I hear Janis Joplin singing “Me and Bobby McGee” or sometimes “Mercedes Benz”
Song by Janis Joplin
other wise if it is really really bad. Then I’m reciting the 23 rd psalm.
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I don’t have music in my head when it is sketchy, but do have some when I am in a zone. She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby and Let’s Dance by David Bowie are most likely.
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As a drummer, performing technically challenging pieces live in front of an audience can be a lot like trying to maintain control in sketchy but fun kayaking situations. One tune that I’ve never had the fortune to play, but have wanted to: Assembly Line by the Dixie Dregs
https://youtu.be/IrL4R9x9A14
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Wonderful video and tune. I love both but is that what goes through your head when conditions aren’t benign and are testing your skills to stay upright?
Yeah. Driving beat was was what I was after. I guess that’s just me. There is lots of music that goes through my head on a normal easy paddle-type day. I was thinking park-and-play or something pretty challenging where I could capsize against my will. I don’t hear flutes when I have to pay attention. I’m more of a Zeppelin guy when it comes to that.
Does Metallica do a version of the 23rd Psalm? 
I like your tastes. I’m thinking that both would work for me with a 15-20 kt north wind driving seas against the north facing retaining wall at Alki during high tide. Call it clapotis dance.
Canoedoc, that is one of the greatest movies, with an amazing soundtrack. The escape scene makes me think of paddling a canoe.
YES! That’s it! Good one. FWIW…I used to fly hang gliders and Dixie Dregs was playing in my head in 1980 over Big Southern Butte as the wind increased and I was being blown back towards the rotor. That was how most pilots died there and the accounts of their deaths were documented on the walls of Frenchman’s Cabin. I avoided the rotor and landed going backwards to the sound of Punk Sandwich, which in retrospect, had less urgent feel to it in spite of my peril.
Cortez the killer
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The Gael is pretty versatile and can be well suited to anything from peaceful calm to a raging storm, it all depends on how the Pipes and Fiddle and melody move you.
Good tune but just not what I need in my head during those active paddling periods.
I’m only telling you songs that appear in my head , certainly not advocating for them. With Cortez it’s the “dancing across the water” on repeat. Tidbits of songs become mantra, usually matching rhythm of water movements or stroke rates. Often the song that appears is born of the circumstances I’m currently under. “Cold Water” by railroad earth is another. Also “ Storms” by the same band
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Maybe it is training we have received from hundreds of movies, videos and Television where dramatic music is played to enhance the action.
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When things get “sketchy”, as on a downwind run on a big lake with building waves, all I want to do is get out. There is no melody that runs through my head. Harmony? Forget it. Its all cadence and duration. So something very heavy on the percussion. Something wild and big. Maybe something like this:
or perhaps chop building to bigger waves that are almost too much until a point is rounded and back to the chop… like this?
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Maybe. Could be. At the same time I had music in my head helping me dance through life before I had been exposed to more than a handful of movies (“Forbidden Planet”, “Them”) . I think that I miss some good music because when I first hear it I can’t see how it would fit into my reality. Hence “My Disease”.
This thread is about what music goes through your head when you are operating on the edge of your ability/comfort zone when paddling. Sing was very clear about his focus in conditions and music isn’t part of it. I wish the same was true for me but it isn’t. Maybe it helps me focus by drowning out other noise.
So back to it…Not about the music you hear when everything is going great and you are just cruising, though that would make a great topic for another thread. Let’s focus on “sketchy” water.
YES to both! It’s funny that “Soul Sacrifice” never crossed my mind. Right in front of me for decades. I’ll use that. Thanks!
Also your suggestion of “The Journey”…
I haven’t heard that before but you are very perceptive. Nicely done and Thanks again.
No flute just rhythm and lyrics.
Well, yeah. But then all my paddling is generally benign compared to many p-net members.
Here is the video of the whole track. Trevor Jones, who is conducting, bought the rights and developed it for the film.
I was told that the young lady playing second solo fiddle is Eric Clapton’s sister - unable to confirm that though.
I was caught in a horrific t-storm in a salt water creek. Constant lightening hitting the marsh, driving wind and rain. In my first kayak, a 12’ rec boat.
Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. I prayed " Lord , if you want me here I am".
The storm felt like forever but might have been 10 minutes. I was only a short distance from my wife’s parent’s house but the boat had 3" of water in it.
When I got there my wife and 3 young children were waiting.
SHE was not happy.
I learned a lot that day.
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