I like the way that hearing a particular
song, or piece of music can instantly transport you to a particular place, or
moment in time. Added to which, as many of you know, I sing constantly (despite
being tuneless)
Throughout my trip so far, I’ve been noting
down the songs that will always bring me back here, and for what it’s worth,
here are the 43 tracks that will always sum up my 4 months in Asia
1. Olive - You’re not alone One of my favourite tracks anyway, but the lyrics on this one seemed
appropriate: “I will not worry for you, you’ll be just fine. Take my thoughts
with you….I will not falter though, I’ll hold on til you’re home, safely back
where you belong“. I imagined my friends thinking these things about me as I
left
2. Abba - Lay all your love on me - the
only Abba song I actually like, this reminds me of karaoke at Julie & Chris’s
3. The Cranberries - Zombie - two memories for this one - the first is the ‘entertainer’ murdering
this at the Phi Phi hotel we moored up at, the second is singing this on the
minibus to Halong
Bay to the annoyance of
everyone else who was hungover
4. REM - Night swimming - what else could it be when having a swim/shower off the back of the
yacht as dusk set in
5. Texas - In Demand - because I always had the line ‘wrote my name in silver sand’ in
my head - which I did, on Ko Tarutao and Ko Rang
6. Wild World - Maxi Priest - two memories again - the restaurant played this at Langkawi
marina, and it was a favourite on Railay beach at the Bamboo bar.
7. Ace of Base - Don’t turn around - reminds me of the final night with James & Todd on Langkawi
at the Irish bar
8. Shakira - Hips don’t lie - moored off Phi Phi island, I swear this was played about 15 times
a night
9. Coldplay - Warning Sign - will always remind me of the afternoon ‘off’ we had on the yacht,
the deserted beach, watching the world go by.
10. The Pogues & Kirsty Macoll - Fairytale of New York - the song they played at midnight
on Christmas Eve in Angkor What? Bar.
11. Gnarls Barklay - Smiley Faces - Will always remind me of Angkor
What?
12. Dido - Here with Me - Christmas afternoon watching Love Actually with this track
playing during me & Rox’s favourite scene
13. Muse - Hysteria - singing along to this with my head stuck out of the window of the
minibus waving to everyone in Cambodia
14. The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket - as above
15. Justice & Simian - We are your
friends - Siem Reap nights out generally
16. Muse - Knights of Cydonia -
two memories again - the bus ride from Phnom
Penh to Sihanoukville and bouncing along to this on
the back of the moped in Sapa
17. House of Pain - Jump Around - hearing this TWICE in Chivas Shack in Sihanoukville and Ben
collapsing in a heap after so much exertion
18. Phil Collins - Another day in
paradise - played every day by one bar in
Sihanoukville. Kind of appropriate I guess
19. Bloc Party - Helicoptor - just reminds me of being around the Monkey Republic
bungalows in Sihanoukville. Bravaaaaado.
20. Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter - Always remind me of Vietnam: the border crossing, the
Rockpile Firebase
21. Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil - for our own devilish one
22. Pulp - Sorted for Es and Whiz - singing this one on the beach at Phu Quoc and again on the back of
the moto in Sapa
23. The Kinks - Lola - For my incessant singing of possibly the best lyric ever: ‘I may
not be the most masculine man, but I know what I am, and I’m glad I’m a man and
so is Lola’ on Phu Quoc
24. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire - bit of a trip ever present, but I will always remember this as ‘my
skin is on fire’ after the burning incident in Nha Trang
25. September - Cry for You - one of our ‘Hoi An emergency’ play list - dancing on a pool table
to my ipod
26. Oasis - Champagne Supernova - one of the songs to get us back down to Sapa
27. Oasis - Wonder wall - likewise. And because I am.
28. Mamas & Papas - California Dreamin - being played in the Swiss looking restaurant
in Vietnam
with log fire. Bizarre.
29. Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla - Ollie’s song, will remind me of one particular moment, looking out
over the rice fields realising that a) I’m actually here, in Vietnam and b) no
matter what my petty worries are, life here, will go on as it always has done.
My perspective song.
30. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago -
introduced to this track after our trek in Sapa, fell in love with it
31. Blue Boy - remember me -we just randomly started singing this walking to Lao Cai train
station before the train journey from hell
32. Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed,
Delivered - the amazing journey over the mountains
from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng
33. MGMT - Kids - Partying in Vang Vieng - specifically, my brother getting excited
about it being MGMT and then realising he was the only person who knew the
song.
34. MIA - Paper Planes - Partying in Vang Vieng, and an ever constant earworm ever since.
Aka the Slumdog Millionaire song (no idea if it has anything to do with it in
truth)
35. Delirium - Silence - for some reason just reminds me of the last night with Ben in
Vang Vieng
36. Robbie Williams - Feel - Vientiane.
A particular line, and a memorable conversation
37. The Hollies - He Ain’t Heavy - walking the 2km from the main road to Ban Na, down a long and red dusty road
38. Ian Brown - FEAR - chilling out in the room the night before the Kong Lo cave trip
39. Muse - Feeling Good - travelling in a Songthaew
in Southern Laos
40. The Twang - Either Way - Sitting in the back of a pick up truck, heading down to the 4000
islands
41. Johnny Cash -Hurt - chilling in the hammock and strange coincidence of hearing it later
that night in a bar
42. Sonic Youth - Superstar - can’t remember why, but we were singing ‘don’t
you remember you told me you loved me baby’ rather a lot
43. Blur - To the End - “Well it look like, we might have made it, yes it looks like we
made it to the end”. And we did. Our last few days in Don Det
