Is That a Song in Your Head or . . .

I woke up this morning with this song in my head:

I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life

I put my faith in the people
But the people let me down
So I turned the other way
And I carry on, anyhow

That's why I'm telling you
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of life

This particular song happens to be I Just Want to Celebrate by Rare Earth from 1971. You know how some people kid around and say they have voices in their head? Well, I have music in my head.

Now, before you say, "So what? Everybody gets music stuck in their head", I need to let you know that I haven't heard this song for years. I don't especially like this song and IT WOKE ME UP! It was like an alarm radio went off. I sat bolt upright in the dark, looked at the clock (it was 5:20 AM), and said, "Ah shit! Not again."

You see, one of my many quirks is that my life has a soundtrack. Everywhere I go, no matter what I am doing, there is music in my head. And I'm not talking about hearing my own voice doing a vague, or even passable, rendition of some song you hear on the radio or on TV. I mean I hear the song as it was originally performed by the original artists. I am talking full blown soundtrack.

I'm the only person I know of that can listen to their iPod without earbuds.

I have heard various theories, such as: "So you're into music. You think thematically. Maybe in another life you would have been a composer. Or maybe you would have scored movies. Maybe you think your life is some big adventure that requires a soundtrack. Maybe you think you are the center of the universe and you require a theme song."

All good theories, except that often times the music I hear has nothing to do with whatever I am currently doing. I don't hear Dean Martin or Bobby Darren when I am being terminally cool. I don't hear the classical strains of some cello solo when I gaze at the distant mountains or Lalo Schifrin's Mission Impossible music while driving my sports car.

I hear Julie Andrews singing the theme from The Sound of Music during funerals. I hear German beer hall music while making love and Pink Floyd while I'm drifting off to sleep.

Some of the music I am familiar with and some of it I honestly don't remember even hearing before. I have found that real, live music will neutralize it, so I listen to my music collection a lot or I'll have the TV on in the background.

Every now and then I will like what is playing in my head and just go with it. I love it when Sousa happens to be on while I'm cutting the grass. I finish in, like, half the time. Wagner is a little dangerous, though. (Try goose-stepping behind a self propelled mower.)

So if you ever see me and wonder why my mood doesn't match everyone else's in the room, it probably has something to do with my personal soundtrack. David Rose's The Stripper during Sunday school will always disturb the Baptists and Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit at a comedy club is just wrong. Fortunately it is mostly culture specific and I don't have to listen to that pingey Japanese music or Rap.

And thank God it's not a laughtrack. I already have performance issues.

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