Taking a sunset drive

A few years back I was riding with a friend and fooling with the cd changer in the car. Rage Against the Machine came roaring out of the speakers, practically ejecting me from the car. “That’s my fixit playlist,” he laughed, “for when I need to reset my brain.” His list included Radiohead, The Clash, all music that would get adrenaline flowing in just the right way for him. I thought it was a brilliant idea and started compiling my own Fixit playlist. Being me, I came up with several lists and for years now have been burning Fixit cds with dates on them to make sure I knew when I had finally hit on the real deal. The criteria were that it had to improve my mood under any circumstances and when played the second or third time I did not start skipping songs to get to one that worked – they ALL had to work so  could leave it in the car player for days (weeks) and at time and know I had access to the necessary music. I drive almost every day for long distances and do much of my best thinking in the car, so the music component is key. Someone in our ASD support group once noted, “I do all of my best crying in the car.” It’s true – the car is where we pull it together, and we need the right music to get us to the our next destination (school, doctor, therapist, IEP meeting, liquor store, etc.) in the right frame of mind. A few weeks ago I realized that I was always reaching for the April 2012 disc, so here’s what’s on it (with a few add-ins because even that one is missing some key songs).

This is my list. It’s not about taste, era, nostalgia, or identity. It just works. What’s yours look like?

• You’re all I Need to get by – Marvin Gaye
• Change the World – Eric Clapton
• What is Life – George Harrison
• The H Gang – Steely Dan
• Get Lucky – Mark Knopfler
• A Case of You – Joni Mitchell
• Writing – Elton John
• Tears Dry on Their Own – Amy Winehouse
• More Than This – Roxy Music
• Signed, Sealed Delivered – Stevie Wonder
• Jigsaw Falling into Place – Radiohead
• Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
• What R We Stealing – David Holmes
• This Town – Frank Sinatra
• You’re the Top – Barbra Streisand
• Melt With You – Modern English
• Me and You Against the World – Joe Jackson
• Only A Fool Would Say That – Steely Dan
• My Brain is Like a Sieve – Thomas Dolby
• The Boys of Summer – Don Henley
• All that You Can’t Leave Behind – U2
• Electricity – Joni Mitchell
• Night & Day – Frank Sinatra
• Two for the Road – Henry Mancini
• Are You Coming with Me? – Pat Metheny Group
• Besame Mucho – Art Pepper
• The Fields of Athenry – Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny
• La Vie en Rose – Louis Armstrong
• Hallelujah – Rufus Wainwright
• Last Train Home – Pat Metheny

I started to put in links for the individual songs but it was clear that many of them would not lead to the actual music, so I put in links to the artists instead (and, as an aside, some of these official websites are really creative, really cool or really hilarious).