Making Memories

Yesterday I thought to peruse a blog that two of my friends follow.  The entry was about the ancient art of making mixed tapes.  Back in the day, this is what we did for people with whom we wanted to share a bit of ourselves.  It would take hours of fiddling and frustration to get the songs in just the right order and sounding good. 

Today, oddly enough, I received a mixed tape from a friend.  Well, a CD, actually, but same difference.  It had been promised a while ago but due to technical difficulties, I just received it, very appropriately, today.  Having just read Cabo's blog, I think it made me appreciate it even more.  For this is not just a CD with "high octane" tunes, it's a memory in the making.

For instance, a few months ago a friend of mine moved and found a mixed tape I'd made for him ca. 1995.  I'd completely forgotten that I'd made it so he sent me a list of songs, which went like this:
SOFT
Darkening of the Light - Concrete Blonde
Bleed a Little While - Lowest of the Low
Damn Your Eyes - Sinead O'Connor
Pretty - The Cranberries
Bizarre Love Triangle - Frente
Path of Thorns (Terms) - Sarah McLaughlin
At My Funeral - Crash Test Dummies
Tiny Little Song - Barenaked Ladies

NOT SOFT
Big Time Sensuality - Bjork
Breakin' Up - Violent Femmes
Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
About a Girl - Nirvana
Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine
Jesus Built My Hotrod - Ministry
Animal - Front 242

Just reading the song titles and artist names brought back fantastic memories of him and that particular time in my life.  It was also a curious exercise to look back and try to remember why I picked those songs and why I put them in that order.  What message was I trying to convey?  Or were they simply just songs I liked at the time?

I was a great lover of mixed tapes.  I made many and made them joyfully -- and received them equally so.  I still have all the mixed tapes (and CDs) I was ever given -- and yes, I still have a means with which to play them.

Of course, the art of making a mixed tape has since been usurped by the evolution of technology.  It is so much simpler now to burn a CD using digital music on a computer.  But I think we all still love getting a mixed tape, even if it is a CD.  The sharing of music is the sharing of oneself: I like this. I hope you like it, too.  It lets the listener discover new things about the person who made the tape and often opens the door of discovery, challenging the listener to broaden their musical repertoire, their ideas and themselves.

So thank you to everyone who has ever made me a mixed tape, for sharing a part of yourselves and your lives with me.  And for making memories.