A brilliant Spring Adelaide day

I am in the middle of my second annual review for my PhD program. The upshot is I’m going well but I have a lot to do!

So knuckling down across a long weekend I was faced with a pile of data to analyse and a dilemma of what to listen too while I got into it. Through a few hours of Ireland’s RTE – Gold ( I discovered RTE Gold last year when we were in Dublin) I moved onto Spotify and quickly onto my own playlists and within a couple of hours to my 60s and 70s playlist.

My 60s and 70s has hundreds of songs and provide good background as well as an opportunity to pause from my analysis, listen and reflect. These are all songs that I found in the 70s my high school and Uni days (that’s the first time around Uni!).

I thought I’d jot down a few thoughts about some of the songs I paused on

• Stevie Wonder’s I believe (When I fall in love will it be forever) -just  brings back happy memories of my school days
• The Hollies Too young to be married – I can’t help but have a wry smile listening to that one!
• Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh – a classic Australian song. The Double J version live is my favourite. It brings back memories of a school dance in 1974 where Cold Chisel was the band, playing before they presumably headed off to their traditional Thursday night at the Largs Pier Hotel. This was a time when I was too young to go to The Largs legally!
• Dylan – they just keeping coming up – Like a Rolling Stone, Mr Tambourine Man … As one of my teachers once said, “He is the beginning the middle and the end”
• Matt Monro’s Born Free – what is that doing there?  The same could be said for Sony & Cher ‘s I got you Babe
• The Carpenters We’ve only just Begun, such easy listening while my head is in the books. This playlist has so many Carpenters songs on it. If it was a 90’s and 00’s playlist I guess I’d be writing the same about The Coors.
• The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t it be nice – “I wish that every kiss was never ending” – what a great line.
• Gilbert O’Sullivan – Matrimony – Just fun and upbeat – a very easy listen
• 10CC Rubber Bullets – “we don’t understand why you called in the national guard”. I chuckle everytime I hear it sung
• Minnie Riperton – Lovin’ You – This is a song that I have to stop and listen too. Every time Ido I get the shivers. I remember the first time I heard it, an early morning lying in bed. I was gobsmacked. The best thing about this song is that it is my favourite person’s favourite song. So sad that Minnie isn’t around anymore.
• Neil Young’s A Man Needs a Maid – Neil Young’s voice is such a contrast to the rich orchestral accompaniment, made all the better by the electrical storm that engulfed us as my study progressed well into the evening
• The Beatles – I’m looking through You and a number of others. I think the reason I stopped to listen more closely to this song is that Rubber Soul just seems to get better with every listen.
• Linda Ronstadt’s version of Desperado,  I have to admit to just loving the West Coast Sound and Linda Rondstadt was right at the top of my favourites of the era

Through 3long days of getting into “my rich and thick data” (Source: pretty much every qualitative researcher!), this playlist has sustained me. I am sure it will get plenty more listens over the remainder of my PhD.