Music on the Camino

[Donna Sch]

For those of you who listened to music at times while walking along the way, what did you tend to listen to most? Which songs became the most meaningful for you?

 

[Donna Sch]

I found myself going back to my roots and playing a lot of Kiwi music. Especially Neil and Tim Finn in their various incarnations as almost everything had a line or three that seemed especially pertinent to the camino.

How'm I gonna sleep: "There's an open road on every map
Waiting to be traveled down
And all we need is faith to bridge the gap
That lies between our hearts and our minds
It's staring me blind that I don't need this endless night
This lonely night"

Couldn't be done: "Now the coast is clear and the case has been won
And we've lost our fear that it couldn't be done
All we needed to find a like minded someone
Who had no idea it couldn't be done, no idea
Who said it couldn't be done"
- Particularly good song for motoring up hills!

A lot of seventies music passed through my head. I remember warbling away with my walking buddy between Caceres and CdC and in a moment of madness induced by feeling way too hot, being sick of hot roads and cooking feet, asking him to name a year. 1971. And I sang every damn song I could think of that got was released that year from Rod Stewart's Maggie May to Benny Hill's Ernie until we got to the damn albergue.

If I needed to get my walking pace up I tended to sing Billy Joel. If I really wanted to walk fast, out came the marches and swing.

And my memories have definitely been coloured by the songs. I hear the music now and I remember exactly where I played it.

 

[Staggerlee]

Blake and the Eternals oh standin' with the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah
William Blake and the Eternals oh standin' with the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah
You don't pull no punches, but you don't push the river
You don't pull no punches, and you don't push the river
You don't pull no punches, and you don't push the river, no, no
Goin' as much with the river as not

We're goin' out in the West, down to the cathedrals
We're goin' out in the West (alright), down to the beaches
And the Sisters of Mercy, behind the sun
Oh behind the sun

Van Morrison

 

[NualaOC]

A lot of seventies music passed through my head. I remember warbling away with my walking buddy between Caceres and CdC and in a moment of madness induced by feeling way too hot, being sick of hot roads and cooking feet, asking him to name a year. 1971. And I sang every damn song I could think of that got was released that year from Rod Stewart's Maggie May to Benny Hill's Ernie until we got to the damn albergue.

And my memories have definitely been coloured by the songs. I hear the music now and I remember exactly where I played it.

Hi Donna,

Your post made me smile - I am imagining you belting out those 70s tunes, especially Ernie and his milk cart!

I make a playlist each year for my Camino, which I use mainly for the plane/train/bus journeys. It's usually a mixture of noisy rock/punk, Celtic influences and some mellow thought-provoking songs. I occasionally listen to it as I walk, especially if I need a little boost. Like you, the music brings back many Camino memories for me - but music has that effect on me anyway. I have so many music-infused memories, going right back to my early childhood.

There are a few previous threads about music for the Camino - including this one:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/pilgrim-playlists.26942/
and this: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/what-are-your-music-playlist-favorites.31457/

Nuala

 

[Tincatinker]

And a couple from 2013: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/posts/142413/ & https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/posts/137704/

I never listen to music when I'm walking (other than my own singing) but during down time I find some stuff to be good to relax too. Mainly classical guitar.

 

[aghamore]

If I'm lucky enough to have a bath at the end of a long walk, I'll hook up my mini speaker and play my two favourite walking songs: Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads and Beast of Burden by the Stones. If we are feeling romantic before scouring the town for tapas, my wife and I will practice our waltz technique to Back to Manhattan by the divine Norah Jones, obviously only in the privacy of our own room!

The best music I heard on the Camino this year was in the shelter across from the cathedral in Santiago from La Tuna de Derecho Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. It was so good that a nun and priest joined in the dancing.

 

[t2andreo]

I never use ear buds or headphones while walking, for two reasons: (1) there is so much natural sound, or beautiful silence, the absence of sound, that it is a blessing to not have artificial sound sources intrude on the natural beauty; and (2) as a matter of personal safety, you would not likely hear someone shouting after you that you were going the wrong way, or worse, that you provide the very, very rare criminal the advantage in surprising you. How abut a rushing bull that escaped the ring...just sayin...

As a related matter, the late Rev. Philip John Wren (died at the municipal albergue in Logrono whilst on his 11th Camino segment, on 1 May 2013), was shooting video with sound of the wind rustling the late winter wheat in the fields approaching Logrono. I was pleased and honored to help him with his recordings for a couple of days. We had met at the Refuge d'Orisson on our respective first days out of St. Jean Pied de Port.

He had a lot of gear in addition to what a pilgrim usually wears, and his insanely, bright orange poncho would blow in the wind and make inappropriate (for the video) noises. I was what they call the Key Gaffer in the movie industry. So, many times, I just held his poncho out of the way while he filmed silently.

His statement to me was that this sound, the wind causing the shafts of green wheat, was to him, the sound of God. Since that day, whenever I hear the breeze rustling foliage or agricultural crops with their soft sounds, I remember Phil. The sound to me is like a prayer. Who am I to replace that with commercial music? But that is just my personal experience and preference. My thought is that if someone wants to communicate with me softly, while I am on pilgrimage, wearing earbuds would hide the incoming message...again, just sayin.

BTW, I wonder if his video recordings survived, and were in his rather expensive video camera when it was returned to his family. He intended to use those scenes in the many presentations he made to groups all around the British Isles as a representative of the CSJ, (UK Confraternity of Saint James). In retirement, that was his passion, spreading the word about the many facets of the Camino.

I hope this contributes something to the dialog.

 

[Annette london]

I found myself going back to my roots and playing a lot of Kiwi music. Especially Neil and Tim Finn in their various incarnations as almost everything had a line or three that seemed especially pertinent to the camino.

How'm I gonna sleep: "There's an open road on every map
Waiting to be traveled down
And all we need is faith to bridge the gap
That lies between our hearts and our minds
It's staring me blind that I don't need this endless night
This lonely night"

Couldn't be done: "Now the coast is clear and the case has been won
And we've lost our fear that it couldn't be done
All we needed to find a like minded someone
Who had no idea it couldn't be done, no idea
Who said it couldn't be done"
- Particularly good song for motoring up hills!

A lot of seventies music passed through my head. I remember warbling away with my walking buddy between Caceres and CdC and in a moment of madness induced by feeling way too hot, being sick of hot roads and cooking feet, asking him to name a year. 1971. And I sang every damn song I could think of that got was released that year from Rod Stewart's Maggie May to Benny Hill's Ernie until we got to the damn albergue.

If I needed to get my walking pace up I tended to sing Billy Joel. If I really wanted to walk fast, out came the marches and swing.

And my memories have definitely been coloured by the songs. I hear the music now and I remember exactly where I played it.

Just my kind of thread! I mostly walk listening to music and fast music at that. Having very short legs I need to keep up so listening to Disco music gets me moving! Love Earth ,Wind and Fire--- reminds me of my mis spent youth! Only joking! I missed all of the late 60' and early 70' music as I was holed up in a convent! Don't ask!!! Made up for it soon enough. Love Tina Turner too and some of Abba. Anything with a good"beat" really. For the quieter moments Anita baker will do. L have 2 shuffles in case one breaks down---well prepared I am! My husband has much different tastes in music so I would not want to have to listen his music box! It's also good to do a little dance now and then on the Camino. When no one is looking anyway!! Best wishes

 

[evanlow]

My library gets bigger and bigger over the years and now it's around 9 gigabyte on my 16 gb sd card which is pretty much my music collection. With that many songs I just randomly play them. Each camino there will be an accidental favorite.

The one this year is 'It's my Life' by Bon Jovi.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

I listened to music on rare occasion, much less than I thought I would. Interestingly, though, I found a few common threads (if you will) in the music I wanted to hear:
1. mellow, calm. Nothing raucous.
2. lyrics gentle, optimistic.

James Taylor, Loreena McKennit, Seals and Crofts, anything soft and gentle. It kept my nerves and mental attitude just how I wanted them: gentle and calm.

I made the mistake of downloading a lot of Earth, Wind and Fire on one playlist, and found myself hating this group! Ha!

My Camino daughter entertained me with some of the most obnoxious rap music I've ever heard, singing and dancing to it (just us two on some long stretches), but she changed the channel on her music list to some amazing vocalists, some of whom I must get the names of.

Don't wear ear buds. It is kind of a signal that you are unapproachable, and safety necessitates that you have at least one ear open. Traffic can happen anywhere, unexpectedly.

 

[jmcarp]

I prefer to listen to the sounds of nature around me or to converse with those around me.

 

[C clearly]

I listen only rarely to music while walking, but Joan Baez singing "Forever Young" is perfect on the Camino.

 

[anna pugh]

Blake and the Eternals oh standin' with the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah
William Blake and the Eternals oh standin' with the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah
You don't pull no punches, but you don't push the river
You don't pull no punches, and you don't push the river
You don't pull no punches, and you don't push the river, no, no
Goin' as much with the river as not

We're goin' out in the West, down to the cathedrals
We're goin' out in the West (alright), down to the beaches
And the Sisters of Mercy, behind the sun
Oh behind the sun

Van Morrison

Whilst I love Van Morrison.. the "sisters of mercy" just have me humming leonard cohen all afternoon

 

[Misfitter]

I am preparing my music list now for my May Camino and I have asked my partner, two kids and a few friends to put together their favourite music lists which I will download. I will dedicate a day or a few hours of a day to them while walking and listening to their music.

 

[NualaOC]

I listen only rarely to music while walking, but Joan Baez singing "Forever Young" is perfect on the Camino.

Forever Young is on my playlist too, Clare. I think I rediscovered this song when you mentioned it on another music thread - so thanks for the recommendation!

 

[norelle]

One particular hard, steep section of road before Grandas on the Primitivo on a hot June day.....

Martha Wainwright singing the song she wrote for her father (title not printable!) it helped me to keep going by singing along!!

buen camino

 

[Robo]

at moments when I was the happiest, or the most in despair.........the soundtrack of That Movie

it never failed to lift my mood or add to the moment. often initiating tears of joy.....

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

While walking I listened to the world around me. When not walking, my favorites were (in no particular order): Anonymous 4 (Miracles of Sant'iago: Music from the Codex Calixtinus), The Alan Parsons Project (Gaudi), Aude (Vents Contraires and Essences), Springsteen (just about everything), Capercaillie (same), Enigma (ditto), La Vox (Divine Rites and From Spain to Spain), Loreena McKennitt (most everything), Mark Isham [carol ensley] ( Sense of Touch), Pablo Alboran, Ricardo Arjona, U2...and sometimes, in just the right mood, Warren Zevon (excitable boy).

yeah, probably a reason i spent so much time by myself

 

[Johien]

I don't listen to music while walking, but my daughter has a voice like an angel and she recorded for me two songs to listen when I was feeling blue on the Camino namely: " I dreamed a dream" and "Halleluja" and it made me cry every time that I listened to it. But the most beautiful story of music was this story: We met a well known opera singer, Awilda Verdijo, what a remarkable women. On route was two ladies on horseback and the one horse did not feel very good and it was also a shy horse and when Awilda walked past them she asked about the horses and then offer to sing for the horse and after the song the horse walk up to her and give her a kiss on the cheek. That story bring tears to my eyes every time I think about is.

 

[Deleted member 36903]

I didn't listen to music while walking - preferring the ambient sounds of church bells, the wind and birdsong - but the one CD that always brings me back to the Camino at home is Jordi Savall's recording of Llibre Vermelle de Montserrat (with the divine singing of Montserrat Figueras, Savall's late wife). It is music relating specifically to the Catalonian pilgrimage, but every time I listen to the opening track that starts with a cock crowing, church bells followed by plainchant, I am taken back to those beautiful early morning walks through fields and villages where it seemed that only the poultry was awake accompanied by the church bells striking the hour. Sublime!

i have now inserted a link(?) to that track.

 

[anna pugh]

That

I am preparing my music list now for my May Camino and I have asked my partner, two kids and a few friends to put together their favourite music lists which I will download. I will dedicate a day or a few hours of a day to them while walking and listening to their music.

That's a nice idea I will probably adopt

 

[Donna Sch]

Funny too which songs come up when you have your music set to random...walking from A Gudina to Verin on a stinking hot day and wondering when I would hit the next fuente...and up comes Eddie Vedder singing "Hard Sun":
"There's a big, a big hard sun
Beating on the big people
In the big hard world".

 

[SabsP]

And this thread!!
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...n-to-on-the-camino-frances.32107/#post-284482

Yeah Smallest Sparrow : Warren Zevon! The best....

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

Agreed! Bad intel re: albergue/hotel locations resulted in me walking one day from Fonsagrada to Lugo ... The last 15 km were an exception to my no listening while walking (one ear bud only ). Couldn't have made it without 'Lawyers, Guns, and Money' 'Roland' or 'Veracruz'.

 

[SabsP]

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

His advice for living (facing his early death) of "enjoy every sandwich" is very fitting for the Camino I think.

 

[SabsP]

Indeed!

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

I'm not positive but I think your video was made during his recording his final album, which he made after being given his unexpected diagnosis/told he had months to live. To me it's inspirational to keep doing what you love, and what brings so much joy to others, surrounded by friends and family.

 

[LakeMcD]

When my mood was a bit soulful :

 

[LakeMcD]

When my mood was on the bright side:

 

[JMac56]

Thanks for posting Sabine. I live in an apartment block called Soho. Still lookin' for a place called Lee Ho Fooks! Buen Camino.

 

[NualaOC]

When my mood was a bit soulful :

Hi @LakeMcD, here's a Galician Gabriel's Oboe, from the super-talented Carlos Núñez:

 

[Deleted member 36903]

Thank you for this NualOC. I love his music and was delighted to find a CD of his being played as the background music to a wonderful meal in the restaurant across from the Guacelmo albergue when I stayed in Rabinal this year.

 

[William Garza]

I never use ear buds or headphones while walking, for two reasons: (1) there is so much natural sound, or beautiful silence, the absence of sound, that it is a blessing to not have artificial sound sources intrude on the natural beauty; and (2) as a matter of personal safety, you would not likely hear someone shouting after you that you were going the wrong way, or worse, that you provide the very, very rare criminal the advantage in surprising you. How abut a rushing bull that escaped the ring...just sayin...

As a related matter, the late Rev. Philip John Wren (died at the municipal albergue in Logrono whilst on his 11th Camino segment, on 1 May 2013), was shooting video with sound of the wind rustling the late winter wheat in the fields approaching Logrono. I was pleased and honored to help him with his recordings for a couple of days. We had met at the Refuge d'Orisson on our respective first days out of St. Jean Pied de Port.

He had a lot of gear in addition to what a pilgrim usually wears, and his insanely, bright orange poncho would blow in the wind and make inappropriate (for the video) noises. I was what they call the Key Gaffer in the movie industry. So, many times, I just held his poncho out of the way while he filmed silently.

His statement to me was that this sound, the wind causing the shafts of green wheat, was to him, the sound of God. Since that day, whenever I hear the breeze rustling foliage or agricultural crops with their soft sounds, I remember Phil. The sound to me is like a prayer. Who am I to replace that with commercial music? But that is just my personal experience and preference. My thought is that if someone wants to communicate with me softly, while I am on pilgrimage, wearing earbuds would hide the incoming message...again, just sayin.

BTW, I wonder if his video recordings survived, and were in his rather expensive video camera when it was returned to his family. He intended to use those scenes in the many presentations he made to groups all around the British Isles as a representative of the CSJ, (UK Confraternity of Saint James). In retirement, that was his passion, spreading the word about the many facets of the Camino.

I hope this contributes something to the dialog.

Very Beautiful and apt description!
Ive heard the winds whispers
The joy in the trees of summer
The healing hands wrapping round the deafened heart...

 

[t2andreo]

THERE you go AGAIN!!!

You always swing for the fences don't you?

Nice poem...