“Thank you for the Music”
– ABBA

I didn’t bring any music on this trip. The choice of silence was a deliberate decision. It was a
challenge that I set myself. Travelling with music gives you such an option for escape, escape from pain,
loneliness, boredom, Africa: anything you want. So I decided to see whether I could manage on my own.
But I have failed the challenge of silence: I need music to keep me going.
I have lots of different music in my head and it comes to me in a whole range of situations. Exhausted,
determined, racing against the setting of the sun I bellow U2’s ‘Pride’, Eagle Eyed Cherry, Guns ‘n’
Roses. “Don’t let go, you’ve got the music in you.” It’s music with memories, memories of situations and
frames of mind, memories to draw on for strength.
Sometimes I am lonely, or mellowed by the enormity of a sky or the length of a horizon-reaching
road. I think of home, friends, better times: Greenday’s ‘Good Riddance/Time of your Life’ (“So take
these photographs and still frames in your mind… there’s something unpredictable but in the end it’s
right, I hope you had the time of your life”), Simon and Garfunkel (“And every stranger’s face I see
reminds me that I long to be Homeward Bound”), Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Dido (“I want to thank you
for giving me the best days of my life”), Counting Crows (“She’s looking at you…. I don’t think so, she’s
looking at me!”), Cosby, Stills and Nash’s ‘Pre-Road Downs’, David Gray (“Friday night and I’mm going
nowhere: all the lights are changing green to red”), and Cat Stevens (“How can I try to explain…. I know
I have to go away”).
Then there is jubilation: at being the only person in the whole world, cycling carefree down a deserted
road at sunrise. U2 (“It’s a Beautiful Day, don’t let it get away”), The Doors, James, Willie Nelson (“I
can’t wait to be on the road again”), Leeds United’s ‘Marching on Together’ and David Gray (“Saturday
and I’mm running wild, all the lights are changing red to green”).
After nine months of silence, shattered only by my tone-deaf, eardrum-splintering, lyrically-
challenged warbling, I have failed my challenge. Now a good friend, Al Horrocks, is baling me out and
sending me a MiniDisc player. It is an exciting new beginning. What music should I take along with me?
Music to inspire, to relax, to prompt daydreams, to renew motivation, to provoke manic lung-bursting
mountain climbs, to whisk me away from Africa, to bury me deep into Africa’s soul, to remind me that
life really is bloody fantastic! The soundtrack to this journey would make a good story in itself…
Now, here’s a challenge for you; something for you to think about… what music would YOU take on
a journey around the world? I would be really curious to know.