The Sound of Music

Thanks for the earworm* Paddy!

(* an earworm is defined as a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing, it may come as no surprise to learn that I talk to mine!)


Our house is a tip.  There is so much tidying to do that I don't know where to start.  Pondering this whilst I look around trying to reach a decision my earworm very kindly starts singing to me...

"Lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you read you begin with A-B-C, when you sing you begin with do-re- mi...."

And it's off, trilling along in my ear, forcing me to join in with it (completely against my will of course!). Hopefully it'll get bored soon, please tell me it's forgotten that I once went out dressed as a nun to Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music, surely it can't have remembered the super extended version we sang in the Eaglesham Primary School Choir that was too long for even the wonderful Antwerp Station Flashmob (I'll post a link later - save you looking it up) to use? It would appear not, it is relentless for the entire time I am walking the dogs and even now hours later I know it's lurking around ready to start up again at anytime...

I'm blaming Patrick Kielty! Standing in for Steve Wright on Radio 2 this week he had Julie Andrews on his show yesterday, I didn't even hear the interview (and still I'm stuck with this?!) but he was discussing whether the old singalong tunes are better than the new ones, I didn't hear the outcome of the discussion either but I'm guessing it all comes down to if you know the words and can in fact singalong!

I have a similar problem with my running playlist on my ipod.  There is no doubt that I run with a spring in my step when certain songs come on whilst others make me slow down, I have been known to sing out loud to 'Heart of Glass' yet other songs make me wish I could reach the skip button (without having to faff around getting my ipod out of the pocket in my running top!).

I think a cull, reorganisation, and some new sounds are called for! In fairness Al has been suggesting this for months (if it wasn't due to the fact that lack of breath renders this impossible I would be beginning to wonder if I'm singing out loud to more than I realise!).

I have read that I should be trying to maintain a tempo of 85-90 strides per minute and a quick internet search informs me that there are many lists of songs available that will fulfill my needs - but like with everything else associated with this journey upward of 5K it is yet another minefield! Which ones are any good, do I have to pay to download these, where will I find songs that I have even heard of?! And do I ditch my old favourites in favour of new songs that have the right tempo but I don't know so well?

I guess that the approach to this latest problem is going to be the same as with the others I've come across so far. Keep it simple. Do what I can. Don't get overwhelmed by the things that I can't. Find the first step and take it. Delete those slow songs, forget about beats per minute for the time being and just get out and enjoy the run singalong tune after singalong tune!


M - 739
Distance covered              3.2 miles
Total Distance covered   42.4 miles