2:42

I am lazy, exhausted, and freaking out about a presentation I have to give next week AND the half-marathon that will be fueled entirely by adrenaline. So to procrastinate/take my mind off things, I’ve been scanning iTunes for music I’ve forgotten about or just haven’t listened to in a while.

Not too long ago, I read Joshua Allen’s determination that 2:42 is the perfect song length. Not a bad argument: he points out that the Mamas and Papas’ “California Dreamin’” and The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” both clock in at 2:42 (although in my iTunes, “This Charming Man” is 2:46. But he makes his point.).

So instead of a blog post, I give you a list of my music that is precisely 2:42. I don’t have all my CDs loaded into iTunes, but here’s what I’ve got, even the embarrassing stuff:

• “Will Tomorrow Ever Come,” Dance Hall Crashers
• “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’ Anymore,” Travis Tritt
• “American Made,” Oak Ridge Boys
• “Felicia,” Quartet San Francisco
• “Emily Kane,” Art Brut
• “The Nights Are Made for Us,” Richard Hawley
• “The Real You,” Dance Hall Crashers
• “A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off,” The Magnetic Fields
• “Like a Rose,” Lucinda Williams
• “The Tigers Have Spoken,” Neko Case
• “You’re No Rock n’ Roll Fun,” Sleater-Kinney
• “Dreary, Dreary,” The Gothic Archies
• “Ojitos Traidores,” Los Super Seven
• “Tonight We’re Gonna Tear Down the Walls,” Randy Travis
• “Crows,” The Gothic Archies
• “Better Class of Losers,” Randy Travis
• “Leave the Biker,” Fountains of Wayne
• “Juanita,” Sheryl Crow and Emmylou Harris
• “Legal Man,” Belle & Sebastian
• “Lovely Rita,” The Beatles
• “How Blue,” Reba McEntire
• “Center of Gravity,” Yo La Tengo
• “Child of the Fifties,” Statler Brothers
• “Anymore,” that dog.
• “Pink Padded Slippers,” Blitzen Trapper
• “Counteraction,” Cornershop
• “Michelle,” The Beatles
• “Always Will,” Nanci Griffith
• “The Book of Love,” The Magnetic Fields
• “Murder Ballad,” Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
• “Sol y Sombra,” Fugu
• “Sister in Love,” Envelopes

What do you have that’s 2:42?

* * *

current book: Oh God. I’m pages away from finishing Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and Kavalier & Clay, which I really really really will read.

current music: The spectacular Jasper Rose Silbert Mix. Oh. I should maybe write something about that… stay tuned… I’m so tired right now it’s hard to type, but maybe tomorrow.

current socks: Today’s are white with red toes, heels, and polka dots, but yesterday’s are worth mentioning. They are my absolute favorites from The Sock Shop in London: stormy clouds, weather pattern arrows, and the words “wet & windy.” It was in fact quite wet and windy yesterday.