I’ve been running to various “cadence” CDs for over a year. I love running to the chants and footfalls of soldiers and sargeants. But I have to admit I am ready for a change. I want to find music to run to that *has a running tempo * to it. The closest thing I’ve been able to find so far is Can-Can music, which seems… well, ridiculous.
I don’t need stuff that is inspiring, or pretty, or rockin’ – I need something with the same “left-right-left-right” beat that I have found so niftily diverting in my cadence CDs.
“Road to Nowhere” - Talking Heads.
“O’Sullivan’s March” - The Chieftains. They probably have lots more similar to this.
“Tryin’ to get to New Orleans” - The Tractors. Just about anything with a “country shuffle” beat to it like this follows a “left-right” tempo.
“Theme from Jack Johnson” - Miles Davis
The first four tracks to the Miles Davis album On The Corner have the same marching tempo and repetative rhythm.
in a very different vein than the above suggestions, my favorite work out songs are “gravel pit” by wu tang and “lose yourself” by eminem. actually just about any eminem is good for running, i think.
Finding running music is actually really hard. It all depends on how fast (or in my case, how slow) you want to run. Personally, more often than not, the beat of the music ends up throwing me off the tempo of my run.
Having said that, here’s my current list of running tracks:
Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
Be Good Johnny - Men at Work
Poor Boy - Nick Drake
Private Conversation - Lyle Lovett
Birdland - Weather Report
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Police
Last Train Home - Pat Metheny Group
Sometimes I slip in Superfly by Curtis Mayfield, which doesn’t really work from a tempo perspective, but is too damn cool.
An MP3 player is so much better than either CD or cassette (remember those?). You can get a very small one with few features and around 128MB for under $100 now (I think). That’s enough memory for most peoples’ runs, I’ guessing.
A couple of good ones are the Hackers soundtracks (I prefer Hackers 2 for running), along with the Mortal Kombat soundtracks. I’m not into techno, but the rhythyms are great for running.
(And if you don’t remember a Hackers 2, that’s because there was none - the soundtrack was so popular they released a sequel to that.)
I’ve found that several Corrosion of Conformity songs fit my pace. The best one for me is Clean My Wounds. It is as close to my natural pace as any song I’ve ever heard.
This will sound weird but I found that light operettas are great for running, Sigmund Romburg and the likes of “The Student Prince” have that driving beat with the uplifting almost inspiring melody. Even Gilbert and Sullivan work out really well for runners.
That being said, I should point out that you should be very careful about what you listen to while running. I was listing to some Gershwin on a pretty good run one evening and some of his tin-pan alley stuff came up and I tried some fancy footwork to go with the syncopation and (you guessed it) I tripped and pretty much totalled my ankle.
Those late in the run errors in judgement can really be costly.
I’m writing these down…! Thanks for all the suggestions. I got the “Run, Lola, Run” sndtrk last night and did 5 painless miles with it today. The tempo was a little slower than I’d like but the music was so darn good, it didn’t matter.
Keep 'em coming; I’m 10K training and only have three weeks to go!
Since you are training for a 10 K. I will tell you my last 200-400 yard music I play mentally as I am finishing up a 10 K when there is nothing left in me, but another runner is up there not quite out of reach.
It’s from a very old Victor Herbert musical called Vagabond King (I think). The movie of it starred (again, I think) Nelson Eddy. I heard that Streisand had a newer version of it. I don’t know.
Anyway, it is very staccato and the pace increases every time it is repeated, so as you sing it in your head you pick up your running pace. And the lyrics won’t let you cut back if there is another runner ahead of you or one coming up on you.
STOUT-HEARTED MEN Lyrics
(chorus)
“Give me some men who are stout-hearted men
Who will fight for the right they adore.
Start me with ten who are stout-hearted men,
And I’ll soon give you ten thousand more.
Oh, shoulder to shoulder, and bolder and bolder
They grow as they go to the fore.
Then there’s nothing in the world can halt or mar a plan
When stout-hearted men can stick together man to man.”
(repeat)
Anyway, it has worked for me. If you can find a recording of it, you will see what I mean.
I would try some Baroque music - it is known for strong, steady rhthyms with a driving bass line.
Composers like Bach, Handel, Vivaldi…
Make sure you pick Concertos and Suites - they tend to have the fast movements. Choral and religious works will tend to be slow and dramatic (not what you want!).
This may seem a bit strange, but I’ve run to a CD by a band called HiM, which is a sort of jazz fusion project. The one that I run to is “Our Point Of Departure”; the reason is that the whole thing was recorded at the same tempo, 130 beats per minute. The band set a tempo and recorded themselves improvising for several days, then Doug took the tapes, spliced and diced, and came back with songs that the band learned and performed live. It features the drummer and bass player from June of 44. I’ve included some links so you can check it out. They’re on tour now, in case you dig them a lot.
You could order it from here (and hear a few snippets)
Or you can hear some snippets and see some pictures here
On another note, I ran for a year listening to ProdigyFat of the Land
I’ve gone through a bunch of my tracks and counted beats-per-second to find music to run to myself. That, combined with a solid, driving relentless beat is the stuff that works well for me. To that end…
Most anything from Fatboy Slim’s “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby”
Other Individual tracks:
Elvis Costello’s “Pump it Up” (Highly Recommended)
The Escape Club’s “Wild Wild West” (Cheesy but good)
Madonna’s “Ray of Light”
Cornershop’s “Heavy Soup” and “Wogs Will Walk”
The Pretenders’ “Message of Love”
Oingo Boingo’s “Weird Science”
The Talking Heads “Love for Sale” and “Wild Wild Life”
Ursula 1000’s “Skeewif vs. Big Les”
Lauren Hoffman’s “Hope You Don’t Mind”
Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life”
No Doubt’s “Hey You” and “Sunday Morning”
INXS’s “New Sensation”
The Clash’s “I Fought the Law”
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult’s “Devil Bunnies” and “Kooler than Jesus”
Björk’s “Big Time Sensuality”
Yello’s “Oh Yeah”
Deee-Lite’s “Groove is in the Heart”
Prince’s “Trust” and “Batdance” (this latter track, in addition to being a bit silly also has a slow section that has thrown my stride off).
Beck’s “Mixed Bizness” and “Sexx Laws”