The Playlist in My Head

I think anyone who loves music, at certain times of the day, when the mind is calm, finds themselves playing favourite (or not?) songs in their head. I do it all the time, or at least whenever my brain is unoccupied enough for me to fire up my internal music player - sort of like a personal radio station. And it can be pretty interesting to see how that playlist develops. Sometimes the songs are all related by genre, or even by artist, so that there is a sane progression from one tune to the next. But there are days when the illogical leaps from track to track cannot be explained and are downright weird. Like from Megadeth to Madonna? It's happened.

Lemmy brutally attacks my auditory cortex

According to the experts out there, hearing music in one's head is one form of an auditory hallucination. Apparently, this particular type is known as Musical Ear Syndrome, or a Musical Hallucination. I don't feel as though I'm suffering with this "condition", though. I love being able to call up music I love whenever I want, without any need for an external source, and without concern about disturbing others.

This internal playlist thing has been with me for many years. I remember when I was in my late teens, working on a landscaping job, mowing the grass - on a riding mower, thank God - of a massive field for a full day. It was a solitary job and my mind wandered... though I did take care as I steered my lawnmower across the expanse. Back then, I was in full-on Rush mode, listening to their albums almost exclusively. So on that hot and sunny summer day, as I trimmed the grass for hours, I played entire Rush albums in my head. That day, the entire 2112 suite was the highlight. You know you're a fan when you know the music so well that you can run through a song in detail... every word of the lyrics, every note of the guitar, every drum strike, every cymbal nuance. 

I have found that over the years, as I hear new music, and old music that's new to me, even if I don't get all the lyrics straight, I do absorb the vocal sounds well enough for me to play a song in my head. I think I've been that way with a lot of artists, even favourites; I may not know exactly what is sung all the time, but when I play something in my head, it all sounds right. I've always focused much more on the instrumental parts, anyway, so that explains how I could accurately reproduce every musical bar in my mind. Too bad I wasn't a better musician (just a scrappy guitarist who rarely plays nowadays) or I could bang out songs like a pro. 

Anyway, it was just this past week when I took extra special notice of my "internal playlist" and actually wrote down the titles of the songs that played in my head. And I tried my best to just let them happen, and not intentionally call up anything specific. Even if there was a pause after a tune, I'd just let my mind go blank... and sometimes I'd momentarily think back to the previous song. That occasionally led to a replay, if you can believe it. Hey, if I really like a song, it can get stuck in my head for a while, until intense effort forces another one to take over. Then there are the times when the next track picks up very naturally - sometimes it's the song that follows on the recorded album (if I know it that well), sometimes not. Otherwise, the next tune may be determined by the musical artist or the genre, or neither. It can be pretty random.

Warren DeMartini of Ratt solos over my mindgrapes

The workday I chose to document the playlist in my head turned out to be a bit busy, so my list wasn't as long as I'd anticipated. I had to deal with people and tasks that demanded my attention, which interfered with longer spells of personal musical programming, so to speak. But I still came up with a cool, if slightly odd, set of songs.

Love Me Like a Reptile, by metal punk pioneers Motörhead... the only way to wake me up!
Heart of the Sunrise, by 70's progressive rock giants Yes... one of their greatest songs
Love Me Like a Reptile... again. Sorry, I can't explain.
Ace of Spades, by Motörhead
Rocka Rolla, by great grand-daddies of metal, Judas Priest... a lean and mean early gem
Winter, by Priest again.. follows Rocka Rolla on their first album
Cheater, by Priest... yep, same album again
Never Satisfied, by Priest... monster riffs, and follows Cheater on the album
Chase is Better Than the Catch, by Motörhead, again... I was in a Lemmy mood, I guess
Round and Round, by 80's L.A. glam metal band, Ratt... I kept picturing their music videos, too
Lay It Down, also by Ratt... killer guitar riffs and solo... and weirdly memorable music video
Freewheel Burning, by Judas Priest... a fast, soaring and aggressive tune
Running With the Wind, again by Priest
Number of the Beast, by kings of the early 80's New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Iron Maiden
Jamie's Cryin', by hard rockin' partiers, Van Halen... a crunchy yet melodic and oft-sampled song
Flintstones TV show theme song... I have no explanation how that happened
Cygnus X-1: Book 1, by Canadian prog-rock trio, Rush... a doozy of a metallic space trip
Keep It Comin' Love, by K.C. and the Sunshine Band... what the what? Well, I do like it <cough>