Telepathic Radio

I've recently had a discussion with a friend about this phenomenon I call many things - soul radio, telepathic radio, internal radio - I've not yet landed on a term that fits it best. At any rate, we've all experienced that tune that, unwarranted and unprompted in any way, just seems to enter your head. It seems practially everyone experiences this. In Australia, I met a crystal-loving hippie that described this phenom as a kind of radio signal reverb from the universe, and that it was a signal that one needed to heed as a cosmic communication. I don't know about all that.

I tend to experience it a lot. And, I've toyed with creating a list of those that seem to "pop in". There are a couple of ways I'd categorize the songs that enter my thought process: oddball, coincidental, nature/acoustic, and reminiscent.

Those in the oddball category are just that because they are not a genre I'm otherwise interested in, or I have very little generational relevance to them. These include songs by the Andrews Sisters, Newcleus (Jam on It), Kraftwerk (ewww!), and a few operatic stretches. When they start up in my head, I often think, "what? not again.......". So, right here I'm ruling out some sort of personal affinity for the songs that come to me. Or the theory of some cosmic communication. What is the value of the cosmos sending me Tannheuser when I don’t speak German?

The coincidental ones are my favorites. For example, when traveling through Bosnia-Herzegovina during the war, I had a close encounter with the butt of a soldier's rifle. And just before that event, Rockwell's "(I Always Feel Like) Somebody's Watching Me" was running through my mind. Other interesting flukes seem to happen prolifically when I’m overseas. I’ve never really been a big fan of Tom Petty before the Wildflowers cd, but in the early 90’s, his “American Girl” and Bowie’s (who I’ve always been a fan of) “Young American” often entered the thought process. At one point, 4 Non Blondes “What’s Going On” was popular all over Europe (after having exhausted itself in the US), and this would frequently play in the background on events when I encountered translation difficulties. Ironically, I met the drummer for the band at a bar in Istanbul, who said, literally, “What’s going on?”….but that’s another story.

Nature / acoustic type music -- and no, I’m not referring to a recording of crickets in the forest-- seem to come to me when on a really good hike or a camping event. These are heavily populated by John Denver tunes, with CSN&Y, Nick Drake, and Neil Young’s later solo work (mostly from Harvest Moon) thrown in for good measure.

Finally, the reminiscent songs. Because I’ve become aware of the effect that music seems to have on me in a recalcitrant manner, sometimes I plant musical seeds for later harvest. For a few years, my friend Matt and often drove to western Wyoming, throughout Utah, and Colorado for some camping and hiking adventure. We always brought along some music for the occasion. One thing these areas have provide to the outdoors fan is a looohhotttttt of drive time. So, anymore, I can’t hear Rufus Wainright, Coldplay, Jack Johnson or G. Love, Beck’s Sea Change, or Mightymouse without also feeling a momentary elation about having been able to hike, climb, and camp in some of what I consider the best outdoor country in the world. Or driving in that region, singing at the top of my lungs. Sorry, Matt – the Meters just didn’t leave the same impression. So, now, if I’ve got a bit of a drive and I want a happy memory boost, I’ll bring along a cd from one of these previous adventures, and relive it, just a little. Even better is when they just come to me in my thought process. It’s at that moment that I reap what I’ve sown years before.

Likewise with my mp3 player. The music on that hasn't changed much since I was working overseass. It's as though I've been able to freeze some of the best memories and events of that time through the music on my gadget, and adding more music to it now would skew its reminiscence factor.

On my last weekend adventure attempt, I brought along the Coldplay cd, along with a few Jack Johnsons, and the new Beck. Unfortunately, the Coldplay and JJ's In Between Dreams cd cases were empty......