WHATS ON MY IPOD
by Hugh Laurie
There is a lot on my iPod.
Playing non-stop, top to bottom, I suspect it would easily outlive me.
It doesnt smoke, of course.
Credit: Peter Kramer/NBC/AP Images
But then I dont shuffle.
I also dont do playlists.
I began to feel decadent, surrounding myself only with Favorites.
Like a Maharajah who never eats a bad fig how can you know how good figs are?
Playlists give me the feeling that Im driving into a cul-de-sac, while an album is actually going somewhere.
I listen to it often, but never as background music.
I will put it on and lie on the floor.
It is absurdly romantic.
Keith Jarretts Koln Concerthas never been far from my ears since I first heard it.
He was touched by something that day.
And yet, the recording very nearly didnt happen.
Any album byDr Johncan start and finish my day.
He is my religious observance.
His solo album,Dr John Plays Mac Rebennackis about as lovely as a thing could be.
I studied it for years and taught myself to play the whole thing, note for note.
That sounds musically stalkerish, because it is.
I make no apology.
Jon Cleary I will play one of his albums pretty much every day.
And which of us doesnt?
His live album,Mo Hippa, is a corker.
His singing is great but completely unintelligible, which is fine with me.
Lyrics are better as musical sounds than bearers of meaning.
Meaning is for novelists.
