Assignment 23: Theodore

I am the wrong person to design a playlist. While I enjoy listening to music, I haven’t looked for new music since 2015. Two factors are at work here:

1. The decline of CDs: A decade ago, I understood how to listen to music. I could pick out an audiocassette or a CD and click it into a CD player. But within a few years, CD players became as obsolete as record players. I still haven’t figured out how to access modern music. Some sort of “streaming” is involved; the Internet sends music to me. However, how do I listen to that music once it arrives? Contemporary music players are either cell phones or miniscule iPods which lack speakers. I think I’m supposed to use earphones, but putting tiny speakers in my ears is antisocial at best and a menace at worst: Pedestrians with earbuds walk across streets without bothering to look left or right.
2. My infatuation with radio: At about the same time that CDs disappeared, I realized that the voices on the radio were more than background noise. The news is more engaging than any TV show, partly because truth is stranger than reality. Perhaps I have become a little obsessed; I can identify NPR newscasters by their voices. Anyway, I always choose the radio over music.

As a result of my dated musical knowledge, my playlist will center on nostalgia.

1. “Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh” — Shantanu Moitra and Shaan.

This song is featured in the movie 3 Idiots, one of my favorite films. The singer is trying to find one of his best friends from college, Rancho. But the movie is so much more than that; it’s funny, sad, profound, irreverent, and a good reminder to minimize stress. You should see it.

2. “Fernando” — ABBA.

ABBA is probably my favorite band, if only because I have heard their songs more often than any other band’s. Come to think of it, I actually haven’t listened to any ABBA song in at least a year. This particular song is a lament for the lost moments of yesterday.

3. “There Are Places I Remember” — The Beatles.

However, we shouldn’t spend our time obsessing over what is irretrievably lost. This song points out that while the past always stays with us, we must not overlook what we have now.

4. “The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be” — Tom Lehrer.

In fact, perhaps the whole idea of nostalgia is mawkish. In this ballad about the Old West — actually, the New West — Lehrer shows that it’s unwise to be sentimental about something that has moved on.

5. “Ain't No Sunshine When I'm Gone” — Capitol Steps.

But sometimes reminiscence has its place. For example, everyone fondly remembers when politics made sense. Here, two singers — who sound an awful lot like our two previous presidents — reflect on how America has changed.