Music to Hurtle to
Feb. 5th, 2010 06:54 pmI have a playlist on my iPhone which I listen to on the train from Cambridge to London. It's full of lots of stuff which just seems to make an ideal soundtrack to watching scenery fly by. Here's what's in it:
Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce
Wild Swans - Eliza Aria - Elena Kats-Chernin
Walking in the air - Nightwish's cover
Cliffs of Dover - Tamas Szekeres
City of New Orleans - Johnny Cash
Little Britain - Dreadzone
Human - The Killers
Surfing On a Rocket - Air
Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner
So, any ideas for additions to the list?
Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/224454.html - you can comment here or there.
Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce
This is great for when the train has picked up speed (these trains cruise at 100mph), especially when there's scenery close by - the frantic guitar playing seems to work well with disparate stuff thundering past by the window.
Wild Swans - Eliza Aria - Elena Kats-Chernin
If you like in the UK you know this, even if you don't recognise the title. It's the Lloyds TSB advert music - this one:
The relevance to train travel should be pretty obvious...
Walking in the air - Nightwish's cover
This is the ultimate music for sitting by the window of a train at speed, especially when it goes into its instrumental bit. It helps if this coincides with the train hurtling into a tunnel - the music just seems to capture the raw power of hundreds of tonnes of metal consuming a sizeable fraction of a power station's output to thunder at breathtaking speed across the landscape. I need to take the Eurostar to Paris just so I can listen to this on a 180mph train!
Cliffs of Dover - Tamas Szekeres
Entirely instrumental and just seems to work really well accompanying movement.
City of New Orleans - Johnny Cash
This isn't one for a train at speed so much, but it harks back to an era when train travel was perhaps more romantic. The rhythm is evocative of the "clickety clack, clickety clack, clickety clack, clickety clack" noise that trains used to make before they switched to welded rail. Great nostalgic stuff. Perhaps best for long Intercity journeys, sitting at a table with friends playing cards and drinking beer.
Little Britain - Dreadzone
Another fast track. Almost as perfect as Nightwish's Snowman cover for accompanying the raw force of a train at speed.
Human - The Killers
Perhaps a slightly odd choice, this one. The pulsing beat and sudden changes in volume and tempo seem to work very well though.
Surfing On a Rocket - Air
Time, for flying rockets, for silver jets, for surfing bombs! This one is all about the technology and the idea that the train is whisking me away, perhaps to cooler and more interesting things.
Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner
Does this need any explanation? Works best when you're not loitering around waiting for a signal to go green, obviously!
So, any ideas for additions to the list?
Originally posted at http://auntysarah.dreamwidth.org/224454.html - you can comment here or there.