neilfein

I was listening to the album "Snow" by Spock's Beard on the train in today, and realized I always listen to this album on tour. I also get The Rain is Back in my head (a song I wrote myself about touring).

What music do y'all associate with touring? Whether you listen on the bike or off (that's another discussion, please let's not go there int his thread), what tunes are your touring faves?

Neil_B

Whatever happens to be in my faux-Pod at a given time.

What I hum or sing when riding is another matter. That runs the gamut from pop stuff to Bach, with Bach predominating.

staehpj1

My touring music is all in my head unless I break into song. When I first actually heard music coming from a car radio when I went for a ride with my host after being on the bike for a couple months it was a strange sensation to actually *hear* music.

Really weird songs pop into my head and are often triggered by a location or a sign. I seem to have no control over them and don't always know what triggered their arrival. For example Rocky Top was stuck in my head for an hour before I realized that we were arriving in a town named Rocky Top. I guess my subconscious registered a sign or something.

Some persistent ones from my cross country tour:

1. Life's Been Good (Joe Walsh)
2. Rocky Racoon (Beatles)
3. Bicycle Song/Brand New Key (Melanie)
4. Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)
5. The Wind Cries Mary (Jimi Hendrix)
6. Rocky Top (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band?)
7. Operator (Jim Croce)
8. Memphis Tennessee (Johnny Rivers)
9. Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffet)
10. Various Queen songs including Bicycle Race and Fat Bottomed Girls (I often tormented the young women I was riding with by singing the latter when riding behind them)

rhm

Yeah, that sums it up for me, too.... One of the things I like about a long bike ride is to be alone with my thoughts, yet wide awake, for an extended period of time. Things I see remind me of songs I've heard... sometimes songs I haven't listened to in years... and don't remember all that well. Even so, they start playing in my mind.

A couple years ago I was climbing mountains in Colorado for a week, and I found myself singing "Short Grass" by Ian and Sylvia... not a song I had memorized! Had to seek it out and listen to it several times after getting back home.

staehpj1

Me too but for different songs. There were a few I looked up when I got home. Still it was surprising how well I could figure out long forgotten lyrics when a tune is stuck in my heard for weeks.

El Pelon

I don't listen to music when I ride . . . I like to hear the traffic coming up behind me, and when there is none, the sounds around me like the birds, and the wind through the trees. I confess, though, to sometimes wishing I had a radio so that I could listen to NPR to break the monotony of a 40 mile slog through a headwind.

bikebuddha 

Beethoven's 6th Symphony Pastoral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._6_(Beethoven)

Neil_B

Which recording? Otto Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra and Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony are two of my personal favorites, along with Ricardo Muti/Philadelphia Orchestra for a 'modern' recording.

carkmouch

I've never toured with music, but I think listening to the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack on tour would be interesting.

I bought a cheapo mini-FM radio for a dollar that I plan to take on tour sometime. I think I'd occasionally like to hear whats on the radio.

Joshua1234

"stars of the lid"

Neil_B

It's hard to imagine Phillip Glass as interesting under any circumstances, but to each his own.

xilios

X2 But we do bring along music to listen to when the day is over and we're having drinks.
Pink Floyd, The Verve, The Cure, Moby, REM, Depeche Mode, Dido, Buddha Bar, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, INXS, Oasis, Pet shop boys, Phil Collins, Scorpions, well you get the picture

The Figment

Grateful Dead (generally live and lots)
Pink Floyd
Zepplin
Doors
Zappa
String Cheese Incident
Bob Marley
Hendrix
Yes
ELP

Gawd I love Bitorrents!

arctos

Only the music in my brain usually Beethoven String Quartets-the late ones. Aside from the safety factor, music from a radio or mp3 player would distract me from the natural world around me. One of my great pleasures in touring is that immersion in nature. I do not want to miss the here and now.

Joshua1234

I think the one song he has made is nice but good god he needs to move on. I would take Steve Reich over Glass any day.

Erick L

John Cage's 4:33... over and over and over and over.

Neil_B

Or John Adams, for that matter.

atlascomplete

"Runnin' on empty" by Jacksone Bronwne.

...

...

I don't tour, but if I did, that'd be my theme song.

Hofweber

Post Rock:
Explosions in the Sky
Sigur Ros
Mogwai
Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Lou627

check out john scofield's album Uberjam

eastbaybob

I was riding around in Thailand and I decided to sing a song by the White Stripes. I've heard this stuff a thousand times, but it turned out that I did not no three words in a row.

The next trip I took my walkman, and listening to the White Stripes, or anything and a long day, made it seem like a sound track to the ride, and added an interesting element to the days.

I like stuff like Sigur Ros, and have found it to be great to listen to while being driven around Bangkok, but on the bike I need a little bit more sound, loud sound.

So far my favorite has been the Tommy side from the Who live at Leeds special edition.

I too would like to thank the inventor of bit torrents, and the fine folk at the pirates bay!

raybo

When I ride, I listen to books on tape. Since this only requires one ear bug I can listen to traffic and the book at the same time. Between touring and training, I listen to about 50 books a year.

Some of the best I heard lately are:

The Siege of Mecca - the story of a 1979 (the millenium on the Islamic calendar) take over of the main mosque in Mecca. An incredible story that predates our current situation but sowed the seeds of it.

The Conscience of a Liberal - an intelligent review of the past 100 years of political and economic history.

1434 - the story of the cross-fertilization of 1400 China and Europe. Fascinatingly different history than they taught in high school.

Justinian's Flea - the history of the late Roman Empire and the effect that flea-carried plagues on world history.

Into the Wild - a great read on tour.

Born Standing Up - Steve Martin's biography of the stand-up comedian he used to be.

The World Without Us - What would happen to the man-made systems on Earth if humans suddenly disappeared.

Three Cups of Tea - optimistic story about how one man can make a different in the world.


I also carry about 500 songs to listen to when words get tedious.

Ray