At work today I had to focus on finishing off a paper, which I’d started writing during the Bank Holiday weekend. Working in an open plan office can be quite noisy, so when you need to focus you have to do something to cut out the distractions. For me, that means putting on the music.

Some people find a musical background distracting. That’s never been the case for me. I can go back to my revision for exams at school and university and recall the music I was listening to as I mugged up. Ever since, when I have work to do at home, it is always with music pumping out. Rather than a distraction, I find it gives me focus, even inspiration.

So, today, sixty songs went by as I knocked out the prose. A lot of the time, when I’m listening to the iPod, I shuffle playlists, like my Rockmix, which has about 2,500 favourites on it. Today I just went for the full works, getting on for 25,000 tunes, close to the limit of the 160Gb iPod Classic. Some put on by my kids, but mostly stuff that I cannot deny responsibility for!

Here are the sixty that swept by today:

paulwellerblackisthecolour-rycooderandmanuelgalbanlostwangueros-editorsyoudon’tknowlove-djsneakatest-calexicosunkenwaltz-chemicalbrothersmusic:response-bebopdeluxestagewhisper-metallicaoverkill-alisonkraussandtheunionstationitdoesn’thavetobethisway-mogwaikatrien-drivebytruckersgreenvilletobatonrouge-deeppurpleburn-airradien-kathrynwilliamsmorningsong-beatlesfrommetoyou-elviscostellothetwonwheretimestoodstill-triomocotovolteiamor-sloantheanswerwasyou-deltasingittome-BMXwhowebe-newyoungponyclubfan-thefugeesthemask-badcompanyfeellikemakin’love-lucindawilliamsonenightstand-thevaccinesblowitup-tinietempahfrisky-paulwelleramongstbutterflies-lisastansfieldfirstjoy-tommccraelineoffire-UB40stickbyme-burialraver-elbowweatherinme-mobyeverloving-warrenmillereverybody’sgotababybutme-davidbowieromonaastoneiamwithname-sparkshereinheaven-ryanadamsstartingtohurt-georgemichaelspinningthewheel-thedublinersdirtyoldtown-ramonesyoushouldneverhaveopenedthatdoor(demo)-robintrowerdaydream-U2vertigo-arethafranklingoingdownslow-wilcospiders(kidsmoke)-danaboriseilive-stonerosesbreakingintoheaven-thedigitalblondesanthem-shacknatalie’sparty-marciagriffithsthefirsttimeeverisawyourface-britishseapowerkhole-turinbrakespainkiller-petshopboyslovecomesquickly-thefacespoolhallrichard-ADULThandtophone-gallianophantom-mjcolesanctuary-bedouinsoundclashimmigrantworkforce-donaldfagenspringtime-peshaymilesfromhere-coldplayclocks

The great thing about this lot is that most of them I didn’t fully recognise as they came on. I looked back afterwards.

17 tracks I recognised both song and artist. 28.3 %

16 tracks I recognised the artist but not the song. 26.7%

27 tracks I recognised neither! 45%

You could say, DON’T YOU KNOW YOUR OWN MUSIC?

I’d have to say, well, not all of it that intimately. Sometimes I’ll buy something once or twice and forget it. Then quite a few things are compilations and you don’t focus on all the names, just the ones you most like. And then, of course, there are the ones I love.

Nearly 25 grand in all. Bound to be a few that slip through the net.

Or about half,  based on my sample of sixty!

But the good thing is that you are always rediscovering songs. I hardly need to listen to the radio, or Spotify, or anything else, because I have my own radio, full of surprises, there on my iPod.

That’s good.

And here are a couple from today that were as good as new, and I really liked.

“Spiders (Kidsmoke)” by Wilco. Their rocky angle, rather than the country stuff. Beware, this is ten minutes long. And takes a while to get going. Good, though.

And “A Test” by DJ Sneak, off one of the many great compilations put together by Gilles Peterson, this one called “Gilles Peterson in the House”. So it’s kind of House…

The joys of iPod shuffle and rediscovery!