Perfect iPod Pairings

As I sit down to generate my dreaded monthly sales reports, I’m troubled by a few things…

1. My dreaded monthly sales reports
2. Emails that I’ve just remembered need to be sent today
3. The blog I’m supposed to post today but have yet to come up with an idea.

Phil Collins croons “Take Me Home” in both my ears, ala iPod, and it comes to me. Music. Music is a pleasure up there with wine for me; it’s an art with a thousand moods. Every song can cause a different reaction-happiness, sadness, longing, energy and on and on.

Just like different occasions call for different wines, so music lives, breathes and, above all, stimulates the senses.

It’s funny how many similarities between the two start to come to mind however ridiculous they may sound-in this day and age I can have a random assortment of wine from every corner of the earth shipped to me overnight. In the same manner, I can have Bob Dylan, Journey, Beethoven, Lionel Richie, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Go-Gos serenading me at my beck and call 24 hours a day through two tiny white earpieces.

My Nano is set on shuffle and these are my thoughts:

“If you see her, say Hello” by Bob Dylan is the first song that ignites a thought. The lonely, sad and utterly beautiful lyrics make me think of Cabernet. A strong tannic red wine that I always want to savor and enjoy every sip of. I never seem to be satisfied with less than two glasses and that in turn leads to complete relaxation-eyes are closed, glass is in hand… “If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangier. She left here last early spring, is living there I hear. Say for me that I’m alright, though things get kind of slow. She might think I’ve forgotten her, though tell her it isn’t so,” sings Bob.

“Baby, I Need Your Lovin” by the Four Tops wakes me from my slumber. Now this bobby-sox tune gets my energy up again! What matches the happy, sweet and innocent lyrics of this 1964 favorite? Our sweet rose, Juliet is what comes to mind. It’s light and delicate and evokes thoughts of malt shops and promise rings. “Baby, I need your lovin. Baby I need your lovin. Although you’re never near, it’s your voice I often hear. Another day, another night, I long to hold you tight. Cuz I’m so lonely…”

A few songs pass with no reaction from me when “Beautiful Day” by U2 starts up. Immediately, I think of my most memorable beautiful day-the first day of sunshine after a long, white winter and the start of the greenest summer I’ve ever experienced. My wine of choice this summer was rose. I simply couldn’t get enough of our Fiorella. It was always cool and always good no matter what I ate. “…See the bird with the leaf in her mouth, after the flood all the colors came out… it was a beautiful day. Don’t let it get away, a beautiful day,” sings Bono.

Next, the unmistakable guitar intro of The Eagles’ “Hotel California” plays in my ears. Choosing a wine for this tune took a little more time. Then, a story my mother told me comes to mind. In her youth, she spent every summer on Catalina Island. Her and her girlfriends would stand on the bow of the Catalina steamship as they approached the island. As soon as the “Hotel Catalina” was in sight, they began singing, “Welcome to the Hotel Catalina, such a lovely place, such a lovely face. Living it up at the Hotel Catalina. What a nice surprise, bring your alibis.” My parents kept the tradition alive in my youth, taking the whole family to the island every summer. I’m thinking now of Riesling, the ultimate summer white wine and the only one both of my parents share a liking for.

I really could go on and on sharing my thoughts about the similarities of Zinfandel Port and “Virtual Insanity” by Jamiroquai, or why Spumante is the best wine to drink while listening to John Mellencamp’s “Wild Night” but I urge you to try this at home. Plug in the record player, the boombox-whatever you’ve got-and see what comes to mind.