I have a playlist on my (new, amazing, sexy) iPod that I call "cool". I didn't choose that name because I felt this was cool music, in a stylish sense. The name is not intended to make me feel cool, nor do I believe it is a selection of music that IS cool- I'm not a music critic. Rather, it’s just songs that have made me exclaim: “cool!” at some point.
However, through some strange coincidence, there are some songs on there now that really are cool. They are not songs of meaning, mediation and tranquillity (they go into my playlist called “Dundee”). They are songs that are simply really, really cool. In an objective sense. Who would have thought?
When I plug these songs into my ears and walk down the streets of Hong Kong, I really am the coolest guy on earth. It doesn’t matter how tattered my clothes are or how my career in espionage may have been limited by an episode of tonsillitis. It doesn’t matter that I’m here and not there. All that matters is the swing in my head. I'm the coolest dude on Earth.
I am not very observant, I have neither an eye for detail nor a head for the big picture. Considering my job I’m almost cripplingly deficient in this regard. However, I made on observation two years ago that was so accurate yet possibly so profound that I’m considering patenting it.
Hong Kong beats to a soundtrack of swing. Not many people agree when they first hear this. They suggest RnB, house or even the sound of money (how trite!). These sounds may characterize specific experiences in this multi-faced city, of course. However, only swing captures the feeling of taking a taxi through a hilly jungle packed with chinese skyrises.
