Miscellaneous - InspirationTop 5 Work Songs
I'm going to start posting some Top [Insert Number Here] Lists around here. Seems like something all the coolest bloggers do*, and as my little brother** Logan said a couple weeks ago, "Everybody loves a good list."
Music is my muse. Every writer has one. The muse has been personified by myriad writers as something of a spirit, something that invokes our best, makes us able to put in ink or on computer screen our best work. Or at least, some work. Some writers have women. Some have alcohol. I have music. It's what helps me zone out and focus unlike anything else. (Well, music plus caffeine, usually taken by coffee or Red Bull.)
I love music. So my first Top Whatever List is of the Top 5 Songs I'm listening to while working. Because that's all I do, really. Sit here, at this computer, and type away. Music -- and coffee, and sometimes Red Bull -- keeps me going.
These are the Top 5 Songs of the moment. My musical tastes change constantly, so I'm sure in a few months I'll have another list for you, but in the meantime, I'm loving....
1. "Blood of Cuchulainn" by Mychael Danna. It sounds horribly morbid, but I promise you, Mom, it's not. An instrumental piece that was The Boondock Saints movie's theme song, Cuchulainn just makes me feel good. It's full of fantastic Irishness, upbeat and well-paced. Not fast-paced, per se, but not too slow. It's just the right mixture of epic-meets-snappy. Whatever that means. But trust me, it's good. Listening to it right now, actually.
2. "Good Life" by OneRepublic. Was first introduced to "Good Life" by my wife, Katie, when she downloaded OneRepublic's new album a couple months ago, and rediscovered this gem while roadtripping to NYC with Logan and Dad. Phenomenal song, and were I making a Top 5 Life Songs list, this would undoubtedly be Number One. It's just a good reminder. I'm an emotional dude, and am prone to getting down about things and getting anxious about things. Then I listen to this, and I realize that there's really nothing worth affecting me that way. My life is awesome, and this song reminds me of that. So basic math says that realizing how good I have it makes me work better.
3. "Time is Running Out" by Muse. If music is my muse, then Muse is my music's foundation. I just recently discovered them, in this song, while watching a Ted Dekker "Day In The Life" video a few months ago. Since then, been soaking up whatever they offer. "Time" remains the best I've heard. My life is a Good Life, but I only have so much Time. Knowing it will run out one day, at least on this earth, moves my metaphorical feet forward, and nothing gets them pumping quite like this song.
4. "Your Hand In Mine" by Explosions in the Sky. The second instrumental song on the list, "Your Hand" entered my life with Friday Night Lights, the movie based off the brilliant book by Buzz Bissinger. Searched out the song soon as I could after hearing it in that movie. It's what sparked my love for instrumental music, a love that lives on today and will forever. "Your Hand" is one of those songs that will always be on this list.
5. "Little Motel" by Modest Mouse. Was introduced to "Motel" by Chris Jones of Esquire. He mentioned it in an essay he wrote about the story he wrote about Roger Ebert a few months ago. Said he listened to it something like 250 times while writing about the embattled film critic. I can see why. It gets you all kinds of emotional, but in a good way. In a musing way.
Honorable Mentions:
"Time" by Hans Zimmer, an instrumental song from the movie Inception.
"Kreuzberg" by Bloc Party.
"First Breath After a Coma" by Explosions in the Sky.
"Brother Sister" by Beta Radio. (The song that made me like folk music.)
"Fever Dream" by Tyler Bates, an instrumental song from the movie 300.
*(This "cool blogger" may actually be just an urban legend, something to keep the rest of us bloggers going forward, striving to be better, that we may one day become, in a word, "cool." Studies thus far prove inconclusive, although this Sneedthesis -- and the word "Sneedthesis" for that matter -- doesn't help my case so much.)
**(By little, I just mean younger. He weighs like, 185 pounds now, and there's definitely not an ounce of fat on him. I'm at 190, down 20 pounds from my muscle-bound college days. He nearly drowned me during pool basketball during the NYC trip. Speaking of the NYC trip, where are those blogs, anyway? Man....)
Reader Comments (5)
Will be checking out all of this dude. Also, im 195 now. get your weight up!!!! haha
Dag dude, 195? Holy crap, I'm the smallest one of all of us now. It's official.
Yeah embarrassing dude, you might wanna get back in the weightroom haha
Apparently I need to. Jeez.
Never thought 190 pounds would feel small.