I know it’s generally considered rude to remind people that they’re going to die. But I’ve been guilty of it in the past, and if you listen to this I’ll be guilty of it again:

And yes, sure, it can de depressing to contemplate mortality. But then again, as Ford Prefect says (paraphrasing, I think, Dr. Johnson), “the prospect of death contracts the mind wonderfully.” Often as not, and maybe this is just a quirk of my strange personality, I find being reminded of my own eventual demise oddly exhilarating: a reminder that I am in fact alive now, and free to do as I please for whatever time remains. It can be nice and bracing, like a splash of cold water across the face, if you’re into that kind of thing. Caveat auditorus.

Playlist:

• What Happens Next?  Simon Jones & Geoffery McGivern
• Nobody Can Live Forever  Tim Maia
• You’ll Have Time  William Shatner (with Ben Folds)
• Laugh Till You Cry, Live Till You Die  CAN
• Cleaning Windows  Van Morrison
• A Splendid Piece of Descriptive Writing  The Goons
• Night Shift  Bob Marley & the Wailers
• Up All Night  The Boomtown Rats
• Living on the Ceiling  Blancmange
• Simon Invents Language  Alan Arkin/Wallace Shawn
• Mangalam  Ravi Shankar
• Spirit with Me Gong
• Journey of the Sorcerer (Enter the Vortex Mix)  The Eagles (with Mark Wing-Davey & Valentine Dyall)
• Mighty Man  The Alpha Band
• I Don’t Wanna Pray  Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
• Carpe Diem  The Fugs
• Eclipse  The Beta Band