Back when my dad’s nice old cassette player functioned properly (it didn’t eat tapes, and played them at the right speed), I made some compilations that focused on female singer-songwriters and vocalists for myself. Ten years ago, I started choosing a total of 30 rock, pop and alternative songs from my tape collection and began recording them onto a Maxell UR 120-minute tape. Some parts had to be re-recorded a number of times, because not all 30 songs would fit. I had to alter my song list; those that didn’t make it were automatically included in the next mix tape.
These made it to the final version of LILITH ANTHEMS:
MOONPOOLS & CATERPILLARS – Sundays
JANN ARDEN – Good Mother
ALANIS MORISSETTE – Head Over Feet
JILL SOBULE – Bitter
BELINDA
MELISSA ETHERIDGE – I’ll Take You With Me
LISA LOEB – Snow Day
NO DOUBT – Sometimes
JONI MITCHELL – Free Man In
MILLA JOVOVICH – It’s Your Life
SUSANNA HOFFS – Weak With Love
SHERYL CROW – Leaving
NATALIE IMBRUGLIA – Torn
SUNDAYS – She
TRACY CHAPMAN – Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution
INDIGO GIRLS – Wood Song
TORI AMOS – Tear In Your Hand
10,000 MANIACS (NATALIE MERCHANT) -
HEATHER NOVA – Truth And Bone
PAULA COLE – I Don’t Want To Wait
10,000 MANIACS (MARY RAMSEY)- Rainy Day
SHAWN COLVIN –
PINEFOREST CRUNCH – Cup Noodle Song
SARAH MCLACHLAN – Sweet Surrender
SUZANNE VEGA – No Cheap Thrill
EDIE BRICKELL – When The Lights Go Down
CRANBERRIES – I’m Still Remembering
AMANDA MARSHALL – I’ll Be Okay
JEWEL – Life Uncommon
I really liked how the songs smoothly flowed; their beats and the buildup of instruments and stories meshed consistently. The compilation also sort of documents how I felt about certain things during that period; now that I think about it, it’s a pretty bittersweet list. “Snow Day” encapsulated most of those feelings: “It’s a bad day/ it’s a train ride/ it’s a bad day/ you’re my medicine!” And yeah, actually, “Bitter” did, too: “But I don’t wanna get bitter/ I don’t wanna talk cruel/ I don’t wanna get old before I have to!”
The next tapes included several of these artists and others such as Liz Phair, Kate Bush, Cynthia Alexander, Orphanlily, Abra Moore, Sophie B. Hawkins, Sugar Hiccup, Save Ferris, Kate Ceberano, Sugarcubes, Bic Runga and PJ Harvey.
I still like listening to these tapes, but the player keeps acting up. Maybe I should start compiling those old songs again. I’d save all of them into an iPod if I had one. But I don’t, and I don’t really feel like owning one just yet.
Hmm, “Head Over Feet” and “I’ll Be Okay” feel relevant again, a decade later.
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