Tuesday 29 November 2011

"You don't have to dance, but move your heart"

I have moved around a lot in my life, but the country that I love best, is Germany.  I didn't have culture shock, when I arrived I felt like I had finally arrived home.  So its about time for some Germany music on my little blog!  So here's The Geek by Wir Sind Helden.

Wir Sind Helden (We Are Heros) is one of my favourite German bands, and very popular in Germany.  Their sound is pop rock and the lyrics are an amazing play on words.  Wir Sind Helden, are a reason alone to learn German.  I have copy and pasted an English translation of the text of this song below the video.

Oh and the BPM is exactly 90, and will get you running at 180 strides per minute.




Are too smart to draw any attention to your awkwardness
And not good-looking enough to get noticed
Do you know just how it is always to fall short
Just not far enough to get somewhere else
It hurts to be like you should
It hurts to be like you are
But when the quarterback comes to take off your glasses
Tell him: Thanks, but they're staying where they are
However, I do know
The wounded shall be the healers
The last shall be the first
Realise it: "The meek shall inherit the earth" 
The wounded shall be the healers
The last shall be the first
The first will be the last to realise that
"The geek shall inherit the earth"
Not your time, not your feet, not your beat, not your people
Not your world, and not your your pain
You don't have to fit in here, but look for something that belongs to you
You don't have to dance, but move your heart
It hurts to be how you imaging that have to be
It hurts to be how you imaging that you are
But when the homecoming queen comes to wake you up with a kiss
Tell her: Thanks, I didn't miss a thing
[Chorus]
It hurts to be like you ought to be
When your teacher asks you:
Shouldn't we see each other more often
It feels good to be how you imaging that you would like to be
When you tell him:
Lord, let this annoying man pass me by

Saturday 26 November 2011

Are you going the distance?

The BPM on this is 91.73, so its a little on the fast side, but it is just SO much fun to run too. Enjoy!


Friday 18 November 2011

Battle Song for Running Warriors

Today's song is Leyendecker from the band Battles. The BPM is 91, so just a little on the fast side to tempo your 180 strides per minute run. It has a crunchy, driving electro sound that will make you run strong and hard, like the warrior you are.  You can download it for free from the AMAZING music site Epitonic.

Thursday 17 November 2011

I run to find my peace of mind

In this post I am recommending a hit song, or what we call in France a 'tube', Soul To Squeeze by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  My musical taste is reasonably diverse, but probably a little obscure - I don't usually like hit songs.  That's good, since it means lots of stuff to discover for most people, but every now and again its good to be normal.  That said I hope this isn't already on you run list...

Oh and the BPM is 90, so it'll get you in the perfect 180 strides per minute running cadence.


Saturday 12 November 2011

Running in the Dark

I just love YACHT. I discovered them on Epitonic a while back, when I downloaded (for free) their amazing song Dystopia. Here's the link if your interested. Sometimes a band has one or two amazing songs, but YACHT only has amazing songs. So I listen to them a lot on Spotify and their song Love In The Dark has a BPM of 90 (measured with tap for BPM) and has a hypnotic beat that gets my feet going at 180 strides per minute.


Thursday 10 November 2011

Bonnie Glasgow

In my last post I paid homage to my adopted country, well now I want to pay homage to a band that adopted my home country, my home city even.  Snow Patrol are originally from Northern Ireland, but are now based in Glasgow, in bonnie Scotland. Also I was kind of inspired by @TheRunningMike's tweet of a Snow Patrol song for #RunningSongThursday.

The song is question is Make This Go On Forever.  Haven't you ever felt that on a run, you hit that sweet spot where everything is smooth and easy, and you just want it to go on forever?

The BPM is 90, calculated using the MixMeister BPM Analyzer.  


Tuesday 8 November 2011

Don't Forget To Take A New Breath

I'm not French, but I've been living in France for over 10 years, on an off, and becoming more and more on - I think I'm stuck here!  France is known for its electronic music, so here's a tune I like from Kap Bambino, who are from Bordeaux.   


I measured this song's BPM using the tap for BPM tool  and I get it at exactly 180 BPM.   This song is super high energy, frantic even, so I'm going for the 180 rather than 90, since I don't know what is officially the difference.  Don't put it on your play list for your LSD runs, it'll make you run too fast!



Monday 7 November 2011

Lets move like cagey tigers

I love The Cure and have lots of Cure songs on my running playlist, so to mix things up a bit I am recommending this cover of the classic Cure song Love Cats by Tricky.  I think he just totally gets this song and takes it up a notch - its so sexy!  At 90 BPM its a perfect song for your 180 strides per minute run.


We slip through the streets 
While everyone sleeps 
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter



Sunday 6 November 2011

We Are Strong

Pat Benatar's Love Is A Battlefield is one of my favourite songs to run too. Yes I was a teenager in the 80s, and I am in the veterans age category in France.  Hey I think that makes me sound tough, not old!   Anyway the song has got a BPM of 90, which works perfectly for a 180 strides per minute run cadence and I find the lyrics motivating...

We are strong,
No one can tell us we're wrong,
Searching out hearts for so long.




Oh and although at 121BPM it doesn't have a good BPM for running, I just love the recent cover of this song done my Thao and Mirah.

Thursday 3 November 2011

More and More Kilometres

Here's a tune from Canadian indie rockers, Metric : Gold, Guns Girls.  Its exactly a BPM of 90 (half of 180), so perfect for running. It has a fast high energy sound which gets me motivated.

You might want to check out the Mike Shinoda Remix of this song, which using the Tap for Beats Per Minute tool I calculate to be the same 90 BPM.  The mix has more of an electronic sound, rather than indie rock sound of the original version.  I use the tap for beats per minute tool for music I don't own the mp3 of and so can't run it through MixMeister, see post here for details on doing that.  Even though it might be a bit less accurate, it is how my body feels the beat, so how I am going to move when running.