Punk’s not dead, it has gone jogging

Or at least I did. I jogged four rounds at the Cebu City Sports Center oval today and walked another round, with Me First and The Gimme Gimmes and Ramones threatening to bust my eardrums.

I have an eclectic taste in music and my playlist leaves people I know bewildered. Bob Dylan gets mixed with Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Guitar Duo, Guns and Roses, Nina Simone, Celtic Awakening, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Coldplay, The Beatles, David Bowie and Bedroom Radio episodes.

But jogging is serious business and you can’t just listen to any song while running. Bob Dylan and jogging don’t mix. Bob Dylan songs, as with Beatles songs, are songs you listen to while writing an article that should have been submitted last week. These are songs you listen to while smoking, with a glass of Tanduay on the other hand, and discussing with friends how you can change the world.

Pavarotti and Bocelli don’t cut it either. Their arias and soaring melodies leave you out of breath while listening, you’d be panting before your first lap. Bedroom Radio, on the other hand, is for another exercise and should never be used as jogging accompaniment.

For jogging, it has to be punk music.

I started with Me First and The Gimme Gimmes. Favorite Things, Phantom of the Opera Song and I Sing The Body Electric got me through the first two laps. I was that slow.

On the third lap, it was Cabaret. Now, The Gimme Gimmes’ Cabaret is a curious song to run to, the “What good is sitting alone in your room?” until the “your table is waiting” part blurs things around you and you get conscious of how rapid your panting is. But you get a burst of energy at the “no use permitting some prophet of doom” part and you’re off to yet another lap.

Cabaret’s ending, however, saps the energy out of you. It was good that the next track was “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and I was off running again until “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”

By this time, I was really out of breathe and not even Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” could “ba-ba-ba-bamp, ba-ba-ba-bamp” me on and I settled to a brisk walk for a final lap, going through “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” and ending with “Teenage Lobotomy.”

Darn, I didn’t last long enough for Blondie.

The Cebu City Sports Center
Cebu City Sports Center, where dozens of joggers converge every afternoon.

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5 responses

  1. try ska-punk (Mighty Mighty Bosstones, 311, Save Ferris, Sublime, Reel Big Fish, etc.) these are great for jogging.

    OR

    go EMO and then hate the world, you’ll be surprised to run faster when listening to these songs because you’d hate ’em.

  2. Poldo,
    Thanks. I’ll ISOHunt, I mean hunt for these tracks in time for tomorrow’s run.

  3. Max:

    When I visit Cebu, like last November and December, I make sure not to miss jogging at the sports center in Javellana (?). We have a house in Sikatuna near the corner of Jakosalem.

    Usually at past 5am, we take that short nippy walk to the center and for a measly gate fee of ten pesos each, walk, jog, or run on a world-class Tartan track. And I bring my trusty jogging partner and “pacer”, my Ipod, laden with pure rock and roll of the 50’s and 60’s.

    If you are not doing 10 laps and more for each session, you have some catching up to do. HeHeHe.

  4. Amadeo,
    It’s Abellana. They call it that because the sports center is near Abellana National School.

    If you are not doing 10 laps and more for each session, you have some catching up to do.
    It must be the music :-). Give me a few more months and I’ll be running more laps (I wish).

    Drop by Sun.Star the next time you visit Cebu, maybe we can run together (in the afternoon).

  5. You gave me a good laugh, nice title! 🙂 ..carry on idol.. great posts!

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