charles barrow's writing

I go out walking daily, regardless of the weather. I walk by the sea, mostly, but do have a shorter more local walk, through the park, if the weather is especially inclement. I walk for exercise, for the fresh air, to clear my head, to give myself thinking time, creative energy, and to just 'be' in nature and monitor the seasonal changes that can easily be missed during a fast walk to the station, or a struggle back from the supermarket with an overladen bag. And while I walk I sing to myself, under my breath, sometimes more loudly if I've checked behind and know that no one else will hear me. Sometimes one song will lodge in my head for weeks and become the oft repeated soundtrack to my walks. Often that can be just a snatch of verse and the chorus of a song, stuck on repeat, which, after a while becomes annoying, as any song stuck on repeat would annoy, and I have to make a conscious effort to shift it. Mostly this can be achieved by simply replacing it with another song,...

Music. Very evocative, but very subjective. One person's all time favourite, is someone else's headache. And a lot of it is elevator music, muzak, annoying ear worm, a racket. Of course, with some tunes, there is also a lot more going on than lyrics and a melody. There is the instant Bing of recognition when the opening bars of a song starts, that can transport the listener to another time and place completely. For me this happens, most often, with songs from my youth. To be honest, I don't even have to much like a song to have this happen, but most times I don't choose those tracks, they just appear on a nearby radio, but a big part of the appeal of my favourite ones is that they do transport me back to what, now, seems like simpler days (though I'm sure I never thought my life was simple at the time). The memories aren't necessarily all happy, of course, a break-up song is just as evocative as a make-out song.  Another bonus of an old favourite is that I reme...