Sunday, January 07, 2007

Repost Sunday: MP3 Players Tell No Tales

I rerun some of my older posts on Sundays as a way to highlight stories that you may have missed. Just think of it as 'thought recycling' and a day off, or that I am incredibly, incredibly lazy. This was originally posted September 15, 2006.

A realization hit me on my daily walk today as Kenny Rogers began on my MP3 player. It wasn’t that the gambler made me think, it was his song “Daytime Friends and Nighttime Lovers.” I love the song and was walking down the street getting my exercise and singing along. I normally don’t sing or mouth along to songs when I walk, but during this moment I was and became self-conscience as motorists sped by me grinning at the idiot singing that particular song while walking. Here I am trying to stay in shape and I’m singing “Daytime Friends and Nighttime Lovers.” Next came Kenny and Dolly singing “Islands in the Stream” and I’m still singing.

I started to think that as embarrassing as it was, I really had only myself to blame. It’s not like I bought an album for one good song that happened to have all those other songs on there or someone else placed them on my MP3 player as a joke. Nope, I downloaded them onto my player because I wanted to listen to them. As this stream of thought continued, I started thinking about the other songs and artists on my player: Roger Miller, The Carpenters, John Denver and countless others that many people have never heard of or pretend not to have heard of. Right then and there I realized that I never want anyone to end up with my MP3 player.

Geez, what if I keeled over while walking, had no ID on me and someone listened to my MP3 player to get a better idea of who I was? Do I really want my lasting impression to be that I was the guy who died while listening to “Daytime Friends and Nighttime Lovers?” Do I want my MP3 player to still be playing “Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald,” or “Rainy Days And Mondays?” Of course not!

I’m sure this is a pretty common phenomenon among the multitude of MP3 and Ipod users out there. Would many of them really want the musical skeletons in their closet exposed? Do they really want the world to know that they listen to Andy Gibb singing “I Just Want To Be Your Everything,” or Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock?” If discovered, it could completely shatter their reputation.

“Hey Phil, they’re goes our new co-worker Katie. Rumor has it she has The Bee Gees and Helen Reddy on her Ipod!”

“Oh, I know Susie. I heard that Johnny up in accounting heard her singing along to ‘Alone Again Naturally,’ during her walking break today.”

“Oh, I would be soooo embarrassed if I were her. Can you just imagine?”

Here’s the problem though, do you play what you want to or what others would expect you to listen to? I don’t know about you, but I will choose what I want to listen to every time. I love music and if I like it, it’s good enough for me. There is no reason for anyone to be ashamed of their musical tastes. But let me say this, you can be darn sure the only way you’ll get my MP3 player from me if the Captain and Tennille are downloaded on it is by prying it out of my cold, dead hand! For me and my MP3 player full of non-hip tunes, love will truly keep us together.


(Editor’s note: the songs mentioned in this blog are done so for storytelling purposes only, they have no factual basis in my listening life, no really)

12 comments:

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Heck, I thought that when I keel over, I only had to worry about clean underwear but now you have alerted me to the dangers of our MP3 choices. I don't even have time to worry about keeling over!

Odat said...

Oh I listen to whatever I want to. I could care less what others think...and I listen to just about anything....depending on my mood...and there's a lot of them!!
LOL
Peace (is it Monday by you, or Tuesday?)Hehe.

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Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

hey michael! need a buck? sigh...

captain and tennille, if you fall over toss the player far far away... smile, bee

Michael C said...

Lone Grey Squirrel: Sorry about giving you something else to worry about...
;-)

Odat: That's the spirit!! Sadly, today is SUnday which means even more sadly, tomorrow is MONDAY!!! Arggggg!

Bobby: Thanks for the heads up. I guess I'd better find my wallet.

Empress Bee: Thanks for the offer, but it looks like I'll need more than that ;-) Gotta have The Captain and Tenille!!
;-)

Awesome Mom said...

Maybe I should get a cheap MP3 player so when I feel like I am going to die I can throw my real player away and end up with only the one with "good" song on it. I think I will go with some very intellectual classical music.

Jo said...

Hah...! You know what I bought one of the munchkins for Christmas? The "Thriller" album. He said, "oh, Oma, I'm soooo embarrassed." Then he listened to it and LOVED it. How on earth is he going to admit that to his friends?

And I love Kenny Rogers. "Yooooo decorated my life....." I think you would find a lot of folks would have "secret" favorites in their MP3 players.

Cheers,
Josie

ShadowFalcon said...

You've got to know when to hold them, Know when to fold them, know when to walk away...

Pickled Olives said...

I have some music I wouldn't want to be caught dead with too. Wouldn't make a very good headline. "Woman found dead with ipod playing Tom Jones"

Dean aka Sgt Dub said...

and how could anyone say bad things about Roger Miller, dang them, dang them, we aught to get a rope and hang them.

Rachel Schell said...

I love the carpenters !! hee hee

I have everything I want to listen to on my ipod and I don't care what anybody thinks (you don't think they know do you?)

Stepping Over the Junk said...

you are hilarious...I was walking today with mine and ran into someone I knew who asked what I was listening to and was embarrassed to tell them I was listening to Celtic Woman, like you see on PBS these days. Of course, I have Dave Matthews on there too...and John Denver (okay, which is worse, John Denver or Celtic Woman?)