The dangers of aural pleasure

I defy most people to listen to “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge and not find themselves singing along with it by the end of the tune. If you don’t, then you either have no soul or you’re the kind of person that instead sings along to “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie.

Generally on my morning walk/commute I listen to whatever I’ve just ripped or downloaded, but yesterday Serge suggested that I add a certain song by DeBarge (not RotN) to my morning listen and I would “walk into work like I’d just won an Oscar”. He was right of course… that is until I sat down and realized that I was at work. Still, I have found that the right music can get one into an excellent state of being for the day, while other choices can take one completely out of reality for a while.

I should recognize the power of a good personal soundtrack. There’s an old episode of Bewitched where Endora casts the spell, The Corsican Brothers were hexed by a spell which will work on cousins just as well. From here on out without further ado, what Serena feels, Samantha will too! [which is apparently on YouTube in two parts] There’s a point where Serena’s dancing to some music, and Samantha is at the grocery store and feels the supernaturally uncontrollable urge to shake her ensorcelled booty as well.

While I have never had moments out and about where I totally break it down, so to speak, there are sometimes when what I’m listening to definitely has an immediate effect. Most notable is that the do the Naomi Campbell walk portion of “Get Me Bodied” always seems to come on when I’m walking to my spot on the metro platform (nearly every work commuter has a spot) and let’s face it: you’ve got a finite length of floor, lined on both sides with lights, that is essentially divided up into two halves lengthwise — it’s a runway. I don’t follow ANTM or any similar show, but I’m sure I don’t have to do so to know that my runway skills are pretty tight. I have not been known to turn, however. Or at least not that I’ll ever admit.

So the biggest danger for me is not being run down by a car while wearing my headphones, but instead just actin’ a fool in public. Of course I’m usually so in the zone that I don’t notice & don’t care.

So what’s on your personal soundtrack? I don’t mean those random iPod memes, but what songs do you put together on a playlist or can automatically select that are really your songs? I’ve had a bunch of them over time, but I’ve never put them all together. I think it might be time to start.

On a completely random side-note, I’ve removed the BlogRush widget from my sidebar/pages. I honestly can’t see or understand exactly what it’s meant to do for me, but I invite comment from any “successful” BlogRush users, or really anyone that can explain what those syndication credits are supposed to be!