You Are Who You Is

My iPod holds an extensive collection of piano works by the enigmatic genius Glenn Gould.  It is also home to "100 Greatest TV Theme Songs" and two versions (live and studio) of Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime" and several songs by Stompin' Tom Connors, Canada's best-selling country artist of all time, including his timeless hit, "Bud The Spud."  


When I'm blasting down Beltway 8 at 6:30 on a Tuesday night, and the ol' Pod is set to "shuffle," and I hear the first sublime notes of a Brahms ballade,  I quickly, shamefully hit "skip," until I find something really good, like Linda Lavin crooning the cheesy, lounge-lizardy theme from "Alice": "Early to rise.  Early to bed. And in between I cooked and cleaned and went outta my head..."   


I am who I am, a product of my times.  I know I should savor every brilliant note of The Goldberg Variations, but I can't, not when Bud the Spud is tearing up the 401, "with another big load of potatoes," and I'm riding shotgun.  


I will try to cultivate a more refined aesthetic, but it's hard, when Glenn Gould requires so much effort, and just around the corner, David Byrne's got no time for dancing, or lovey dovey, and somewhere close, very close, a lone guitar is playing the plaintive opening notes to the Theme From M*A*S*H...