Mood Music

I think Shakespeare was wrong about music being "the food of love." I know it's utter sacrilege for a bardolater, such as myself, to say that he was ever wrong. Surely such an offence should come with some sort of terrible punishment. Five and Twenty lashings with a quill pen? Banishment from Verona? A poisoned pearl in my wine? Or the worst of all be subjected to the witty and cutting insults that we all know the Bard is capable of slinging?
I suppose he didn't really say that as himself. The Duke in Twelfth Night says it, so it's Orsino who is wrong. There, now all can be forgiven. And I narrowly dodge lashings, banishments and the sharp edge of his tongue-in-cheek.
Well the point I was trying to make before I got side tracked by a few hundred years, was that music is "the food" of so may emotions, moods, and desires (love is but one). Sure it's not profound but I've been noticing lately my need for music in nearly every situation. Sometimes I have to settle for the music in my head. During tests, for example. No matter how good a rapport I have with the lady that runs the testing centre (haven't had to show her my Student ID since the fainting incident of '08) there is no way I'm getting in there with headphones and a CD and/or MP3 player.
There is a song or tune for everything and I seem to have an innate need to find it. Like my taste in so many things my taste in music can be described with one word: eclectic. Though many have tried to use the word indecisive. But since "other people" aren't writing this we shall use eclectic and say nothing more of the matter.
It isn't always an easy thing to decide what music one is in the mood for. Admittedly U2 is a safe bet with me most of the time but a girl can't live on Bono and "One" alone. So what to listen to when I need something different? When I'm in one of my excruciatingly up beat moods anything goes; from David Bowie to The Proclaimers to Enya, from Loreena Mckennitt to Sting to Simon and Garfunkle to Apocalyptica. When I'm a little depressed and need cheering up nothing is so good as the bagpipes and didgeridoo of The Wicked Tinkers. But if I'm quite depressed and need a good wallow Staind, Godsmack, or Pearl Jam are a must (all excellent at other times as well). What about when I'm cooking, cleaning, meditating, studying, reading, writing, exercising (stop with the giggling it happens on occasion), or anything else that needs a soundtrack?
Cleaning calls for something peppy that makes me want to move about. You'd be surprised how fast I can vacuum with Erasure blaring. Swing music is remarkably good for that too. The danger lies in the desire to fling the vacuum about as if it were your partner in the dance (no one must know what became of the lamp or where that hole in the wall came from).
Recently I made a discovery that has forever changed the Saturday nights that I cook (oh the exciting life I lead). There is a radio station that plays all show tunes from 7 till midnight. Oh the joy! The bliss! Ooo the unmitigated ecstasy! (I told you it's an exciting life) Not everything played is a favourite (they have the gall to play songs from *shudder* West Side Story *shudder shudder*) but I tell you when a favourite, old or new, comes on I can belt it out so as to shatter windows 3 blocks away. For I am a (stereotypically) flamboyant gay man in a tomboy's body!
But for now I need to go find out which song is the food for my current mood.