walk on

I've always loved walking. The best part, one really gets a feel for their surroundings, rather than the carousel effect of watching the world through the window of a fast moving car, bus or train. I enjoy walking so much that I often try (unsuccessfully) to convert my fellow Southern Californians to leave the car behind and hoof it - this is a place where peeps will jump into their auto to drive two blocks to a fast food joint. Now, there's places humans shouldn't walk and I found that out during a Summer in the Nevada desert. I walked five miles in Las Vegas during the mid-day Sun, the temperature was 123 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) and I arrived to my destination with a mind warped more than usual. It was a hallucinatory experience, unfortunately, my feet sinking into the melting black asphalt road wasn't. Now, SoCal natives don't have that heat excuse - though I love the Southland, I really can't figure out the aversion to walking. It's certainly not due to ill-health, since it can often look like the set of Baywatch out here. The only thing I can come up with - it's not the most social of places, most residents just don't like talking to people they don't know and walking surely increases the chances of that occurring. Now, this is opposed to New York City, where the worst thing you could do is ask a native how they're doing, cause most tend to answer in great detail. For this reason, I suspect that's what makes it one of the greatest places in the United States to go walking - most New Yorkers enjoy interaction, contrary to the material of thousands of stand-up comedians over the years. The air's electrified and helps glide you along, I find it inspiring. Lower Manhattan, especially Greenwich Village, is one of my prime locations to go stepping out. I'd love to learn of some other choice spots to walk - if any come to mind, let me know in comments.

So, here's a collection of walking songs. My hope is you'll load them on your iPod, put on your walking shoes and take that first big step that leads to hundreds more. Your feet may hurt, but the music will soothe any pain silly enough to rear its head.

"The longest journey begins with a single step." - Lao Tsu

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose." - Charles Dickens

"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day." - Henry David Thoreau

"One step at a time is good walking" - Chinese Proverbs

"We must walk before we run." - George Borrow

"Walking is a man's best medicine." - Hippocrates

"The best remedy for a short temper is a long walk." - Jacqueline Schiff

"Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain." - Billie Holiday

The First Moonwalk: Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin

Willie Dixon And The Allstars: Walking The Blues - 3MB

Prince Jazzbo: Crab Walking - 15MB

The Prisonaires: Just Walkin In The Rain - 3MB

The Proclaimers: (I Would Walk) 500 Miles - 5MB

Rooftop Singers: Walk Right In - 4MB

Edwin Starr: Twenty-Five Miles - 4MB

The James Gang: Walk Away - 6MB

Tom Waits: Walking Spanish - 6MB

The Dodos: Walking - 3MB

Johnny Cash: I Walk the Line - 3MB

Neil Young: Walk On - 4MB

The Ting Tings: We Walk - 7MB

The Kinks: Sleepwalker - 6MB

The Bangles: Walk Like An Egyptian - 6MB

Henry Mancini: Baby Elephant Walk - 4MB

Cypress Hill: Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk - 4MB

Jimmy McCracklin: The Walk - 4MB

Joe Jackson: Steppin Out - 10MB

Taj Mahal: Cakewalk Into Town - 4MB

Joe South: Walk A Mile In My Shoes - 7MB

Dionne Warwick: Walk On By - 4MB

The Shangri-Las: Remember (Walkin' In The Sand) - 2MB

The Police: Walking on the Moon - 8MB

The Ventures: Walk Don't Run - 3MB

Missing Persons: Walking In L.A. - 7MB