Making a list (1)

I love lists.

Lists make the world go round.

Sortov.

I have shopping lists (but one at a time, obv).

I have ‘to do’ lists.

I have work-based project plans (essentially just one big complex list).

I have birthday lists (which I prefer to call ‘a calendar’).

I have my contact list (which I used to call an address book).

I have a list of people who I never want to hear of again (it’s a very short list).

And I have, in iTunes, my playlists.

Plural.

I have my ‘Driving’ playlist.

I have my ‘Reviews’ playlist.

I have my ‘Exercising Vin’ playlist.

And, right now, I’m building a ‘Mellow’ playlist.

My iPod, you see, wakes me up in the mornings; every weekday my bedroom docking station switches my iPod on and, at a soothing volume, music begins to filter in to my consciousness.

It’s a lovely, peaceful way to wake up, even at 4.45am.

Of course, my second alarm – at 5.05am – makes ‘If you don’t get out of bed right now I’m going to scream the house down!’ noises.

But the peaceful waking up from my iPod usually does the job; I’m usually pottering around the kitchen by 5.05am, having switched the noisy alarm off.

I digress.

What I want to have is the option to fall asleep to my iPod’s accompaniment.

This is more troublesome than waking up.

Not because of any technological issue – it is a very easy thing to make happen.

No, the problem is the musical content of my iPod.

I tried falling asleep to it yesterday.

I was just starting to doze when some lovely work by Sigur Rós segued in to ‘Fuck Up The Fun’ by Azealia Banks…

Yeah, I so didn’t feel like sleeping after that (a great track in the right time/right place though!).

And the thing is, on a similar thought, no matter how much I love the work of Baby Godzilla (and I do love their work dearly), their work ‘We Dine On Wine And Parking Fines’ is just not bedtime music.

I decided I needed a ‘falling asleep’ playlist.

The criteria is simple: laid-back music that is going to be good to listen to, but not so engaging that it keeps me awake.

And I also need to keep the playlist short; the temptation to stay awake to see what comes next would be self-defeating!

Saccharine is to be avoided at all costs, so guilty pleasures like The Bangles ‘Eternal Flame’ are out. I’d lie in bed harmonising to that one!

Similarly, The Beautiful South’s ‘Song For Whoever’ is banned (though I’m not altogether sure why it is).

Also out are songs with a high social commentary value so, as gorgeous as it is, Big Country’s ‘Chance’ could never make the new playlist.

And no Billy Bragg. Or Dre, Eminem or Busta Rhymes.

But maybe some Bill Withers. And a little Aretha?

However, I do need to keep the list short.

Shortish.

How about just a little Buddy Guy? Maybe just ‘Feels Like Rain’?

Omagerd, am I still only on the letter ‘B’?

Bonnie Rait has to be on the list – but which one?

Eventually, despite the slightly cheesy first four notes (and despite the fact the song brings me to the edge of tears every single time), I decide there can only be one Bonnie Rait song…

But hang on, did I deliberately skip over Arcade Fire?

*briefly ponders the Arcade Fire dilemma – realises that yes, I did deliberately skip over them*

But if I slipped in something by Cari Clara, the Arcade Fire dilemma is resolved, hooray!

Tough choices and I’m still only on ‘Ca’.

I have a peculiar yet overwhelming desire to include ‘Call Me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepson even though it is an unsuitable falling asleep record! I manage to resist the temptation, but it’s a close thing.

And what about foreign language music; how much of a mental stimuli would it be, to hear something Spanish and to lie in my bed translating the lyrics in to English?

Yeah, too much stimulation, probably.

So no foreign language then.

*deletes the entire back-catalogue of Ainhoa Cantalapiedra* from the new playlist.

What about Deer Chicago’s ‘Frozen Globe, Freezing Teeth’ – such an under-appreciated work of musical genius.

Yeah, but hang on, I’m not building a work of musical genius, this is supposed to be a ‘quiet, mellow’ playlist.

*includes ‘Frozen Globe, Freezing Teeth’ by Deer Chicago anyway*

I’m now on De.

‘Private Investigation’ by Dire Straits?

I listen to the track twice before deciding against it.

Don Henley, ‘New York Minute’, yes?

Yes!

I would love to put in the 7 minutes and 4 seconds of goodness that is ‘The Garden Of Allah’ but I’d never relax to that, I’d be too busy reciting the Devil’s lines.

‘Broken Bird’ by Echo Boomer is far too beautiful to miss; absolutely no thinking about this track at all; click – drag – drop, done.

Similarly binary is ‘Underachiever’ by Ex Libras; click – drag – drop, done.

Pretty quickly I find myself down at Fleetwood Mac, and there is only one track of theirs that is an automatic consideration, the totally brilliant ‘Man Of The World’. But wait, I listen to it and I get to the messy ending.

I agonise over ‘Man Of The World’ for so long that I find I’ve listened to it three times.

But no, it’s not in; that messy ending is too messy for a chilled-out playlist.

And now I can barely keep my eyes open.

So with the cursor hovering above ‘The French Open’ by Foals, I end the list-compiling, for now.

There are 17 tracks on the list already, I’m only on Fo.

Bugger.