Better late than never

Several years ago I noticed that the more that I program, the less music I make. Unfortunately at the moment it's much easier to write computer programs than it is to write songs; for one, I am never short of ideas whereas I never have any ideas for the other.

But while I am writing programs, I am also listening to music, and in the 'better late than never' department, I must note my increasing interest for Joni Mitchell's classic "Blue" album from 1971. I've been listening to this album for the past few years but have never payed too much attention to it. At first, the faster songs ("All I want", "Carey", "California") served as my introduction, but lately their appeal has begun to fade, and to be honest, I almost wish that they weren't on the album, for I have fallen in love with the slower songs.

"Little green", "Blue" and "River" have become mainstays of my listening in the past few days. I admit that mainly I listen to the music and not to the words, not having enough spare processing power for them. The title song alone is worth the price of admission, especially in the 'middle bit', where a line sung in 4/4 suddenly compresses to be sung in 3/4 ("acid, booze and ass").