I was listening to
Animals by
Pink Floyd on my mp3 player and had one of those moments that define the future. This album by
Pink Floyd is still my favorite album to walk with. I also greatly enjoy listening to various
Yes songs while walking.
Yes songs are more positive but are somewhat meaningless. There is no perfect album like
Animals. It has just the right amount of realistic lyrics and minimalistic classical music. No doubt the the lyrics could be a little depressing if I weren't sort of associating the realism with the world I have left behind, am walking to avoid, so to speak. The next closest perfect walking album would be most of the tracks from
Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. While the sparceness of the beginning of Shine On You Crazy Diamond really works, "Welcome to the Machine" is just too jarringly non fluid to walk to. I can get very esoteric in my taste here preferring to hear all the movements of the song "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" in order without the editing. And I like to hear "Pigs on the Wing" without the edits as well. I understand the reason for editing and making the album more palatable with this semi positive song as a frame to begin and end with, but honestly, it is much better as a concluding movement, where all hope is abandoned with it appearing as more of an unrealistic coda. It's a harsh world and sometimes accepting it and putting it behind you can be relaxing. "Comfortably Numb," I guess, maybe in a
1984 /
Animal Farm sort of way. :)
Just don't ask me why I can listen to such strong themes and relax. Somehow I find the way reality is described to be smartly analogous to what I am escaping. The world has grown to be a closer fit to Pink Floyd's historical lyrics. I must admit that most of the time I do not have the strength to listen to continuously meaningful music. I also have a walking list that includes many friendly accoustic songs, some meaningful, some not so much. But somehow I always come back to this stuff. It isn't when I'm upset with the world. It's when I feel strong and self deterministic that I like to explore this realm of reality tinged with dreamlike minimalism.
Animals (in the order I like) [warning: mature language and adult themes]
Pigs (Three Different Ones):
Sheep:
Dogs:
Pigs on the Wing (parts 1 and 2 bridged with guitar solo):
On the "Pigs on the Wing" video of the photo shoot: didn't you assume the pig was some kind of special effect on the album cover, akin to photoshopping of more recent times? Nope, not in my day. :)
