“238 Miles” by Steve Delahoyde
Last year, I ran an idea by my editor for a short feature: I proposed listening to a single song (I hadn’t decided which yet) nonstop, for a good length of time—an entire waking day, for instance—and write about the experience. Keeping track of the thoughts that arose throughout the repetitious affair—frustrations, insights into the song, maddening lunacy, etc.—and shaping it into a little essay. My pitch might have been a little off, because it was met with middling enthusiasm, so I promptly forgot about it and moved on with life. But it turns out that Steve Delahoyde of the brilliant Coudal Partners had a very similar idea, and made a short film about it. He used his weekly drive from Iowa City to Chicago to submit himself to an endless loop of Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” The film’s really fun, and after watching it, I’m glad Delahoyde took the bullet and subjected himself to this instead of me. Watch the film here.
via Mental Floss
Katelyn wrote:
That’s a good idea. I’d pick something not Abba though! I’m a massage therapist at an athletic club, and I play the same cds over and over (Iron & Wine, Cat Power, Sigur Ros) while I’m in that meditative state of giving massage… We are talking dozens of listens in a week. Eventually I get to the point where I get nauseated by the album due to repetition. It really gets under your skin. It’s like chanting, though, you push through the nausea and then on the other side the record has become part of you. At that point I put it away for a month or two. Mission accomplished.
Posted on 21-Sep-07 at 12:50 pm | Permalink
bree wrote:
The Robert Altman film, The Long Goodbye plays the same song (with different musical arrangements) throughout the entire film.
Posted on 24-Sep-07 at 11:15 pm | Permalink