What's on my iPod: Jason Lewis

In October 2007, Jason Lewis returned to his native Britain from a 13 year expedition around the globe. Solely under human power, using bicycles, in-line skates, kayaks, swimming, rowing, walking and a unique pedal-powered boat, Lewis travelled over over 45,000 miles across five continents, two oceans and one sea. And now he’s writing a book about his endeavours (look out for an exclusive WW interview with Lewis next month). Meanwhile, we wanted to know, what on earth do you listen to on a monumental journey like this?

“Although the expedition took in the entire digital revolution, from analogue audio cassettes, to compact discs, eventually to iPods, the music stayed much the same throughout,” Jason tells us. Here’s the sounds that made his trip.

Radiohead: Pablo Honey

I had this album on audio cassette, which we played on a Sony Walkman crossing the Atlantic by pedal boat in 1994 (111-days, Portugal to Miami). When my head was beginning to loll at three in the morning, I’d chuck it on. That and a mug of hot tea were about the most effective ways of getting through one of the dreaded two-hour “graveyard shifts” before Steve (Lewis’s fellow adventurer on this leg] took over.

Cracker: Thousand Poppies

Some tunes were high-octane fuel for overcoming extreme fatigue at night. Others had more rhythm and groove, assimilating better to the undulating pulse of the ocean waves passing beneath our boat, Moksha’s, hull. This album always sent me into a trance. I could listen to it again and again.

Van Morrison: Into the Mystic

This song… Oh boy! I have a distinct memory of listening to this track whilst pedalling into a setting sun on day 23 of the Coral Sea voyage, midway between the Solomon Islands and Australia. Contrary to the rest of the crossing (32-days of mountainous seas – an all round hellish experience), the conditions this one evening were perfect: perfect temperature, perfect cooling breeze wafting in through the open hatch courtesy of the southeast trades, and a perfect gentle ocean swell, for once heading in the perfect direction, west. It’s a very special song.

Thin Red Line: Melanesian Choir Chant

This track is actually from the soundtrack for Thin Red Line. The movie happens to be set in and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, which I pedalled though in 2000. More than anything, the vocalists, drawn from a native Melanesian choir chanting hymns in their native pidgin, reminds me of all the people of Melanesian and Polynesian descent whom I met during the entire 178-day Pacific voyage. These people were born to sing; their voices were unfailingly sweet, of perfect pitch and a delight to listen to.

Blondie: The Tide is High

I know, ‘80s retro (yawn). But this feel-good track is a hard one to beat for any type of travelling, human-powered or otherwise. From that first steel drum roll at the beginning, I always felt my spirits pick up and the cadence on the pedals, too, whether on land or sea. The fifty miles remaining on the odometer before knocking off for the day suddenly didn’t seem such a grind anymore.

Alison Krauss: The Scarlet Tide (theme music from Cold Mountain)

An out-of-left-field choice, this one. It’s a very mellow, haunting and evocative piano piece. Sometimes, when I was feeling down with the whole expedition––lying in my tent on the Tibetan plateau, for example, wondering if I had the energy to keep going and finish the thing after being out for so many years ­­–– I’d fall asleep to this. It has a rejuvenating quality; kind of picks up your tired soul, dusts it off and sets it back on its feet again with a friendly pat, as if to say: “Come on, you can do it. Only another 10,000 miles to go…”

Abba: Dancing Queen

Sher Dhillon, my pedalling partner for the Indian Ocean crossing from Mumbai to Djibouti, used to listen to this one over and over during his graveyard shifts. I know so, because it’s listed in my iTunes as having been played 489 times (300 times more than any other!) It was the only track in my library that he liked (clearly), which probably doesn’t say much for my taste in music considering he had some 4,670 other options to choose from.

Green Day: American Idiot

Another high-octane track for sleepy night time vigils. I listened to American Idiot on my iPod Shuffle while paddling under cover of darkness between Sudan and Egypt on Lake Nasser (illegally), in 2007. During the day, I would hide my kayak under foliage on shore and sleep. After three nights of paddling, I reached my target of Abu Simbel on the Egyptian side, where the road picked up again. However, I was arrested shortly after and detained for 36-hours by military intelligence. With all my electronics­­––laptop, satellite phones, video cameras, digital camera, etc.––they assumed I was a spy. American idiot? No, English I told them.

For more information, visit www.expedition360.com