Just listened to my 94,000th unique iTunes track (with replays of the same item not counting towards that total), the George M. Cohan smash hit from 1911, “That Haunting Melody”, sung by the inimitable Al Jolson on the A-side of Victor 17037. (He is inimitable because of the blackface, naturally.)
This represents 609.37 GB of data, constituting 255 days, 15 hours, 29 minutes, and 4 seconds of playing time. Which leaves 78,705 items (meaning I’ve had a net loss of one track since last report) remaining unheard, totaling 491.44 GB of data lasting 223 days, 2 hours, 18 minutes, and 10 seconds.
Oddly enough, iTunes seems to be on a George Cohan kick, as the ninety-four thousand and first track is “The Yankee Doodle Boy” — you may know it as “(I’m a) Yankee Doodle Dandy” — from the Cohan musical Little Johnny Jones which opened in 1904. The particular cut I’m listening to is that sung by the tremendous pop star Billy Murray, on Victor 4229 (a single-sided disc). Not to worry, though; we won’t always be stuck in the hinterlands of century-old popular music. The next song is a 1987 number: “Misfit” by Curiosity Killed The Cat off of their #1 album (both on the UK charts and in the order of their album releases) Keep Your Distance. Perhaps that’s good advice, as I’m not sure we’ll be talking about Curiosity Killed The Cat as frequently as George M. Cohan in another half-century.