This morning my mind headed off in directions all its own (as it often does) while I was merely along for the ride. At some point the thought that typewriters are the perfect instruments to reveal the soundtrack to our souls began to click with me. I like this thought if I’m being honest. But then I started to think about what sort of music I might want playing in the background while I’m busy focusing on such things. In other words, what music would I select as the soundtrack for my typewriting itself?
Most of the time when I find myself sat down in front of a typewriter with the intent of doing some writing (as opposed to simply fondling the thing?) I do not have any music playing at all. If I do happen to choose some music to listen to while I am writing, then it will likely be some jazz or maybe even some classical music. In other words, music without lyrics that might go creeping into my thoughts. While I also own a lot of music that is best described as a cross between bluegrass and jazz I can’t recall ever queing up such music to play in the background while I am writing.
But maybe I have been going about such things the wrong way. Rather than intentionally avoiding the lyrics of songwriters while writing, I should instead be embracing them. But were I to do so, what (or whose) music would I choose? Someone like Bob Dylan would be an obvious pick. Not only is the man an incredible songwriter, but with the new movie about him hitting theaters in less than two weeks it is almost impossible to not think about Bob Dylan. Yet while I both like and admire Dylan, and the footage of him typing up lyrics using a big Oly SG1 is likely to be forever stuck somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, Bob would not be my pick for such an assignment.
The truth is that I really didn’t have a hard time choosing a particular artist whose music would serve as the soundtrack for my (type)writing. My choice would be an artist that I have been enjoying for many decades now, yet I have never gotten burned out on his music due to overexposure. That would be the music of Tom Waits. It’s not that I wish I could write just as Waits does, though I would be fine with such a thing. I just happen to love the way that he is able to create an image and set a mood through his music. So the next time that I actually feel like listening to some music while I am writing, the music will likely be that of Tom Waits. For now I am going to stick to writing in relative silence. But now that I have gone to the trouble to get these thoughts down on paper (which is really no trouble at all), I already have bits & pieces of Waits’ “Eggs And Sausage (in a Cadillac With Susan Michelson)” and more specifically the Intro to that song floating around in my head. I suppose that the influence has been there all along — I just need a bit of help tapping into it.
Coming up in a future blog post: I can not sing, therefore I type.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: I don’t doubt that Bob Dylan used a variety of different typewriters, most likely he used whatever machine that happened to be available to him at any given time or location. But in case you are wondering about the SG1, I believe that it was in the documentary “No Direction Home” where Dylan could be seen clacking away on the big Olympia while either Joan Baez and/or Marianne Faithfull were/was singing away in the background.
I have no idea if Tom Waits has ever used a typewriter for his writing (be it songwriting or otherwise).