At some point, I learned that if I’m really feeling stuck in a day—beset with that sluggish afternoon feeling in which the day seems to stretch on forever ahead and stillness and movement both sound unbearable—that music will help. Sometimes, I even remember this.
There was a stretch last spring when it was raining a lot and the roads were empty and the new apartment was feeling dark, because it is dark, it’s covered with trees and there aren’t any broad windows, and I’d put on the coffee house playlist on Spotify, or whatever it’s called—the one I’m guessing they play in the Panera on Dupont Circle in D.C., because it always makes me think of there. Somewhere on that playlist was “Big Black Car,” by Gregory Alan Isakov, and somewhere in there was the sound of a tired, rainy afternoon—set apart, ponderous, sing-song and furtive, flowing but gently rocking, while the day passes on.
Here’s the song. It’s good on a comfortably alone night, too, especially if driving.
