14 January 2001
Momentum

Momentum got me in trouble last night. It's not unexpected; she's been a handful ever since she came into the world, and I suppose it was too much to hope that she'd lose her talent for frustrating me. This time it was about her place in the album song order -- namely, that she wants to be the opening track. She'd made it known to me early on that she wanted to be there, and I'd nodded, but in the end we'd put her further down the list. Pissed her off, to put it lightly.

"You said I'd be leading off."
"I didn't say anything of the kind. I said the idea could work, that's all. No promises involved."
"That's not the point. It does work."
"Look, I hate to break it to you, but you're not the strongest one on the record. The performance is only decent, you're all by yourself instrumentally, and you weren't the first-song type to begin with anyway."
"I still belong in that spot."
"Why? Give me reasons."
"I don't have any reasons. I just do."

We rehashed the same conversation over the course of the next two weeks, each time with the same non-conclusion. So last night I finally brought the topic up with Eric, who was none too pleased, and of course since I had broached the subject, I had to take her side of the argument, at least partly. No voices were raised, but it was not a pretty discussion. In the age of MP3 playlists it might almost be a moot point, really, and I don't know why the issue has caused so much grief. Just Momentum being her agreeable old self as usual, I suppose.

Naturally, she won, and neither Eric nor I are very happy about it. We'll have to hear from you out there to see whether she was right...

- VT