My Reading Songs

It's true that a lot of people feel like they can't focus when there's music on and they're trying to read. However, I feel like I focus much better when there is a light hum of songs I have heard a thousand times over in the background, especially if I am reading out and about such as: in a coffee shop or on public transport. With this, I am also able to noise cancel out the sounds of the world including the more annoying noises such as: people talking loudly on the phone, inconsiderate people who don't wear headphones when playing videos or music and finally, the person in the café sitting near me who sips their drink too loud.

The reason I'm writing this is really because I've been asked in the past how I can have my headphones in and read at the same time. If I'm not at work and I'm out of my apartment, I spend most of my time with my headphones in my ears, only really taking them out to recharge the battery, but even then I have wired headphones. You seriously underestimate how much I wear these things. When I'm in my apartment, I just play the music through the speakers at a low volume - it is really that simple.

I have a playlist where the songs are only appropriate for reading. Many people who work with their headphones on, like my brother, like to listen to EDM. I don't know about you, but that kind of music hurts my head and by the end all I have is a throbbing pain in my skull. My kind of music, if you know me well enough, is more mellow - sometimes even folk. Featuring artists like Bob Dylan and Billy Joel, there's a certain quality to this playlist which means I don't have to actively pay attention to it because I've heard the songs so many times. But it also means I enjoy it because they are really my comfort songs.

I know that not everyone can do this, but I do it because I don't like being disturbed and I don't enjoy the sounds of the outside world. I also live on my own and without a bit of music it can feel really empty and sad. But, when I'm reading, I love listening to the comfort songs mainly for their feature of being able to keep me in the zone for reading. Of course, if I'm reading an especially emotional book and a less than appropriate song for the moment comes on, I'm going to skip over it. But most of these songs are mellow, slow and the kind of music they'd play in the café if the café I went to actually played any music at all. I'll tell you now, if I ever open my own café, I'd play these songs at a low volume and the bass taken out all day long.

Anyways - that's enough about me. Here's the list...

My Reading Songs

• Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Tweeter and the Monkey Man by The Traveling Wilburys
• Love of the Common People by Paul Young*
• Dead Ringer for Love by Meatloaf
• You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon
• Champagne Supernova by Oasis
• Crocodile Rock by Elton John

*Love of the Common People is one of my mother's favourite songs and so, when I play it, I tend to feel like my mother (who lives in another city) is actually a lot closer and so - you could say that's comforting to me.

Songs by Lou Reed:

1. Wild Child
2. Dirty Boulevard
3. Halloween Parade
4. Satellite of Love
5. Some Kind of Nature (Gorillaz & Lou Reed)
6. Kill Your Sons

Songs by T. Rex

1. Baby Boomerang
2. The Slider
3. Rabbit Fighter
4. Ride a White Swan

Songs by Bob Dylan

1. Visions of Johanna
2. Idiot Wind
3. Things Have Changed

Songs by Billy Joel

1. My Life
2. We Didn't Start the Fire
3. She's Always a Woman
4. Piano Man
5. Uptown Girl

Songs by Bruce Springsteen

1. Thunder Road
2. Badlands
3. Dancing in the Dark
4. Born in the USA

Songs by Tim Curry

1. Simplicity
2. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire
3. Out of Pawn
4. Anyone Who Had a Heart
5. I Do the Rock
6. Paradise Garage
7. Right on the Money
8. Simple Twist of Fate

(I'm really not going to lie when I say I put most of his songs on that playlist)

Songs by David Bowie

1. Ziggy Stardust
2. Space Oddity
3. Ashes to Ashes
4. Drive-In Saturday
5. It's Gonna Be Me

Songs by Queen

1. These Are the Days of Our Lives
2. I'm Going Slightly Mad
3. Innuendo

So there we are, these are all the songs on that playlist (hopefully I've covered them all). If you're going to ask whether I add or take off anything from this playlist the answer is an obvious no because I need these songs to calm me. Some of them are truly beautiful and others are comforting. I hope that I have given you a truly different insight into reading. Please do not be scared to try low volume beautiful music whilst reading.