Posted on by Natalia Yanchak

Long, Long, Long

I was inspired to get my iPod up and running because I had this song suddenly stuck in my head, and the only way I know to remove a song is to listen to the original. The song was “Long, Long, Long” off the Beatles’ White Album.

This is my second iPod. My first one Murray bought for me years ago, and it eventually got stolen out of our car. So I’ve been iPod-less for about a year, which is OK because I don’t really listen to music anyhow. Since, however, I’ve been driving more, especially out to the South Shore to visit family, I’ve felt the urge in those commuter-like moments to listen to music. Except for certain shows on the CBC, the radio is entirely frustrating. I try CKUT, CISM, but usually can’t be held for more than one song.

I’ve had a new iPod sitting in its box for something like five months: each person in the band got one as a consolation prize for being a Polairs nominee. So why did I wait so long? This new, fancy iPod comes with new, fancy firmware that didn’t work with my ancient OS X. I had to breathe new life into my iBook G4 anyhow so I wiped it, upgraded the RAM and installed Tiger. Now it works like a charm but I don’t have iPhoto anymore which is annoying. How do I get that back without having to dish out for that useless suite of iLife programs?

At least the iPod works now. I have 160GB which I’m filling up with music I had backed up music from my previous iPod, and also with my photos. For variation, I’ve decided to turn to the Podcast, and now subscribe to episodes of CBC Radio 3 and DrownedInSound. Mainly I want to hear new music, get a sense of the musical climate out there.

Now I want to go on a road trip or something, just to have an excuse to explore the new things captured on my iPod…

…and I still haven’t listened to that Beatles’ song yet.

5 Replies to “Long, Long, Long”

  1. I have seen St.Vincent twice.First time she performed solo and the second time with her band.Mattyu has explained what I wasgoing to say with regards to the technical side of her performance.Have you listened to Andrew Bird and also The National?
    Say hi to Murray (we met a few times in the past) and the rest of the band

  2. Pingback: Long, Long, Long-Download Music

  3. You’re welcome! To be honest, I hadn’t given her recordings enough much time to really sink in, but I was blown away by her performance at the Bowery and I’ve since been hooked. She sings and plays guitar with a violinist, a bassist-clarinetist-keyboardist, and a drummer who also plays instrument samples on a pad. She uses an extensive pedal rack and two mics, one of which has a band-passed / distortion effect.

  4. I just checked out St Vincent. I’d be curious to see her live: her recordings have such big, complicated Kate Bush-y arrangements to them. Does she have a band or does she use a lot of pre-recorded stuff?

    Thanks for the recommendation.

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