Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mix Tape, July 1998: LILITH ANTHEMS

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 CARLISLE – Valentine

MELISSA ETHERIDGE – I’ll Take You With Me

LISA LOEB – Snow Day

NO DOUBT – Sometimes

JONI MITCHELL – Free Man In Paris

MILLA JOVOVICH – It’s Your Life

SUSANNA HOFFS – Weak With Love

SHERYL CROW – Leaving Las Vegas

TEXAS – Breathless

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) - Eden

HEATHER NOVA – Truth And Bone

PAULA COLE – I Don’t Want To Wait

10,000 MANIACS (MARY RAMSEY)- Rainy Day

SHAWN COLVIN – Wichita Skyline

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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