Memory Playlist

Every time I read one of Warren Ellis’ newsletters, I find myself going down a bunch of paths off into weird music and blogs and stuff. Today, I found myself at Hannah Peel’s Memory Playlist page:

Like a time capsule or even an insurance policy for music… from the present day right back to my earliest memories of my fondest songs and music… so if I was to ever fall into dementia these lasting first songs, embedded into the auditory cortex of the brain, would be a way to reach out and still connect to family.

I like that idea. Tie it together with this essay, and now I’m thinking about how I’m using this blog, and Day One, and my ongoing project to organize my music collection, to organize my own memories.

My recent rekindled interest in Paul McCartney and U2 is, in large part, an indulgence in nostalgia, which isn’t a bad thing (if you don’t overdo it). I’ve also become interested in trying to put together playlists that allow me to listen to artists like McCartney and U2 in a new context, that let me appreciate familiar music in new ways, and that maybe spark some new connections. The Pure McCartney collection that I recently bought does that, a bit. For U2, I’ve been listening to a playlist on Amazon called 50 Great U2 Songs, which is pretty good. (Both of them contain some songs I’d never heard before, and many that I hadn’t heard in a long time.) But I think there’s probably something more interesting that I could put together, maybe mixing in other artists.

I don’t want to fall too far down the “assembling playlists” hole. That can turn into a pointless time sink, if you let it. And it’s really nice out today, so I should probably stop here, and go outside.

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