It’s no secret that I love listening to music and one of my guilty pleasures is playing very loud music in the car while I’m driving and singing along very badly.
There’s a very embarrassing story from a long time ago when I got caught at a set of traffic lights on a hot sunny day with the windows downs. I was alone in the car and singing along enthusiastically to the CD that was playing….yes, singing Heigh Ho Heigh Ho Its Off To Work We Go from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It was the kids’ Disney CD that was playing…. I’ve no defence. It’s a catchy song whether the kids are in the back seat or not. LOL
CDs in the car are a thing of the past and while I haven’t yet graduated to using Bluetooth to pair my phone up to listen to my streaming service, I do own an iPod (OK two) and play my music through that.
I usually select my music of choice by artist or a particular album by an artist I like (No, it’s not always Alter Bridge!) that was until 30th November 2019.
I remember it was an icy cold Saturday morning and when I started the engine, my iPod reset itself and returned to the first song stored on it alphabetically. I was about to return it to the album that had been playing when Boy Child suggested…Ok challenged me… to play right through the music library in alphabetical order by song title.
Challenge accepted!
It got me thinking though as I drove off down the hill….how long was it going to take to listen to 2988 songs while driving?
Well, there was only one way to find out!
Ironically, the Gracenote for the first song on there is back to front. The first song that was already playing was Medicine Man by Aaron Keylock.
Aaron Keylock – Medicine Man (Live at O2 Academy Oxford) – YouTube
As the days and miles passed, I worked my way through the alphabet…slowly.
Some words I seemed to get stuck on for days! Who knew that so many song titles on my iPod started with “Ain’t”!
Christmas passed with no Christmas tunes being played (Hallelujah cried my kids! They aren’t fans of my Christmas music choices.) I was somewhere about B or maybe C at this point.
Other dilemmas occurred too… what if there were multiple versions of the same song by the same band on there? Did I play them all or was it OK to skip a couple of versions? (Depending on the song, I skipped a few but there were a few that I played all versions)
blackbird live at wembley – YouTube
The there were instances of the same song but by different artists…. These were all played, I promise.
Then there was another challenge that hindered alphabetical progress.
We went into full lockdown for 10 long weeks!
Instead of driving a 14 miles round trip to the office, I was walking for a few seconds between the bedroom or kitchen to work from home in my living room. During those long weeks I was only ever in the car once a week to drive to the supermarket.
Progress therefore stalled a little around the letter L.
Alter Bridge – Life Must Go On – Alter Bridge III – YouTube
Gradually, the world opened up a little. I was out and about more often and the letters began to pass.
As I worked or drove my way through the contents, I found several hidden gems that I had forgotten about.
I’ll confess that I also found a fair few songs that left me thinking “How the hell did that get on there? What was I thinking!”
By the time we reached October, I was driving on a more regular basis and was well through the second half of the alphabet
Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine (Official Music Video) – YouTube
There was a little stutter to my alphabet during T. There are several albums on my iPod that I got the day before the official release date (thanks to pre-ordering) and the Gracenote hadn’t caught up. These are all titled Track 1, Track 2 etc …C’est la vie.
As I reached the last few letters there still seemed to be quite a few songs to be played.
I was curious…what could they be?
Songs with numbers in the title!
Shinedown – 45 (Official Video) – YouTube
On 10 November 2020, after 346 days I reached the final song.
I’d done it!
And which song had the honour of being last?
Well it was an mp3 I’d downloaded from a radio station …
98KUPD’s Private Acoustic Session w/ Slash – Sweet Child O’ Mine – YouTube
Now, I wonder…..should I go back through all 2988 by artist or just figure out how to hook my phone up via Bluetooth?…….
Coral McCallum 