For your Sunday afternoon listening pleasure, a new mix, embedded here in Spotify playlist form! Over the years I’ve made mixes for lots of reasons; from several tame (and entirely failed) seduction attempts to one rather successful long-game seduction attempt to grad school mix exchanges to the changing of the seasons to throwing a party to the glorious moment when one’s mother-in-law requests a proper introduction to country music, there’s always an excuse to make one. Mixes are typically at least a little bit self-serving or self-indulgent, but until this mix, which I’m calling I Meant to Tell You, it had been years since I’d worked hard on a mix purely out of a desire to arrange songs I currently love into a pleasing order so that they might accompany me on my daily business.
Unless a they’re a totally vapid person (no vapid people on this mix), it seems pretty obvious that whether or not a singer wrote their own material, they infuse the singing of their songs with their own private thoughts and past experiences. You can’t pull off a dangerously vague love song or an aimlessly bitter post-love song without some proper nouns floating potently around your brain. So, taking for granted that every single song here is sung by someone who knows exactly what they’re singing about, whose specific life is the thing that made it possible for them to sing it, the idea for this mix is that each song directly addresses the song that came before it. I paid a little less attention than usual to the sound transitions between the starts and ends of songs and more attention to the idea that each of these singers might have heard the previous song and reacted like, “Yeah, well, have you thought about it like this?” or “I agree, but—” or “That reminds me…”
In one case, I’m pretty sure that this idea transition literally happened. The first song, Dusty Springfield’s 1964 recording of “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,” is followed by “For Those Who Think Young,” the title track from Rough Trade’s 1981 album. Carole Pope, Rough Trade’s lead singer and songwriter, was dating Dusty Springfield at the time the band recorded the album (and Dusty actually sang backup for them on at least one of the other tracks). Of course, intention or lack thereof is a totally personal thing and is rooted in fact, but you can’t convince me that the first line of “For Those Who Think Young” is a coincidence.
(Semi-related side note: I love thinking about the “rules” people enforce when creating mixes. For instance, Dory is very serious about only including one song per artist, even when making a long mix. She put together hours of music for our wedding reception, and agonized over the decision to include this or that song from any number of artists. I’m of a different school of thought: much like a department store has an anchor brand, I like for my mixes to have an anchor artist who appears two or even three times. So, we’ve got top-of-her-game ‘60s pop star Dusty Springfield at the start, and experimental ‘80s Dusty Springfield in the middle, and “It’s 1970, what the fuck is going on, I shall sing this pretty song and hope everything doesn’t completely fall apart” Dusty Springfield near the end. There are also two Rough Trade songs, because, as stated, mixes are self-indulgent and I can have as much Canadian New Wave as I want.)
(I also believe mixes should include an on-topic instrumental piece. A moment for the mix to catch its breath, for all the words to settle.)
This mix has been tested out while doing lots of technical writing, driving about town, and, most recently, baking a butternut squash gratin. If you listen, I hope you enjoy it.
Track list for the non-Spotify members among you:
I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself - Dusty Springfield
For Those Who Think Young - Rough Trade
Big Burned Hand - Iron & Wine
History Eraser - Courtney Barnett
First Dream - Sarah Dougher
Who - David Byrne & St. Vincent
You’ve Got to Earn It - The Temptations
Donnez Moi - Dusty Springfield
Fire Snakes - Laura Veirs
Whole Lot Of Shakin’ In My Heart (Since I Met You) - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Prisoner Of My Skin - Rough Trade
Can’t Live Without Your Love - Janelle Monáe
See All Her Faces - Remastered Version - Dusty Springfield
Going to a Town - Rufus Wainwright
Where Can I Go? - Laura Marling
In Every Direction - Junip
