I’ve started walking in the morning. In the early morning. If it’s not crappy out, I’ll get up around quarter to six, hop into some sweats and a tee shirt, pop my iPhone’s earbuds in and head around the block for a walk of about 35 minutes (it’s a big block, y’all).
Here’s my Ten Things Tuesday list; these are ten songs in my “walking” playlist that are the perfect tempo for a good, heart-rate-rising walking workout:
1. A Change Would Do You Good by Sheryl Crow. I like to start with this one; it’s fast enough to get me moving, but not so kicky that I get moving too quickly and burn out before I even begin.
2. I Like to Move It by K.K. Project and Madagascar 5. I associate this song with Dudley, for some reason. We had fun dancing to this at his wedding and, like Ms. Crow’s offering, it’s got a good warm-up beat.
3. Who Let the Dogs Out by the Baha Men. Yeah, I know, I know; I love it, though, and I never claimed that my work-out music was the epitome of musical classics, did I? I’ve got the extended version, even (I KNOW!) and it gets me through five and a half minutes of pavement with a smile on my face.
4. I’m Outta Love by Anastacia. She’s got the strangest voice – I imagine she talks like Lauren Bacall – but I like it. The song is about a strong woman, and I like that, too. I usually play this one at the end of my walk; the tempo is good for cooling down.
5. The Way You Move by Outkast. Great beat, funky lyrics; it all just works.
6. Rock Star by N.E.R.D (Jason Nevins Remix). I first heard this song as a ten second clip on an iPod commercial way back in the day, and I was surprised to find that one couldn’t buy the song on iTunes. What’s up with THAT? So, me being who I am, I wrote a letter to Apple and said “What’s up with THAT?” The song showed up in iTunes about 3 months later, and it’s in my walking list.
7. Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong by The Spin Doctors. I love this song anyway (“It’s been a whole lot easier since the bitch left town / it’s been a whole lot happier without her face around”) and the tempo is perfect.
8. We Are by Vertical Horizon. This is one of the few rock songs I’ve got on the list, and it’s good for either the beginning or the end of the workout; the tempo is strong and driving, but not too fast. I actually like to have this one playing as I’m going uphill; it keeps me on track without killing me in the process.
9. Limelight by Rush. Here’s the other rock song (there’s a Genesis song in the list, too – Turn It On Again – but I’ve not shuffled around to that song yet, so I don’t know if the beat will work *edited – I have, and it does*), I’ve always LOVED this song (“each another’s audience outside the gilded cage”) and it’s fun to walk to.
10. Midnight Blue by Lou Gramm. This one works on a lot of levels – I like the lyrics (“I ain’t losing track of / which way I’m going / I ain’t gonna double-back, no” and “I used to follow / yeah, that’s true / but my following days are over / now I’m just gonna follow through”) but the strong beat is what really makes it one of my favorites; at least, in this application. This is another one I like to hear when I’m going up a hill; the beat is enough to drive me onward.
Happy Tuesday, Everyone!
Who are you and what have you done with my sister? My sister DOES NOT get up at 0′ dark thirty!
“Limelight” is one of the greatest songs ever written and recorded.
No, Auntie; it’s still me. Having kids really changed my internal clock. I’m awake around 5:15 every morning now, though I’m rarely out of bed before 6:00. I figured that I could put that time to better use by hoofing around the neighborhood, so I’m giving it a shot.
Bo, I entirely agree.
I used to work for a cryogenics company (yes, we froze superheroes in suspended animation
) whose owner was fresh off the boat from Scotland, and he LOVED “Who Let the Dogs Out!”
So, picture, if you will, a fat, bespectaled, middle-aged, balding, fish-belly white Scotsman kickin’ out “Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who?”
Frickin’ hilarious!
I Like to Move It! — We call it the Lemur Song after the Lemurs in Madagascar. Great dancing song. We had the DJ find it for the reception
Ooh, that’s a good playlist for walking!
I really enjoyed reading your list! We have very similar tastes in music
hey, i have a walking playlist too!
Walking = Blech!
I did start riding my bike today. Now if the weather will just freaking cooperate.
I tuned up our bikes today, it’s only an eight mile ride to the campus. Maybe we’ll start doing that. Do helmets help if we each have a coronary thing on the way in? We’ll find out.
I love reading the playlists of others. I get in such a rut with music. 3000 songs and nothing to listen to.
I’m planning on walking every day in the evening. We’ll see how it goes.
Glad to see VH in there!
You have great discipline to get up early and do that before work. It’s a hard thing to do. There are times in my life when I have done it, but it certainly wasn’t my favorite thing. Very impressed with you!
I’m hoping that since it’s so early that you’re mostly alone. The reason I say this is that I ride my bike a lot, and I HATE people with iPods. I don’t care if they listen to it; I understand. But it’s dangerous! They can’t hear anything, and I can’t politely tell them to “watch their left” because they don’t hear me. NO amount of warning is ever heard. So I have to creep up behind them (because they don’t bother to walk to the left or right of the path, either) until I eventually scare the shit out of them because they finally catch a glimpse of me right behind them. They jump off the path in terror, and I pass as they flip me off or give me a hateful look for interrupting their reverie. Whatever. I will admit that since I’m pulling a bike trailer, it is wider, and I can’t just easily pass most of the time. But I have to think that if I were riding without one and COULD easily pass, it would be no better because my whizzing past them would scare them just as much.
Because your writing and comments are always so ultimately sensible, I have to believe you would hear me or pay attention if I were coming upon you in a bike. And I also think you wouldn’t blame ME for startling you. Just a warning of the dangerous!
And I’d really like to come up behind someone who was getting into ANY of those songs! It would make my day!
Okay, Falcon? Seriously? Now I’m going to picture that every time I hear the song. You crack me up.
Dudley, I KNEW I knew that song from you. Is that associated with “smile and wave, Boys… smile and wave”?
You guys, I prefer walking to biking (in this application, anyway)
because I get to listen to music. I wouldn’t plug in on a bike; it’s not safe.
Snob, I only go when the weather is nice. I’ve decided I’m not going to turn this into a drudgery; if it’s not fun, I won’t do it.
I’m tellin’ ya, Gerry – I LOVE THEM, and have for years and years.
Oh, then you’d LOVE me, Brenda. I have my iPod loud enough to hear the music, but not so loud that I can’t hear the birds, too. I’d hear you if you were coming up behind me (but maybe not if I were singing along to whatever’s playing). I’m betting you’d also get a kick out of me because I also catch myself grooving, especially if the song’s got attitude (and many of them do). I bet I’d be embarrassed by how I look, bobbing my head and snapping my fingers. Of course, I’d have to care about such things to be embarrassed, so I guess that’s taken care of….
Crap, I love you. You have 4 of my favorites; Anastacia, RUSH, Midnight Blue and Vertical Horzion. They are all on my ‘BEST of’ playlist as well.
I grew up with Canadian Rush and I realize that I have NOTHING by them any longer so that I had entirely forgotten “limelight.” which if I had to create a playlist of my early adolescence, would loom large. So would “turn it on again” and “stairway to heaven” (Blech), “lamb lies down on Broadway,” as well as more Canadian stuff like “Safety Dance” and “Sunglasses at Night.”
As for your walking early – go girlfriend!! I find that now that it’s light out so early, I am always awake, although not out of bed, by 5:30 and getting my ass around the block with my mp3 player (turned down low enough to save my life) would do me good. Need to steal some songs, though…
Okay. I’m hardly breathing. You’ve got me in shock over your tunes.
Outkast? Really?
I am slowly retreating and turning to my mantra music.
I wish I could sleep in until 6:00 I have to leave for work at 5:30 and live 100 miles from where I teach.
#3 – very popular here in the Land of Husky Basketball. overkill.
#7 always makes me smile.
#10. 1981 High school. Need I say more? That song is part of my DNA.