Music - another reason to row in the car
Wasn't music supposed to be the food of love? Richard’s Valentine’s card this year read “I love you so much, I pretend to like your music.” It was a joke. He doesn’t pretend at all.
I don’t know if we’re unusual, but if you drew a venn diagram of our musical tastes, the shape in the middle would be like the petal of a daisy. This makes life uncomfortable on a long drive. We’re not too bad at remembering maps, sweeties, bottles of water etc, but we never think about music until the last minute. Then we each grab a handful of CDs the other one doesn’t want to listen to.
In a nutshell, he likes weedy voices and strummy guitars, and he likes Bruce Springsteen. No he loves Bruce Springsteen. Now I respect the big B; I’d put I’m on Fire or the one about waiting for me if I fall behind on my iTunes. Unfortunately, though, a lot of the classic E. Street Band plinky plonky hands-in-the-air stuff puts my teeth on edge. There, I’ve said it. so send me your hate mail.
Me? I’m easy to please; I like Wire, Sufjan Stevens and Blanche. My current favourite is Gotye - three albums of brilliance. Richard is probably the only person in the world who hasn’t seen that video.
So we set off and politely take it in turns to pick, but it doesn’t work. A long boring drive is even more tedious if you don’t like the music. And it’s almost worse trying to listen to something you love deeply, aware that the person next to you is huffing and wondering, why the hell does she like this rubbish?
Neither helps the driver, who - after all - needs to be concentrating about what’s on the road, not being irritated by what’s on the audio system.
The answer would be to get really organised and make up an iPod playlist of stuff you both like, interspersed with just a few ‘you picks’, then plug it into the car.
Will we ever do it? Will we ever tidy the shed, make a file of recipes or throw away the shoes we haven't worn for a decade? Our cats have more chance of learning it’s bad manners to stick their feet in people’s food.
I don’t know if we’re unusual, but if you drew a venn diagram of our musical tastes, the shape in the middle would be like the petal of a daisy. This makes life uncomfortable on a long drive. We’re not too bad at remembering maps, sweeties, bottles of water etc, but we never think about music until the last minute. Then we each grab a handful of CDs the other one doesn’t want to listen to.
In a nutshell, he likes weedy voices and strummy guitars, and he likes Bruce Springsteen. No he loves Bruce Springsteen. Now I respect the big B; I’d put I’m on Fire or the one about waiting for me if I fall behind on my iTunes. Unfortunately, though, a lot of the classic E. Street Band plinky plonky hands-in-the-air stuff puts my teeth on edge. There, I’ve said it. so send me your hate mail.
Me? I’m easy to please; I like Wire, Sufjan Stevens and Blanche. My current favourite is Gotye - three albums of brilliance. Richard is probably the only person in the world who hasn’t seen that video.
So we set off and politely take it in turns to pick, but it doesn’t work. A long boring drive is even more tedious if you don’t like the music. And it’s almost worse trying to listen to something you love deeply, aware that the person next to you is huffing and wondering, why the hell does she like this rubbish?
Neither helps the driver, who - after all - needs to be concentrating about what’s on the road, not being irritated by what’s on the audio system.
The answer would be to get really organised and make up an iPod playlist of stuff you both like, interspersed with just a few ‘you picks’, then plug it into the car.
Will we ever do it? Will we ever tidy the shed, make a file of recipes or throw away the shoes we haven't worn for a decade? Our cats have more chance of learning it’s bad manners to stick their feet in people’s food.
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