’s protected by the fact that I use my headphones and the fact that I only listen on my solitary commute, he still has to hear me rave about this song day in and day out.  I know he loves me, but I think he wishes I would branch out a little more.  Fair point – so do I!  But I can’t help myself.  It’s the best compulsion ever.

Let’s look at this a little more objectively.  I really only get this way (these days) when I’m walking through the city.  I was more than capable of playing not one but FOUR albums last night as I reorganized my entire filing system (fun story).  But when I’m commuting, when I’m clipping along the sidewalks of New York and staring up at the skyscrapers around me, I just can’t seem to get enough of this song.

Part of it is that I’m starting to see snippets of choreography in my head, and the more I listen, the more I see.  Though I have to be walking to get any of the choreography!  If I’m sitting at my desk, nothing.  Might as well be elevator music to me.  But when my legs start moving, and my feet hit the pavement, oh heaven help me, I feel like a conduit for whatever this blossoming idea is being given to me.  Don’t know what I’ll do with it, but I have to keep listening.  The exhilaration I feel from the music is just the cherry on top.

Oh, maybe I should tell you what this song is:  “Fireburn” by Bryan Fenkart on his album Simple and Grey.  You can’t find it on YouTube, though, so I recommend buying the single on iTunes. Do also buy the title track, “Simple and Grey,”  the other song that I’m listening to obsessively. (It’s only too appropriate for today’s grey, almost rainy day and somber, quiet mood.)  Wait, does it count as obsession if it’s only two songs?

Yes.  Yes, it does.

And truthfully, I don’t mind one bit.

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrguep/4275862715/”>David Gallard (Mr Guep)</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a>

#Commuting #Family #Album #NewYorkCity #Music #Choreography #Emily #BryanFenkart