Cue Music!

I gave Beans some iTunes gift cards for Christmas. This has prompted serious debate about what songs should make his final download list. I need to remember this is his present, not mine and so, there will be no disco :) One hit wonders may get a shot. It's a chance to get that one catchy tune without suffering through (or paying for) the rest of a dismal album. International artists too obscure for our local music stores to stock are also front of the line. Favorite songs long relegated to a box in the back of the closet, may be resurrected from their cassette format to live again on the iPod. Which got me to thinking....

"Ah, the mix tape..."

A playlist is a playlist, but there is something about the permanence of the mix tape. Not the cassette itself, of course. Any child of the eighties will recall that sickening garbled strain as a favorite tape, fast forwarded/rewound/replayed one time too many, tangled itself around the guts of the ghetto blaster. Let's face it, we can't expect a little spool of plastic ribbon to last forever. No, I mean more the way those mixed tapes and associated memories are permanently etched in our minds. Decades later and I can still remember who gave me what tape, what was on it and where I was in life at that time.

Exhibit A: The summer we visited Tito L in Ear Falls, Ontario. His two teenage nephews were spending the summer. Having just completed 4th grade, I thought these high schoolers were pretty cool. That was the summer I sported a boy's hair cut (...thanks, by the way, mom.); was slightly heavy for my height (ahem); and I desperately coveted my brother's blue and white satin jacket. The mix tape the nephews gave me (Read: They gave it to my brother but I eventually claimed it) had The Police on one side and Men at Work on the other. I was singing about Vegemite sandwiches long before I even knew what the substance was. And to this day, De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da annoys me to no end.

Exhibit B: Late eighties. I was still getting perms! Grew upwards, instead of outwards, and was now a skinny thing. A skinny thing with great big bucky teeth! Mix tape from a boy. Madonna's True Blue, El Debarge and a whole slew of New Edition songs: Cool it no-oww and Mr. Telephone Man. Classics! I loved that tape. Didn't care too much for the boy, though. (Cackle)

Exhibit C: To be honest, this is a slight exception. Brian Adams. Summer of 69. I don't even know what other songs were on that tape. The only one that mattered was Summer of 69. I'd just had my Cher-hair layered. The "girls" had finally shown up. It was the age of the "magic pants" and going dancing on Saturday nights. I had a full-time job and not a cent of debt. I was free and I was invincible. It should come as no surprise that my car was a red convertible. How many hours did I spend driving around with Brian Adams blaring out of the open top?

I'll close with a list of songs/artists that always make me think of certain people. Check back as I'll be adding songs as they come to me..and I might even write up an explanation of why these tunes and people are so inextricably linked in my mind.

Mom:
The Platters - Twilight Time

Dad:
Werner Thomas - The Bird (though, dad calls it "Chicken") Dance

Big Bro:
The Kinks - Come Dancing

Little Sis:
Anne Murray - Could I Have This Dance
The Monkees - Daydream Believer

Tita P:
The Carpenters - Yesterday Once More

Cousin AD:
The Knack - My Sharona

Tito M:
Omigod, anything Bee Gees!

Cousin AM:
Jefferson Starship - Sara

bff I:
Abba - Dancing Queen

bff K:
Curtis Mayfield - Same Damn Song ? I can't find the title :(
? - Movin (To The Left)