Running Music

Something about running in the heat–94 degreees at 5:30–that gets me thinking about the way some music seems to complement the running experience better than other music.  Silence, while running on the nature trails, is still my preference.  The music then is all inside my head, while I am going over song arrangements and ideas.  But when I’m running the straight & narrow paved surfaces, I wear the iPod and hope to get the music-and-running combo that’ll put me in the zone.  It ain’t easy.  But sometimes it happens.

The best running music for zoning out:
Steve Reich–I found a bunch lately and tried out an all-Steve Reich playlist.  Pretty close to perfect.  I remember running in the late seventies and listening to Reich’s Music for a Large Ensemble on cassette (archaic) in my Walkman (archaic).  Not the ideal music delivery system for running, but the best at the time.
John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman–Also great for getting into a groove and losing track of time and surroundings.  Especially Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.

Best up-tempo energy music:
Led Zeppelin, from Houses of the Holy or Physical Graffiti
Bob Marley
Vampire Weekend (“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” or “A-Punk”)
“Leopold…Leopold” by Don Byron
Tom Waits’ “16 Shells from a 30.06″
Devo’s version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Captain Beefheart’s “Tropical Hot Dog Night”

Songs so off-the-path that they break things up:
“Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” by Burl Ives
“Time on My Hands” by The Boswell Sisters
“Gallows Pole” by Odetta
“Always Late” by Lefty Frizzell
“Via Con Me” by Paolo Conte
“Dumbala Dumba” by Taraf de Haidouks

Many more.  And many more to discover.  It’s so nice to run to music.

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