In 2019 I blogged about my 10 favorite running songs. Since, as I said back then, I am very motivated by music. I thought it would be interesting to revisit this list 6 years later and see if my opinions have changed.

I mean interesting to me. I’m not sure about you, but it’s my blog. Deal with it. So I’ll include the lead in, with minimal edits, and note the changes as we go.

Cue the 2019 blog……

I am motivated by music. Most people are, but I REALLY am. If you are with me and we are going to Les Miserables, I am going to cry (unless they really screw it up and them I’m going to be very, very angry) If Salsa is playing, I’m going to want to dance, even tho I can’t dance salsa to save my life. I am motivated to happiness, sadness, joy, anguish, etc. I feel all the feels. So it’s no surprise that music motivates my workouts as well.

But not your music.

My music.

That’s not a slap at you. We are all different. If I have to listen to top 40 music, I get bored. Or frustrated. Or angry. Or disgusted.  We have started pumping music into my office at work. That’s an entirely different blog. ( Not anymore. No office, no office job. Thank Christ…)

…But I digress…

Yes, music can carry me through a bad day at the gym. Or a rough morning after on the running trail. I create a custom playlist for most major races I run. So here, in no particular order, are my favorite 10 running songs.

10) Twenty Five Miles (Edwin Starr) ( As is, no changes..)

You know who Edwin Starr is. You just don’t know you do. Ever heard “War..good God ya’ll. What is it good for, absolutely nothin”. That’s Edwin Starr.  Twenty Five Miles addresses covering long distance with your feet, while giving you that Edwin Starr attitude and “Wuah” . And Edwin’s “Wuah” comes from down somewhere around his gonads. It’s the best “wuah” I’ve ever heard.

9) Let Me Entertain You  (Robbie Williams) Replaces “Freedom” by Robbie Williams

I LOVE me some Robbie Williams, but didn’t listen to this song because I thought it was the song from the musical “Gypsy” and wondered why the hell Robbie even sang it. My mistake. This is a totally kick ass tune and might be my fave Robbie tune overall.

8) FREEDOM (John Baptiste) Replaces Stronger (Kelly Clarkson)

I still like Kelly’s tune, but maybe it’s just been on my list for too long. John Baptiste’s tune is fresh, fun and motivating.

7) She Bangs – The Spanish version!!! ( Ricky Martin) Replaces Say My Name (Florence & the Machine)

Again, Love Florence, but I think it’s time for a change. As for She Bangs, it has to be the Spanish version! As a general rule, when faced with real Latino and “anglicized” Latin , go with the real thing. Pura Vida, people…

6) I’m Outta Love (Anastacia) Replaces Wake up ( Brass Against)

Brass Against had their moments on my radar, but their latest stuff hasn’t thrilled and Wake Up has been around for a minute. Anastacia has long been on my “white girls who sing like black girls” list and that’s a good thing. Right up there with “My Taylor”, Taylor Dane

5) Theme from Peter Gunn (Henry Mancini) ( As is. Nobody messes with Henry-Freaking Mancini)

Sometime around the mid-60s. A group of musicians got together in a room and laid down the theme song of a detective series starring Craig Stevens. (I did NOT have to look that up, people)  No mixing, no sampling, no fixing in post. Just a group of kick ass musicians. It is short, cool  and makes you feel like a bad ass, even if you just got passed by the 75 year old woman who runs like a wind-up doll. And it ends with a french horn. How cool do you have to be to end a song with a french horn? Henry F-ing Mancini cool, that’s how cool.

4) It’s Raining Men (The Weathergirls) Again, as is. Martha Wash still rules.

I don’t know why. Don’t ask me why. I’ve asked myself why a song about an endless supply of sexy men should motivate me as a runner. I don’t have an answer. But when Martha Wash starts wailing about “ God Bless Mother Nature, she’s a single woman too”. I feel her. I feel her, man.

3) Texas Tags (Texas Hippie Coalition) Replaces Bodies (Drowning Pool)

Just replacing like with like. The same type of hard, fast nasty motivation.

2) Polska (Garmarna) Replaces Fields of Athenry (Dropkick Murphys)

I still love the Murphy’s punk version of the old Irish ballad, but this Swedish instrumental makes you feel like you are fighting along side Mads Mikkelsen in “Valhalla Rising”. Look it up.

1) Boogie Wonderland (Earth, Wind & Fire) Replaces Party Train (The Gap Band)

Another like for like . Still love the Gap band, but EWF has been my favorite since back in the day, when I was requesting songs from Lincoln Ware, the “Man of Power” on WCIN in Cincinnati .

OK, that is my updated list. Let me know what gets you up, on the road and through you long run, your short run, or anything in between.

Talk later,

Bob