Surgery Day Playlist.
My plan tomorrow, both before and after my surgery, is to put my headphones on and let a few songs take me somewhere else, even to be with someone else, covering all emotional and motivational needs and eventualities.
As such, it's just about the most eclectic and esoteric ('My Dad's favourite words #4') mix-tape I've ever made.
Those who know me well will be able to easily navigate the significance of a lot of it, but there are some curve-balls in there. A few surgery specific examples are:
The Christina Perri song '1000 years' is in there for my eldest daughter Kitty. I told her a while back that it reminds me of her, as a few years ago, it was on a playlist of hers that would often be on in my car, around the time she was leaving home to go to university. It's followed me around ever since, coming on in some unlikley places here in Texas, so this song most likely would've made the list anyway. But, it most notably made an appearance on supermarket radio, as I walked into a store, immediately after I'd found out about my procedure. I mean, the very first song of the millions I could have heard in this moment? Seriously?! I pointed my phone at the speaker in the supermarket ceiling, videoed it and sent it straight to her. There may or may not have been tears.
The cover of the (most recently) Madcon song 'Beggin' by Måneskin, is an unlikely contender to be on any playlist of mine, but it's there for good reason. Whenever I get into our car, the first thing I generally do, is re-tune from the radio station Mary has had on (sorry Mary!). But again, in the firat day or so after learning about my amputation - and at a time when I was feeling very angry about it, I started the car and this song was on. I found it on Spotify, turrned the volume up as high as it would go and played it on repeat for an hour.
Of course, 'Let it be' by the Beatles would grace any playlist, but it's in this one for a very specific reason - as an homage to my wife Mary. The last 6 months have been horrible for many reasons, but not least due to the occasions when you leave a doctors appointment with them having said 'yeah, so Mary you can do that for him, right?' Be that changing dressings or more recently, emptying a drain fitted to my leg twice a day for 10 days. One time when she was doing the latter, a Beatles lyric came into my head... 'When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me'. Aaaand onto the playlist it goes...
Oh, and 'Walk this Way' by Run DMC/Aerosmith??.... Self. Evident.
Anyway, in the unliklely event that you ever wondered what a 54 year old man, with 4 children, from Coventry, England, living in Dallas, Texas would listen to on the day he got his leg amputated, here it is...