Blog Post Soundtracks
Music and blog posts go well together.
#105 · · readA wise man named Simon once told me that blog posts can come with their own soundtracks. It feels like this happened many years ago, in a place so remote that it must have been on the other side of the world. Come to think of it, it wasn't that long ago, but the remoteness of the matter is accurate. My girlfriend Sophia, my friend Manu and I had only just set off on this adventure that took us to the South Island of New Zealand.
In the land of Aotearoa, that became the template for Middle Earth thanks to its never-ending beauty, we met French solo traveller Simon. Little did I know how important music actually was to him. But then again, already on the second day after we've met, he played Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" enthusiastically on the piano while we stayed at the legendary Forest Lodge, somewhere in the mountains of Canterbury.
When he joined our travel group, he would chant and sing along on our roadtrip to the likes of "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac, "Zou bisou bisou" by Gillian Hills and "La ballade des gens heureux" by Gérard Lenorman, which could easily be Simon's very own anthem. If there's one track that sums up what kind of a person Simon is, it would have to be "the ballad of happy people", because that's exactly who he is. He always carried a smile on his face and oftentimes a tune on his lips. In the end, it was no surprise that it was him who introduced me to the idea of Blog Post Soundtracks.
I realised only much later that they made their way into my own blog posts:
- Obongjayar's "I Wish It Was Me" goes well with Insomnia Hobbies.
- "Sjurvival" by Forest Sword and Please Look After My Dog For Me just belong together.
- And then there's Fred again's piano version of Kyle (Northern Line), a perfect match with Travel Joker.
I even took it a step further when I created entire playlists dedicated to posts such as Blissful Travel Mind and 2023 in Music.
I guess I always had wise man Simon in the back of my mind, whistling a happy tune, when unknowingly, I introduced Blog Post Soundtracks to my life.