Thursday 16 August 2007

Listening to Music in the Kitchen

In my house the normal scheme of things is reversed with my kids shouting at me to turn the music down.

This is because I can only cook if I am listening to music. I have a whole load of CDs(out of their cases for easy access) which sometimes get messed up and which I wipe clean with a tea towel. Some are irreversably damaged, and I know which ones they are and wait for the hiccup in the music. So some tracks for me are forever associated with sudden unexplicable breaks in the melody.

Classical music doesn't do it for me. It doesn't have much of a beat, though some of the Strauss Waltzs are quite rhythmic. I do like rhythm and blues music and have a collection of tracks complied by Keith Richards. The Rolling Stones are brill. I like 'Brown Sugar', which has a suitably culinary title, especially if you are making cakes. I like English music with intelligent lyrics like 'The Kinks', Jarvis Cockers 'Pulp' and 'Madness', and am quite into my daughter's 'Barbie' CD, which is bubble-gum pop, sad to say. I like 'New Order' and am partial to a bit of punk, or punk-lite like 'Ian Drury and The Blockheads'. It inspired me to read his biography, and what a charismatic frontman he was, though not possessed of the pop star good looks, in that he was shorter than average and had a leg damaged by polio.

As a child of the eighties I like Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna. I also possess a CD of the music of Ennio Morricone, which I got free in a paper, who wrote the soundtracks of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns. 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' is so evocative of outlawry in the Mexican desert with its dischordant and dangerous sound effects that it even provoked the curiosity of my son who opened the kitchen door for once and asked me what on earth I was listening to.

Sad to say, if the kitchen door is open I adjust my music to make a good impression on any neighbours who may be sitting in their gardens. To appear sophisticated and eclectic in my musical tastes I might play a bit of Ray Charles, or to give the ambience of cool and laid-backness I might give Bob Marley a spin.

Also sad, I give myself soundtracks to my life. For instance when my sister and I were helping each other out I used to play 'Sister Sledges' 'We are Family' a lot, and when things are going well I like to play The Maverick's 'Dance The Night Away'.

7 comments:

Rima said...

"Red, red wiiine.." My 7-year old thinks it's so lame, so we listen to Ashley Tisdale and Miley Cyrus (Billie Ray Cyrus's offspring, I kid you not).

PS 1: Thanks for the comment on today's post, you should go back if you want to see what I look like, hehe
PS 2: Am I allowed to call you the "B" name? or are we sticking with Eleanor/Eleanor's mum?

Love your posts, looking forward to it everyday now. No pressure.

lebanesa said...

I love to be alone in the kitchen with the radio on or a CD - I usually like some of the old punk things or heavy metal or rock as I like the energy. I also like some of the Spanish stuff and traditional Arabic music, but that usually makes me go into the front room and wiggle around, so not very effective for continuing housework.

Irene said...

I like really good sexy Jazz, the kind that makes you want to make love to it with a stranger in a well lit bedroom. Oh, sorry, I forgot this was a family type web log. I also like Pink Floyd, especially The Wall. I like it loud and then I like to dance to it until I am out of breath and the dog barks at me to stop. When I'm feeling intellectual, I like Baroque, especially Bach, of course.

Debi said...

In Austin once I went to a comedy club. One comedian with a guitar said he was going to do a tribute to his father. He began playing, and then suddenly shouted "Turn that sh*t down!" That was his tribute.

Ennio Morricone? You too?!

When I listen to classical music I always think of Bugs Bunny. I wonder how many adults do the same, having been set in front the TV all morning watching Warner Brothers cartoons in their formative years?

I enjoy your posts. They are a great way to start the day. :)

Bev said...

Rima, I like UB40 too.

You can call me Beverley, I am in the process of changing all the names of the blog etc. but I am still trying to work out the technology. Thanks for the no pressure, I've only got 40 mins max on this computer a day as my husband is the only one who knows the passwords and I've always got kids breathing down my neck to go on games.

Frances, I am glad you too like punk as a lot of it is underesminated. AC/DC I am also quite partial too. My kids think some of the manic solos by that school boy guitarist (Angus?) on You Tube quite funny.

Sweet Irene, I too like Pink Floyd, they stole the show at that G8 thing a few years ago, though middle aged. I have been ready a biography about the Floyd, very interesting about Syd Barratt, the creative genius of the group.

Bev said...

Thanks, Debi.
I've been listening to Ennio Morricone again today, and it's actually quite classical! Played by a symphony orchestra. So maybe I do like classical music after all.

Bev said...

Billie Ray Cyrus was really very good looking. All the factory girls in Hull thought so at the time, was it about fifteen years ago?