the soundtrack to my life is so lame

Please believe me when I say that for the past three or four years I've had Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf stuck in my head. It definitely started shortly after I started grad school, and it continues to this day. And how it continues...

I mostly blame The Simpsons for this, as Peter and the Wolf frequently is used as a background music. I know this as I watched seasons 4, 6, 7, and most of 3 while unpacking boxes and before our cable was installed. (1) Every time that stupid Peter string section starts up, it's like taking another hit.

However, things definitely took a turn for the worse when my Peter infection hit Kevin. There's just no escaping it. It's like a third grade music appreciation class up in here.

Joining Peter and the Wolf in its constant brain airtime is the Broken Social Scene's KC Accidental. Not the whole song - just the instrumental beginning, which I sing, a lot, out loud. A lot. Badly.

What I really want to know is why these two songs have remained stuck in my head more or less permanently for these past years. I suppose I can engage in some ad hoc theorizing about the BSS - I listened to the record pretty heavily for a while. But, I've certainly listened to other albums much more (and more recently) without the same effect. (2) And I can't say I've really intentionally listened to Peter and the Wolf since puberty. So, it remains a mystery.

Joining this duo is a recent entry, but I'll make a prediction that it will be here for at least as long as I'm living in California: The Rosebud's El Camino. Once it became wedged in my head after a show; now it's on heavy rotation due to our proximity to El Camino Real, a main drag in these parts. Every time I'm getting directions and El Camino comes up, my cerebellum cues up the keyboards and those inane lyrics. "Fighting crime and saving lives," indeed.

(1) After watching these seasons, as well as a goodly portion of the acclaimed fifth season while homeless, I am perfectly confident in my assertion that the fourth season is, by far, the very best. I am preparing a formal treatise on the topic to be posted shortly.

(2) I have to believe that it would be pretty cool to have Joanna Newsom on mental repeat. That's the kind of thing that could finally push me over the mental-stability edge.