A Month of Lists - Ancient Mix Tapes

When I was in high school and college in the 80s, creating the perfect mix tape was a big deal. We would buy 90-minute Maxell cassettes and load them with as much great music as we could, taping them off of record albums and 45 rpm singles. As I got into my late teens, I found myself very nostalgic for the great pop tunes of my youth, so I took my old 45s (and albums I checked out from the Northbrook Public Library--I know, that's as bad as illegal downloading, but I didn't have a moral compass like I do now), and I put together these collections of songs I really liked. I still have the tapes, and some of my choices are a bit embarrassing at this point, but others hold up well. Here is one labeled "Seventies/Wings":

Side A

1. "The World is a Ghetto," War
2. "China Grove," The Doobie Brothers
3. "A Horse with No Name," America
4. "Star Baby," The Guess Who
5. "Summer Breeze," Seals and Crofts
6. "Jimmy Loves Maryann," Looking Glass
7. "Helen Wheels," Wings
8. "Bennie and the Jets," Elton John
9. "Sundown," Gordon Lightfoot
10. "Black Water," The Doobie Brothers
11. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," Gordon Lightfoot

Side B
Most of the album Wings Greatest Hits (Paul McCartney's post-Beatles band)

I'll stand by numbers 1, 2, 7, 8, and 10. The rest are a bit lame, but they do connect me to certain times and places in my childhood, so they made the cut.

Here's another, simply labeled "Seventies":

Side A

1. "Rock On," David Essex
2. "Night Moves," Bob Seger
3. "Hotel California," Eagles
4. "New Kid in Town," Eagles
5. "Life in the Fast Lane," Eagles
6. "Year of the Cat," Al Stewart
7. "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," Paul Simon
8. "Blinded by the Light," Manfred Mann
9. "Life's Been Good," Joe Walsh
10. "Fly Like an Eagle," Steve Miller Band

Side B

1. "Will it Go Round in Circles," Billy Preston
2. "Evil Ways," Santana
3. "Killer Queen," Queen
4. "Sultans of Swing," Dire Straits
5. "Help Me," Joni Mitchell
6. "Superstition," Stevie Wonder
7. "American Pie," Don McLean
8. "You're No Good," Linda Ronstadt
9. "Sister Golden Hair," America
10. "Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting," Elton John

Wow. While there's some very cool Eagles, Joe Walsh, and Dire Straits tunes, there's still Al Stewart and America. Yeesh!

It's interesting to see how many of these tunes I have since purchased on iTunes or digitized from some of the less scratchy records in my collection. Now my iPod is like an uber-mix tape, not nearly as focused and never in the same order. I guess a great mix tape is analagous to a really good iPod playlist, minus the shuffle feature.

Hey, kids--ask to see your parents' old mix tapes! If they say they don't have any, either your grandma threw them out, or they are lying to you and don't want you to know what they used to listen to. I leave you with this: