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Anyone under age 30 may not have a clue what I’m talking about here, but once upon a romantic time young lads would attempt to impress the lady of their desire by making a mixtape.
Mixed tapes, which were called that because – now follow me closely here – they were cassette tapes filled with a mix of different songs, usually recorded from albums, often put together with a specific person in mind (even if that person didn’t know it at the time). I was so dedicated – er, obsessed – that I would do, like, math in order to get the songs lined up properly to fill the entire 45 minutes on each side.
To be fair, I’ve made plenty of mixtapes for dudes, too, but those were just so my buddies could hear the latest music I was listening to in order for us to have more interesting conversations. But whenever I made a mixtape for someone of the fairer sex, I probably put more thought into that than any end-of-year school tests.
As a former disc jockey – while still at Murphy High School, I played Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 from vinyl every Saturday afternoon at WCVP-AM 600 – lining up songs with a smooth transition from one to the other comes naturally. MountainView Church’s music ministry does the same thing on Sunday mornings when I’m behind the drums, making sure the songs we play both flow well together and match the message.
To successfully pull this off, start side one with a couple of uptempo songs to get the blood flowing. Make sure side two also ends on a positive note. In between, just use common sense and your ears, as in don’t follow a ballad with heavy metal thunder, try not to put songs in a minor key back to back and, for the love of God, make sure you’ve actually listened to all of the lyrics first.
For example, the R.E.M. song “The One I Love” is not a love song; titles can be deceiving, as Michael Stipe sings, “This one goes out to the one I love / this one goes out to the one I’ve left behind.” Instead of earning brownie points and a kiss, you can end up with Rover panting in the doghouse.
When my future wife and I were dating, I sent her a mixtape called “Hip Love Songs” because I’m one of the few remaining humans who still use that word. The idea was twofold: 1) I wanted her to swoon over the beauty of the majestic numbers I had chosen, and 2) I wanted her to start enjoying good music, particularly from the alternative genre, as at the time she only had two cassettes to her name – and one was Madonna.
What songs, you ask? Again, these have to be “hip” love songs, so that rules out anything by Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber and anyone else too young to know what the word “hip” means.
Instead, I included songs like “I Got You” by Split Enz, “I Melt With You” by Modern English, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers, “Lovesong” by The Cure and, of course, the prophetic “I Wanna Marry You” by Bruce Springsteen. Other classics include “Let My Love Open the Door” by Pete Townsend, “Here Comes My Girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “What It Feels Like” by The BoDeans, “You Make Loving Fun” by Fleetwood Mac and “Maybe We Should Fall in Love” by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, who you really should be listening to right now.
For bonus points, include some tracks meant to stimulate the funny bone, like “Wanna B Ur Lovr” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, “La La Love You” by The Pixies, “Everything Sucks When You’re Gone” by MxPx and “Battleship Chains” by The Georgia Satellites, which is more fun than you may think. Remember, the late great Ric Ocasek of The Cars was a homely man, but he was still married to Paulina Porizkova for 28 years because, as she put it, “He made me laugh.”
While it may be too late for Valentine’s Day this year, get started on that mixtape – you are allowed to burn the songs onto a CD, too – so you’ll be ready to roll come your anniversary, her birthday or Presidents Day. If the power of great music served with a smile can sway a supermodel, you’ll likely have good luck with the one you’re chasing.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on Twitter @daviddBstroh.