21 sonic landmarks to travel by
Above/featured: Late-winter sun over Lands End, San Francisco, USA – 18 Mar 2012 (HL).
These are sonic landmarks and signposts marking passages of time. They’re also some of my favourite tunes to set the tone by which I’ll travel or while away the hours. That’s when I allow my mind to wander in dreamless landscapes, disentangle wished-upon possibilities, trek through inaccessible realms, sail on faraway seas, and arrive at a distant universe where Dad’s kickin’ it large with age.
With a sprinkling of songs in German and Spanish, your kilometrage may vary with these songs between 1975 and 2017. Select a single track or the entire playlist; I hope you enjoy listening to one and all.
| Artist | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| Kate Bush | Running Up That Hill | Hounds of Love |
| Tom Cochrane & Red Rider | Ocean Blues (Emotion Blue) | Tom Cochrane & Red Rider |
| Die Ärzte | Schrei nach Liebe (“cry for love”) |
Die Bestie in Menschengestalt |
| 54-40 | One Day In Your Life | Show Me |
| Genesis | Keep It Dark | Abacab |
| Matthew Good | Weapon | Avalanche |
| Jesse y Joy | Electricidad (“electricity”) |
Electricidad |
| Juli | Elektrisches Gefühl (“electric feeling”) |
In Love |
| Louka | Flimmern (“flicker”) |
Flimmern EP |
| Keane | Atlantic | Under the Iron Sea |
| Pearl Jam | Off He Goes | Live at the Showbox |
| Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here | Wish You Were Here |
| Radiohead | How to Disappear Completely | Kid A |
| Radiohead | Let Down | OK Computer |
| Rush # | YYZ | Moving Pictures |
| Silbermond | Himmel auf (“open skies”) |
Himmel auf |
| Silbermond | Unendlich (“endless”) |
Laut gedacht |
| Temple of the Dog | Hunger Strike (1991) Hunger Strike (2011 live) |
Temple of the Dog |
| Spiritualized | Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Elvis version) | Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space |
| The Sundays | Goodbye | Blind |
| The Sundays | My Finest Hour | Reading, Writing and Arithmetic |
| Entire playlist | ||
I published my list on 31 July 2017; the post appears on fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-ad8. Edited: 10 Jan 2020, 1 Dec 2018.
# Neil Peart, author and drummer and songwriter with the Canadian rock band Rush, died on 7 Jan 2020 at age 67 from brain cancer. The first time I truly heard Rush was alone in the mountains of north-central Chile. It was a beautiful spring September evening: clear skies, and running solo at the helm of a 60-cm telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. Melody and rhythm echoed inside the dome and around the Atacama landscape, a voyage through space and time (src).
Fotoeins Fotografie 
6 Responses to “21 sonic landmarks to travel by”
Thanks for sharing your list – Some of my favourites in amongst that lot – and some new (to me) artists to explore!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sue, for your kind comment. it was a bit of a task to narrow the list down to a “mere” 20 to 22 songs 😅
Which songs do we have in common?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I doubt that I could condense to only 20-22!
Kate Bush, Genesis and, of course, Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here – a long-standing favourite of mine!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi, Sue. It was interesting (and difficult) to shrink the list to what it is now. I’ll probably change or add entries to the list in the near future 😆
LikeLike
[…] compiled a list of songs accompanying my travel, a soundtrack that’s full of meaning and memories. This is another set, a listing of 22 […]
LikeLike
[…] 21 sonic landmarks to travel by […]
LikeLike