Home, Home and Deranged

“Who are those guys?” said Butch Cassidy to the Sundance Kid, and the 70s’ Hollywood romance with the Western was reborn. The record industry followed suit, and soon rock stars were crooning tunes steeped in the romance of gunfights and flights across the wide open range. Taking this trend to the limit were the Eagles, who based an entire album on the Dalton Gang with their concept album, Desperado. This week’s wog features nine songs from that album, from the opening strains of Doolin-Dalton to the peyote-infused Bitter Creek. Despite their swagger, most of the cuts are lightweight, pace-wise; only Out of Control cranks it up into high gear. So this set will most likely leave you with a peaceful, easy feeling, especially if you leave the six guns at home. Saddle up at Pogwogging.com.

Prayer-Optional Wogging

Take some Byrds-inspired ringing guitar work, add a hip-sounding collegiate lead singer from Australia, and finish with an almost U2-like big rock sound. That’s The Church, best known for their lush, alt-rock hit Under the Milky Way, way back in the 80s. But if you think they didn’t rock, check out Reptile—my fave—or When You Were Mine, both from The Blurred Crusade. And they played uptempo, too—even Milky Way is a light jog. This 40-minute set will delight your senses and pound your pulse, friends. Check it out at Podwogging.com.

Over A Thousand Woggable Songs

With the publication of this week’s wog (The Boho Wog), I’ve now posted info on over one thousand songs on Podwogging.com. That means over a thousand popular songs, from six decades, have been sussed out for their walking and jogging suitability by Yours Truly. But Podwogging.com has far more than just the Beats Per Minute for each song. Each song is in a specially crafted playlist, either based on a theme or a single artist, arranged in an for maximum walking or jogging enjoyment. Whether you want a pleasant stroll or really want to feel the burn, just a short break or an hour-long Wog-a-Thon, you’ll find song lists of every sort there. Each song has info on artist, BPM, time, pace consistency, and source, along with a comment about the song: does it have a long intro or outro? Is it in 3/4 time? Can you skip to it, or can you run to it at double-time?

On the other hand, if you’d rather construct your own exercise lists using Podwogging.com, check out the Song Index, where all the songs currently posted are in three long lists, sorted by title, artist, or pace.

So check it out—explore your inner Boho and beyond at Podwogging.com.

A Wog for All Seasons

Happy New Year!

Since I did the Dead a couple of weeks ago, I thought it only proper that I fête their psychedelic comrades from the glory days of free concerts in Golden Gate Park, barefoot incense-sellers on the streets, and other manifestations of the love revolution that failed only in the narrow minds of unimaginative people: the Jefferson Airplane. And if it’s one thing these former folk-rockers had, it was imagination. So now, on the first week of the new year, put the Airplane on, let your freak lights shine, and wog to one of the finest bands that wasn’t Jefferson Starship. It’s waiting for you at Podwogging.com.

Ündercurrents

For this week I was originally going to do a set by the Jefferson Airplane and then this set the following week, but intervening circumstances will make it impossible for me to do a Weekly Wog the week following Christmas. Perhaps it’s fitting, because my wog this week, Ündercurrents, has a tinge of darkness to it, and it’s coming out on the Winter Solstice. Featuring artists such The Fixx, Sarah McLachlan, and Strange Advance, these are some of my favorite songs, and the set is 49 minutes long. Enjoy! Find the current at Podwogging.com.

What a Long, Strange Wog

Since doing twirly dances with no discernable awareness of rhythm is now illegal in a number of states, I’ve had to mend my ways and seek out music by the Grateful Dead that conforms to woggability codes. Hence, Sugar Jognolia: 37 minutes of Dead tunes that are both far out and noodle-free. Go to Podwogging.com for more (tie-dye t-shirts optional).

Memo to Zeus: Bring It On!

Rain Bringer, Cloud Gatherer, do your best—‘cause I’ve sonic protection in the form of my Ümbrella: 12 songs about rain. Starting with R.E.M.’s mournful I’ll Take the Rain and finishing with Jim Hendrix doing Still Raining, Still Dreaming, this week’s wog is a light walking set for a stroll in the wet stuff. Since rain is often a metaphor for the stuff the life throws at you, all these songs have a twinge of melancholy to them, even the one by the bubbly Cowsills. But with your Ümbrella for protection, your spirits will be lifted by the time Jimi comes around.

What’s in a Woglist?

At Podwogging.com, you’ll find this list, along with many others—nearly a thousand songs total, with more added each week. In addition to showing song title, artist, and album, each song in a list has its BPM (beats per minute), PC (pace consistency), and a comment—sometimes just about the song itself, but often with other information: intros and outros, whether the song is skippable, and whether you can either do a slow walk or run to it at double speed. All this is designed to help YOU know what you’re getting when you decide to put this song into a playlist for the purposes of jogging or walking.