Pre-run angst

I’m driving down to Tacoma for a long run, and I put in a CD: Pressure Chief by Cake.

Track 1 is about a crumbling relationship and how its demise is facilitated by modern transportation options.

Track 2 is about how telephones ruin our lives.

Track 3 is about pushy, ungrateful girlfriends with small cars and small dogs.

Track 4 is about a dime — really. It’s kind of a happy song. But track 5 is about carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless poison. And track 6 is about a fading rock star who doesn’t know when to quit.

Somewhere around this time, I realize that this album is not quite what I need as a pre-run pick-me-up. I switch to another CD, which happens to be Songs For Silverman by Ben Folds.

Track 1 is about growing up and realizing you don’t know as much as you thought, and feeling as though you need to fake it.

Track 2 is about a marriage that was a bad idea from the start.

Track 3 is about visiting the South and feeling isolated.

Track 4 is about fleeing a manipulative lover.

By now I’m nearly at Point Defiance Park and nearly in tears. Well, not quite, but I do need a mood-lifting song to get me going. What are my choices? Well, I think I have The Best of Bobby McFerrin in here somewhere…. OK, here it is….

“Here’s a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note….”

Ahhh, yes — MUCH better!