I’m gathering a playlist as one of my tools to help me relax and keep my mind off the pain. Probably goes w/o saying, but I’m not looking for anything negative, angst-ridden, discordant, or (too) sad. It doesn’t necessarily have to be slow. (I don’t think. Who knows what might annoy me at the time.) As an example, here are some songs I’ve considered:
Prelude in E Minor op. 28 - Chopin
Cancion del Mariachi - Dois A Um
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
Arietta, from Lyric Pieces - Grieg
Escucha Me - Gypsy Kings
To Zion - Lauren Hill
Tell Him - Lauren Hill
Most any song by Ray Lynch
Fantasy in D minor, KV 397 - Mozart
Is It Possible - Sade
You Think I’d Leave Your Side - Sade
October: Autumn song, from The Seasons - Tchaikovsky
Midnight Special - Buckwheat Zydeco (this song makes me happy and I like this version of it…I guess it is not real happy…“ain’t no food up on the table…” but this is what I mean about not (too) sad – it doesn’t have to be completely absent of sadness.
I need more! I have a variety because I don’t know if peaceful classical will annoy me to death and I’ll want something more modern/something with words or vice versa. So what ya got for me?
King of Pain by The Police
Ordinary Pain by Steve Wonder
Labor of Love by Randy Travis
Push-It by Salt-N-Peppa
Hurt So Good by John Mellencamp
Paradise By the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf
Turn of That Fucking Radio and Call the Anesthesiologist by you at 7 cm
Hey man, all I had to do was watch, but I’m pretty sure music wasn’t going to be appreciated.
Ha! Thanks for making me laugh, WarmnPrickly. If THOSE were the choices I doubt I would appreciate them either…
I’m not familiar with that last one you named.
I was going to bring my Elliott Smith “XO” CD, and maybe some Jane Siberry. Then I was stupid and waited too long to leave for the hospital and had to make a mad dash, leaving behind everything I’d planned to bring with me, including my wallet and house keys. So, that’s not recommended. Check out the Elliott Smith, though!
How about some Dead Can Dance? They have a lot of really relaxing and neat stuff, (did you know that Lisa Gerrard makes up nonsense lyrics to a lot of her stuff? It sounds sort of Eastern but it’s not any language, apparently)
Music to Be Born By by Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead seems to fit the bill pretty well. It’s totally unlistenable as anything else, but it’s set to the beat of his son’s in uetro heartbeat and was recorded as music for him to be born to, so maybe this will work. Warning - serious hippie vibes abound.
Ha! I have a “Labor” playlist on my iPod. A lot of it is stuff that not everyone will dig (I doubt you want to listen to even the mellowest Alice in Chains, for example) but here’s some of the songs that I think might have universal appeal.
“Orange Sky” – Alexi Murdoch
“Save Me” – Aimee Mann
“Rest Your Eyes” – Azure Ray
“By My Side” – Ben Harper
“I Try” – Ben Taylor (cover of the Macy Gray song)
“First Day Of My Life” – Bright Eyes
“Lullaby” – Dixie Chicks
“Hope For the Hopeless” – A Fine Frenzy
“The Part Where You Let Go” – Hem
“My Own Two Hands” – Jack Johnson feat. Ben Harper
“Could I Be Your Girl” – Jann Arden
“Come And Find Me” – Josh Ritter
“Crow’s Nest” – Kelly Joe Phelps
“Trouble” – Ray Lamontagne
“Samson” – Regina Spektor
“Breathe Me” – Sia
“Windfall” – Son Volt
“Sweet Euphoria” – Chris Cornell
“Feelin’ Good” – Nina Simone
“Across the Universe” – Rufus Wainwright (Beatles cover)
“No Lies, Just Love” – Bright Eyes
“Playground Love” – Air
“Landslide” – Fleetwood Mac
“Hold You In My Arms” – Ray Lamontagne
“Distractions” – Zero 7
Everybody’s labor experience is a little different I’m sure. I think music would help me, but not my wife. My wife was induced about a month ago. For about half a day, nothing was happening and we were both calmly surfing the web. Then she went from a 3 to a 9 in an hour. She was not happy. Stadol just made her feel ill. The best I could do was tiptoe around without making any noise, because anything that disturbed her made her sick. There were no breathing excersizes and no positions. My orders were “shut up and sit quiet.” “No sit over there!”
