Story-A-Day #246: Desert Island IPod

DESERT iSLAND IPOD

I got home from work and threw my earphones haphazardly onto the table and that's how it all started.

"Which ones would you pick?" she asked.

"Which what?"

"Which discs. If you were going to be stranded?"

I looked at the earbuds on the little tray of beach sand and shells and regretted my lazy choice of headphone storage.

"None," I replied. "I'd bring my iPhone."

"Okay, so if you had to delete a bunch of music before the trip to make room for loads of photos, which ten would you leave in?"

"I'd leave songs, not albums." I could see the petulance rising into the edges of her face and knew I would have to give her something. "Give me a minute to think about it," I finally conceded.

And I did, long and hard, before finally presenting my list. She nodded eagerly along with each selection and rationale. It didn't matter what I chose, it was the fact that I was compartmentalizing and listing. She loved it.

1. Kid A because it always brings me to a specific place and time, handy on those down days, and I would need some Radiohead.

2. The Man Who because Writing To Reach You would be good on bottle message days, and Why Does It Always Rain On Me is a no-brainer for hurricane season.

3. Angel Dust because it reminds me of the importance of personal choice; we were still jamming to Faith No More when the rest of the world had gone grunge.

4. Young Team because it would be great to trip out to in the blazing sun, but mostly for Mogwai Fear Satan which is perfect mood music no matter what your mood is. It's a life soundtrack for sure.

5. The Postal Service's unique one-off because it is filled with promise and potential and is already linked to countless good times.

6. Pigeon John and The Summertime Pool Party for those days I might feel like dancing and laughing.

7. The score for Last of the Mohicans so I could listen to Elk Hunt when I ran through the jungle, and to feel all the emotions my adolescent heart attached to that film and that music.

8. Faithless' Greatest Hits for those blissed out days of trance and mania.

9. The Bends, because I would never be happy with just Kid A.

10. And finally, and perhaps most fittingly, the soundtrack for The Beach, one of the single greatest collections ever assembled for a film, and if I'm going to be stranded on an island in paradise, how could I not have this with me?

That's my list. For today at least. There is always room for shuffling, especially with an impossible task like selecting just 10 of your thousands of favorite albums.

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