My running companion, the iPod Shuffle, or Shuffleupagus, as he’s known on my computer, is somewhat of an odd duck. Sometimes it seems that he has no idea what the hell he’s doing, such as when he played three Christmas songs during the course of my run today. As much as I love Charlie Brown, Vince Guaraldi playing O Tannenbaum is not going to get me moving down the street any faster in the middle of July.
But then there are those moments of sheer genius when ol’ Shuffleupagus knows what he’s doing far better than I ever could, like when he played this song by Neutral Milk Hotel as I was grinding out the last few blocks of my jog. I really had forgotten how much I enjoyed this song and this album as a whole, but what most impressed me was the driving, wild nature of the song, which I found to be an instant pick-me-up at the end of a tiring jog. I also really like the way the words seem to just flow together in this song.
In honor of this find today, I’ve started a new playlist for unexpectedly good running songs. We’ll see what else Shuffleupagus can come up with.
Oh and if any of you have any of these chance finds for running, driving, laundering (clothing or money), or anything else, I’d love to hear ‘em.
