So I found an old mixtape under my couch...
... and I figured I'd listen to it and live-blog the whole thing. Some background: Side A is called "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder", Side B is "Out of Sight, Out of Mind". There's no date on it or anything, but I believe it's one that I made for Bridget in winter or spring of 2007. Since this shitty cassette player lacks a rewind function for some reason, this is going to be out of order. I'm not really certain how it's still in my possession, I think perhaps it was an early draft. Making multiple drafts of a mix by manually recording each song in succession seems somewhat unnecessary, but hey, everybody's gotta have a hobby.
Side B: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Pixies- "Winterlong (Neil Young cover)": I'm 99% certain that in 2007 I had no idea this was a cover since I had yet to actually discover Neil's greatness. Honestly, I don't think I really waited Winterlong at all. Kind of the opposite, actually. After Christmas break, I decided I hated Omaha and moved back home.
Amp- "Sunflower": I actually had to google the lyrics to this to figure out what the hell it was. I don't think I've ever heard a single other song by this band. Man, this cassette player is such shit, it keeps slowing down and then speeding up.
The Pattern- "Fragile Awareness": Totally forgot about this band, they're pretty good, but super derivative. Thus far I'm impressed with how well this mix has stood up after approximately nine years.
The Zombies- "Maybe After He's Gone": Putting this song on here was a kind of a dick move, not really sure what I was trying to achieve with it. Wasn't I the "he" that was gone in this situation?
?????- "Piece of My Heart": I spent the entire length of this song trying to google the lyrics and found nothing. That's kinda weird. Song kinda sucks.
Electric Light Orchestra- "Telephone Line": HELL. YES. God, this song is such a jam. It is just the saddest goddamn thing I've ever heard. I'm actually tearing up a bit as I type this. I think I found this song by accident while looking up something else while making this mix, and it just fits perfectly.
Billie Holiday- "I'll Be Seeing You": I'd like to take credit for having good taste by including this, but I'm pretty sure it was meant as an inside joke referencing the time we watched The Notebook way long ago.
The Exploding Hearts- "Thorns In Roses": I miss this band so much. Their one record is so great. The cassette player is pretty well screwed up now and so this song is slowed down quite a bit, and that sounds kinda cool.
Wilco- "Should've Been In Love": Cassette player is getting worse and this is slowed down a ton, does not sound cool. Early Wilco is something that never ceases to make me happy, even though the songs themselves are largely bummers. I think this song choice was a bit on the nose, but what can you do?
The Rolling Stones- "Sweet Black Angel": I wonder if my musical taste was genuinely this good nine years ago or if I was punching above my weight class, so to speak. Not that I dislike or disliked any of these songs. The weird part is that the songs that I can't remember or bands I didn't listen to much other than for this mix aren't the really good ones.
Tom Waits- "Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards)": now this song I know was something I was super into. I was certifiably obsessed with the entirety of Tom Waits' first record for over a year. Every last bit of it was just so perfect to me.
Side A: "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"
Blacktop- "Here I Am, I Always Am": Another one to file under "I didn't really listen to this band much after this" but I still dig it. Definitely fits into Rob Gordon's rules for making a good mixtape
The Aquarium- "Can't Afford to Live Here": pretty simple and to the point. Omaha and I weren't getting along and there wasn't anything that I could see changing it, so I bailed. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and think about how everything would be different if I'd stayed.
Eels- "Last Stop: This Town": I think this is the second of three consecutive mixes I made for Bridget that contained an Eels song. The other two "I'm Going to Stop Pretending I Didn't Break Your Heart" and "PS You Rock My World" was the other, I believe.
The Stooges- "I Need Somebody": not my favorite Stooges but I think this was a case of making concessions to fitting the mix's theme, which I can justify all these years later. Man the cassette player is proper fucked now, song sounds like garbage.
Billy Bragg- "Walk Away Renee": Billy Bragg is someone I definitely need to get back into. This song is just so perfect and I think "and then one day it happened: she cut her hair and I stopped loving her" is one of my favorite lyrics of all time.
The Monkees- "Daydream Believer": I was briefly really into this song but nothing else by them ever did anything for me. I think maybe this was on here because Bridget was into them growing up. I think she met Davey Jones once.
Amy Rigby- "O'Hare": Amy Rigby's pretty good, I guess. This song's mostly on here because O'Hare is the airport I flew into when I moved home. Not super interesting, I guess. Song's really sappy and kinda sad and this whole exercise is kind of bumming me out.
Malajube- "La Monogamie": I know for certain this only on here to impress her. It's in French and I never bothered to look up what the lyrics meant. I should probably do that now. Update: yeah this actually fits in perfectly.
And then... that's it. Just kinda fades out and we're done.
Side B: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Pixies- "Winterlong (Neil Young cover)": I'm 99% certain that in 2007 I had no idea this was a cover since I had yet to actually discover Neil's greatness. Honestly, I don't think I really waited Winterlong at all. Kind of the opposite, actually. After Christmas break, I decided I hated Omaha and moved back home.
Amp- "Sunflower": I actually had to google the lyrics to this to figure out what the hell it was. I don't think I've ever heard a single other song by this band. Man, this cassette player is such shit, it keeps slowing down and then speeding up.
The Pattern- "Fragile Awareness": Totally forgot about this band, they're pretty good, but super derivative. Thus far I'm impressed with how well this mix has stood up after approximately nine years.
The Zombies- "Maybe After He's Gone": Putting this song on here was a kind of a dick move, not really sure what I was trying to achieve with it. Wasn't I the "he" that was gone in this situation?
?????- "Piece of My Heart": I spent the entire length of this song trying to google the lyrics and found nothing. That's kinda weird. Song kinda sucks.
Electric Light Orchestra- "Telephone Line": HELL. YES. God, this song is such a jam. It is just the saddest goddamn thing I've ever heard. I'm actually tearing up a bit as I type this. I think I found this song by accident while looking up something else while making this mix, and it just fits perfectly.
Billie Holiday- "I'll Be Seeing You": I'd like to take credit for having good taste by including this, but I'm pretty sure it was meant as an inside joke referencing the time we watched The Notebook way long ago.
The Exploding Hearts- "Thorns In Roses": I miss this band so much. Their one record is so great. The cassette player is pretty well screwed up now and so this song is slowed down quite a bit, and that sounds kinda cool.
Wilco- "Should've Been In Love": Cassette player is getting worse and this is slowed down a ton, does not sound cool. Early Wilco is something that never ceases to make me happy, even though the songs themselves are largely bummers. I think this song choice was a bit on the nose, but what can you do?
The Rolling Stones- "Sweet Black Angel": I wonder if my musical taste was genuinely this good nine years ago or if I was punching above my weight class, so to speak. Not that I dislike or disliked any of these songs. The weird part is that the songs that I can't remember or bands I didn't listen to much other than for this mix aren't the really good ones.
Tom Waits- "Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards)": now this song I know was something I was super into. I was certifiably obsessed with the entirety of Tom Waits' first record for over a year. Every last bit of it was just so perfect to me.
Side A: "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"
Blacktop- "Here I Am, I Always Am": Another one to file under "I didn't really listen to this band much after this" but I still dig it. Definitely fits into Rob Gordon's rules for making a good mixtape
The Aquarium- "Can't Afford to Live Here": pretty simple and to the point. Omaha and I weren't getting along and there wasn't anything that I could see changing it, so I bailed. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and think about how everything would be different if I'd stayed.
Eels- "Last Stop: This Town": I think this is the second of three consecutive mixes I made for Bridget that contained an Eels song. The other two "I'm Going to Stop Pretending I Didn't Break Your Heart" and "PS You Rock My World" was the other, I believe.
The Stooges- "I Need Somebody": not my favorite Stooges but I think this was a case of making concessions to fitting the mix's theme, which I can justify all these years later. Man the cassette player is proper fucked now, song sounds like garbage.
Billy Bragg- "Walk Away Renee": Billy Bragg is someone I definitely need to get back into. This song is just so perfect and I think "and then one day it happened: she cut her hair and I stopped loving her" is one of my favorite lyrics of all time.
The Monkees- "Daydream Believer": I was briefly really into this song but nothing else by them ever did anything for me. I think maybe this was on here because Bridget was into them growing up. I think she met Davey Jones once.
Amy Rigby- "O'Hare": Amy Rigby's pretty good, I guess. This song's mostly on here because O'Hare is the airport I flew into when I moved home. Not super interesting, I guess. Song's really sappy and kinda sad and this whole exercise is kind of bumming me out.
Malajube- "La Monogamie": I know for certain this only on here to impress her. It's in French and I never bothered to look up what the lyrics meant. I should probably do that now. Update: yeah this actually fits in perfectly.
And then... that's it. Just kinda fades out and we're done.