“April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain”
-T.S. Eliot
One of the lingering regrets of my life is that I never produced an angst-ridden, hormone-fueled high school mix tape in the cruel grip of springtime for a girl with whom I was hopelessly enamored yet didn’t know how to impress my feelings upon so that they would be reciprocated, so I channeled them through the artform of music by compiling what was, in the days of cassettes, called a “mix tape” in a desperate bid to express myself, in the process creating an artifact of undying devotion that would be looked upon fondly in perpetuity by all involved parties.
Having never done any of that, at the tender age of 37, here is my sweet redemption, the first and last (digital) mix tape I’ll likely ever make, which I dedicate to my wife, a living saint.
Track #1: Leaving on A Jet Plane, John Denver
Track #2: San Francisco, Alkaline Trio
Track #3: Are You There, Margaret? It’s Me, God, The Lawrence Arms
Track #4: Another Girl, Another Planet
Track #5: Tonight, Tonight, Smashing Pumpkins
Track #5: Accident Prone, Jawbreaker
Track #6: Black Box, Tony Sly
Track #7: Blinded, Third Eye Blind
Track #8: Heart-Shaped Box, Nirvana
Track #9: AM/PM, American Nightmare
Track #10: I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash
Track #11: I Guess This Is What Brains Look Like, Anorexic Olsen twin
Track #12: Wagon Wheel, Old Crow Medicine Show
Track #13: Stuff’s Weird, Mischief Brew
Bonus Track: Closer, Nine Inch Nails
Feel free to let me now where I went wrong in the comments and berate me for being an emo hipster.
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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I first heard "Leaving on a Jet Plane" at a summer camp in 1985. I was voluntold to give up three weeks of my glorious suburban summer in central California (temps in triple digits nearly all summer long) to work in the Kitchen Crew.
About 6 of us teens were responsible for preparing, cooking, cleaning three meals for about 150 people a day. I totally imagined this as my new definition of hell--but it was paradise. I ended up spending the rest of the summer there, and the next 3 summers until I joined the Army.
We had one dude, Dane, who played the guitar and sang like a rock star. He's always sing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' at the last campfire. We did this candle thing--one person would light there candle from the campfire, and the entire staff/camp would then create this long line/gauntlet so all the campers could give their final good byes.
We sobbed every week. My eyes are actually misty right now.
I'm 17 years older, so my mix tape would have much more Van Halen, Journey, Def Leopard...but I do love Smashing Pumpkins & Third Eye Blind (Wounded is my favorite).
Well done. Nice break from the madness of the moment.
bsn
That first paragraph probably expresses best what so many of us had thought, felt, done. I don't know half the music you put there, but I'd probably add the Smiths, 'Please let me get what I want' ... hahaha.