Songbook: Mix Tape
The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. Anyway...
High Fidelity
Based on the novel by Nick Hornby
After 28 posts and another five "I can't post" posts, I really thought I was done with the Songbook. I wasn't even going to do a summary post, but then my coworker MSA asked how I would make a mix tape of the songs I had selected. This was a very good question, and one well deserving of another post. I spent a lot of time staring at the list and trying to figure it out.
The problem, of course, is that I've made two mix tapes in my entire life. Both were for me, and in retrospect they all sucked pretty badly (but I still have them!) On the other hand, I made them both in high school when my taste and collection were both lacking. Now I've got fourteen years of radio experience, and really a radio show is nothing but the best mix tape of all. Even better, more than five years of that radio experience featured me mixing my songs in with a co-host, which is a degree of difficulty not found in your typical mix tape. I now have a lot of practice throwing together seemingly unrelated tracks in an attractive manner.
Then I realized that I could simply spin try out my combinations in iTunes. Purists might mock, but I had twenty-two of the tracks in iTunes already, and the remainder were easily found on YouTube. I threw together a new playlist and started experimenting. Tracks were dragged hither and yon. A few were removed completely because I don't actually like them much, even if they are permanently embedded in the fabric of my brain. At one point I seriously considered popping open Audacity to rip extra silence and/or applause off the end of tracks to make the mix better. Ultimately, I came up with a pretty good list.
First, off, several songs didn't make the cut.
#5 - Blinded by the Light
As I specifically stated in this post, I intentionally don't own a copy of this song because I want to only hear it randomly. It never had any chance of getting on the mix tape.
#23 - Bonus Tracks
The bonus tracks were removed because they weren't memorable enough to merit their own post, so they weren't memorable enough to be on the mix tape.
#3 - Cryin'
#6 - Piano Man
These two songs were removed because I just don't like them all that much any more.
#4 - Mr. Jones
#24 - Corey's Coming
And these two were removed because I simply could not make them fit into the mix in a manner that made sense:
This left twenty-one tracks on the mix tape, which I then divided into Side One and Side Two. Remember that all numbers reference the order I posted in Songbook, not the mix tape order. Here we go:
Side One
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
Whatever else Guns N' Roses did, they did create the greatest opening track of all time. It demands the first spot, and anyway we have to kick off with a killer.
#14 - Psycho Killer
The Moxy Früvous live version of Psycho Killer transforms the aggression from Welcome to the Jungle to something less viscerally ominous, but does not contain it.
#10 - Red Sweater!
Wait, what? The Aquabats announce that this no ordinary mix tape while still keeping up the energy.
#8 - Ecstasy
#21 - Oh My God
Rusted Root builds up the speed and energy as we approach Mark Ronson & Lily Allen, who bring us the emotional peak of Side One.
#20 - Screenwriter's Blues
#2 - Runnin' Blue
Soul Coughing keeps the emotion high while chilling us out, ultimately defusing the tension so that we've slowed most of the way down when we hit The Doors.
#15 - All Along the Watchtower
#26 - I Want to Hold Your Hand
U2's live cover of Jimi Hendrix via Bob Dylan kicks us into recovery mode, and then The Beatles take us out on a strong emotional note to end the side.
Side Two
#9 - Seasons of Love
I'm pretty sure that this is the greatest Act Two opener in Broadway history, so it will do just fine to establish the mood for Side Two here.
#12 - It Had to Be You
#11 - Insomniac
Harry Connick Jr. talks about inevitable love before Speakeasy's cover brings us someone singing about how love has saved them.
#22 - Another First Kiss
#25 - Jessie
They Might Be Giants makes it slower and sweeter, than Joshua Kadison takes it down yet another notch for a tale of chaotic love.
#19 - Sweet Jane
#17 - Alcohol & Pills
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
The Cowboy Junkies very slowly bring up the tempo as they cover Lou Reed, but then Fred Eaglesmith brings it crashing to a halt a tale of death and the inability to see what you have in front of you. Then some live Dire Straits talks about love's failure.
#16 - When I'm Up
Great Big Sea kicks up the speed as we accelerate to the end.
#18 - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
Joan Osborne & the Funk Brothers hit the final emotional peak of the album as they scream about the failure of love.
#13 - Cabaret
Satchmo defines what well may be the mission statement for my life.
#27 - Quest for Glory Theme
And off in the distance the instrumental music of Mark Siebert provides a lovely little coda in all its eight-bit glory.
Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.
And we're done. Nick Hornby has brought us from circle, from my original Tracklist post to here. I hope you've enjoyed this little trip through my brain. You'll note that 22 of these songs got stuck in my head with a year of college ending. For whatever reason it seems to be harder for a song to embed itself now, so I don't know that I will ever really be able to do a follow up with more songs. Well, I suppose I could fall in love again. That might be good for a few more.
In any event, thanks to MSA for suggesting the mixtape, and to CFA for making the suggestion that kicked this entire thing off in the first place. I appreciate it.
High Fidelity
Based on the novel by Nick Hornby
After 28 posts and another five "I can't post" posts, I really thought I was done with the Songbook. I wasn't even going to do a summary post, but then my coworker MSA asked how I would make a mix tape of the songs I had selected. This was a very good question, and one well deserving of another post. I spent a lot of time staring at the list and trying to figure it out.
The problem, of course, is that I've made two mix tapes in my entire life. Both were for me, and in retrospect they all sucked pretty badly (but I still have them!) On the other hand, I made them both in high school when my taste and collection were both lacking. Now I've got fourteen years of radio experience, and really a radio show is nothing but the best mix tape of all. Even better, more than five years of that radio experience featured me mixing my songs in with a co-host, which is a degree of difficulty not found in your typical mix tape. I now have a lot of practice throwing together seemingly unrelated tracks in an attractive manner.
Then I realized that I could simply spin try out my combinations in iTunes. Purists might mock, but I had twenty-two of the tracks in iTunes already, and the remainder were easily found on YouTube. I threw together a new playlist and started experimenting. Tracks were dragged hither and yon. A few were removed completely because I don't actually like them much, even if they are permanently embedded in the fabric of my brain. At one point I seriously considered popping open Audacity to rip extra silence and/or applause off the end of tracks to make the mix better. Ultimately, I came up with a pretty good list.
First, off, several songs didn't make the cut.
#5 - Blinded by the Light
As I specifically stated in this post, I intentionally don't own a copy of this song because I want to only hear it randomly. It never had any chance of getting on the mix tape.
#23 - Bonus Tracks
The bonus tracks were removed because they weren't memorable enough to merit their own post, so they weren't memorable enough to be on the mix tape.
#3 - Cryin'
#6 - Piano Man
These two songs were removed because I just don't like them all that much any more.
#4 - Mr. Jones
#24 - Corey's Coming
And these two were removed because I simply could not make them fit into the mix in a manner that made sense:
This left twenty-one tracks on the mix tape, which I then divided into Side One and Side Two. Remember that all numbers reference the order I posted in Songbook, not the mix tape order. Here we go:
Side One
#1 - Welcome to the Jungle
Whatever else Guns N' Roses did, they did create the greatest opening track of all time. It demands the first spot, and anyway we have to kick off with a killer.
#14 - Psycho Killer
The Moxy Früvous live version of Psycho Killer transforms the aggression from Welcome to the Jungle to something less viscerally ominous, but does not contain it.
#10 - Red Sweater!
Wait, what? The Aquabats announce that this no ordinary mix tape while still keeping up the energy.
#8 - Ecstasy
#21 - Oh My God
Rusted Root builds up the speed and energy as we approach Mark Ronson & Lily Allen, who bring us the emotional peak of Side One.
#20 - Screenwriter's Blues
#2 - Runnin' Blue
Soul Coughing keeps the emotion high while chilling us out, ultimately defusing the tension so that we've slowed most of the way down when we hit The Doors.
#15 - All Along the Watchtower
#26 - I Want to Hold Your Hand
U2's live cover of Jimi Hendrix via Bob Dylan kicks us into recovery mode, and then The Beatles take us out on a strong emotional note to end the side.
Side Two
#9 - Seasons of Love
I'm pretty sure that this is the greatest Act Two opener in Broadway history, so it will do just fine to establish the mood for Side Two here.
#12 - It Had to Be You
#11 - Insomniac
Harry Connick Jr. talks about inevitable love before Speakeasy's cover brings us someone singing about how love has saved them.
#22 - Another First Kiss
#25 - Jessie
They Might Be Giants makes it slower and sweeter, than Joshua Kadison takes it down yet another notch for a tale of chaotic love.
#19 - Sweet Jane
#17 - Alcohol & Pills
#7 - Romeo & Juliet
The Cowboy Junkies very slowly bring up the tempo as they cover Lou Reed, but then Fred Eaglesmith brings it crashing to a halt a tale of death and the inability to see what you have in front of you. Then some live Dire Straits talks about love's failure.
#16 - When I'm Up
Great Big Sea kicks up the speed as we accelerate to the end.
#18 - What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
Joan Osborne & the Funk Brothers hit the final emotional peak of the album as they scream about the failure of love.
#13 - Cabaret
Satchmo defines what well may be the mission statement for my life.
#27 - Quest for Glory Theme
And off in the distance the instrumental music of Mark Siebert provides a lovely little coda in all its eight-bit glory.
Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.
And we're done. Nick Hornby has brought us from circle, from my original Tracklist post to here. I hope you've enjoyed this little trip through my brain. You'll note that 22 of these songs got stuck in my head with a year of college ending. For whatever reason it seems to be harder for a song to embed itself now, so I don't know that I will ever really be able to do a follow up with more songs. Well, I suppose I could fall in love again. That might be good for a few more.
In any event, thanks to MSA for suggesting the mixtape, and to CFA for making the suggestion that kicked this entire thing off in the first place. I appreciate it.