Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Mixed Tapes... Well, Mixed Playlists
Unlike over-primped bangs, neon colored clothes, or Garbage Pail Kids, the mixed tape is one of the few creations of the 80's
that made sense.
For the first time in history, people where able to mix and match information they owned, all you needed was a collection of
tapes and a stereo (a.k.a. boom-box) with dual tape decks. It was the precursor of the information age.
People had the ability to create their own soundtracks for their own lives, something extraordinarily common today in the
world of playlists of 5,000 songs.
one of the few ideas created by the 80s that wasn't oversize, neon colored, and ???. Furthermore, it is one of the very few
ideas that are still done today. The collecting and arranging songs with all of their thoughts and feeling in an order
specifically chosen to illicit an emotional response from the person listening to it. It a way, it's a form of art
Many years ago, I began associating songs to my friends. It wasn't just that a song always reminded me of them, it was that
the song defined that person or our relationship or both at the moment it was paired. Sometimes it happened right away,
sometimes it took years for that right song to find it's way to my ear at a time I was reflecting on my relationship with
someone. Sometimes that person would bring a song along with them to my ears.
Some of these songs I had never even listen to with the person. Some of them they gave to me. Some it was our song.
All of them, however, were paired by my brain without me even choosing. The song just fit and stuck. As far as I know, none
of the people on this list were ever aware I did this or had chosen a song for them.
In end, I have made many good friendships and this is song for all of them. It's not the soundtrack to my life. Instead, it's
the soundtrack to my relationships, to my friendships. This playlist "shows" who I've cared about and who's cared about me
and is as diverse as my friends. Those who have entered my world and
effected it, touched it, influenced it.
I struggled with whether or not to explain why I feel each song fit its
respected person, but in the end, I felt that was between me and them. I also
struggled with the order they would be presented. A normal mix tape would be
ordered in a meaning full manner to color the picture being presented. Since
these are about my life and relationships, I ordered them in chronological order
based on when I met the person which has little relation to when the song/friend
pairing was made.
So without further adieu, my Friend Album:
- Hope - Take My Breath Away by Berlin
- Shawn - Bad Ass Bitch by 2 Live Crew
- Derek - American Pie by Don McLean
- Jennifer - Old West by Five Iron Frenzy
- Dani - Dancing Queen by ABBA
- - Fly me to the Moon by Frank Senatra
- Laura - Christmas Time is Here by Vince Guaraldi Trio from A Charlie Brown Christmas
- - Martyr by Rusted Root
- Myles - Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show
- Peggy - Chantilly Lace by The Big Bopper
- Stacey - All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar
- - Down Home Girl by Old Crow
Medicine Show
- Gabrielle - Take It Off by Ke$ha
- Rachel - Teenage Dream by Katy Perry
- Hollie - Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
- Joe - Two of Us by The Beatles
- Rebecca - I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons
- - The Quiz by Hello
Saferide
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