playlist: le métro
by Caralyn Levine on November 20, 2018
des enfants… taking the métro in their vests
“L’autre jour, il n’était pas encore huit heures du matin, j’étais assis dans le métro, me frottant les yeux et luttant contre le sommeil en raison d’un réveil si matinal, quand j’ai vu une Italienne qui dévorait une pizza aussi grande qu’un parapluie.”
A light summary/translation: ‘It wasn’t even 8 in the morning and I was sitting in the metro when I saw an Italian eating a pizza as big as an umbrella’
… ok not true; I jest but I have seen countless baguettes (you don’t buy one, everyone has at least two if not four tucked elegantly under the arm, one might say in the crook of an elbow) and croissants and cheese and public drinking -wine included, bien sûr- but what are stereotypes anyway? This quote that i have generously and mildly translated from the lovely romantic difficult french language is from a book i read for class (and finished! a genuine feat en français). Although i am not (yet) an Iranian man who drinks multiple bottles of chianti each day and sits crying near a fountain feeding the pigeons (as this character does) and i am not seated on the metro at 8am, rather 7:15am being already late to class at 8am (a weekly ritual), i still understand his desire to document this foreign journey. While the paris métro is fairly similar to the subway of my home/ fleeting youth (new york), i can oftentimes relate to his feelings of confusion/ disconnect/occasional awe (ex., the doors do not bounce back open if one were to stick an arm between them to prevent them from closing- seriously dangerous! ex., i have seen people rolling cigarettes one handed (!!!)- french people are dextrous). In such situations, if not listening to french music of course (language pledge <333 😉 ), appropriate music is key. Donc, i created a playlist for metro and otherwise (from my 8am commute: lines 13 -> 14-> 7, to yours <3: maybe running up the hill to proc, getting apple, going to class -> all same speed). This should be relevant for any and all metro occasions, waiting 4 people deep on the platform, squeezed in half a person worth of space, running between trains, walking up broken escalators, or successfully scooping a seat, etc., or vermont. That being said, i excuse the slight randomness of the playlist, and I kept it joyful rather than angsty. I hope you enjoy. Sending so much amour and so many bisous from afar <3
-cara (your loving former concerts manager)
(also, wrote this on the metro obviously)
I loved this!