Music Machine

It's all the rage right now to learn what songs are on everyone's iPod. Frankly, for most people I couldn't care any less what songs they listen to. But when it comes to the President, let's just say I'm intrigued. The selection is respectable if not surprising given his Texas home. Country music is distinctly American and doesn't sell well abroad (like Bush), Fogerty came of age during the Vietnam War (like Bush), and Van Morrison is someone most Americans don't realize isn't American. (perhaps like...) All this is fun to analyze, but the money quote is this:

As for an analysis of Mr. Bush's playlist, Mr. Levy of Rolling Stone started out with this: "One thing that's interesting is that the president likes artists who don't like him."

Very few of us can say that.

Oh, and just in case you're interested (since I know you're not!), the most played artists on my iPod are Del Amitri, Sting, Los Lobos, Carla Bruni, Keren Ann, Coldplay and Allison Krauss. As far as I know, not one of them dislikes me, probably because none of them knows I exist.