mix tape « deeples

May 26, 2008

My mixtape for me- 25 songs of my life

Filed under: Blogging,Listy McListerton,Uncategorized — Tags: Add new tag, mix tape, top 25 songs — denise @ 1:18 pm

I want to pop up a big thank you into left field to Krista for this meme… It was horribly difficult and happily nostalgic. Unlike the 100 lists, where you struggle for the last few items, I found the songs coming to me fast and furious and had to slash and burn about 15 of them at the end. 15 cuts that I will probably regret terribly…

After going through all the songs, I totally want to make out with myself, cheat on myself with some sweaty guy at a bad party after 4 too many California Coolers, and beg myself to come back because I love myself… I’m an idiot for losing the person that knew me the best.

No order. Just songs that have a lot of history. Or none, but I love them dearly. Here goes.

1. Lights – Journey

This song is summer. It’s tearing around San Fran with Steph on a Saturday with the money I stole from my mom with her ATM card (Sorry Mom… I really am still sorry about that). It’s being 16 and free and living dangerously with the person on the planet that knows your own brain and heart inside and out and not even caring that the emergency brake seems to be going out and we aren’t sure where the freeway is and are lost in the fashion district of Frisco at 2am and a strange man just tried to open our car door… because we are young… and gorgeous… and alive.. and together. Naaaah naaah neh naaah nah… nah nah neh naaaaah nah…

2. Save All Your Love – Great White

Someone that I had an ENORMOUS crush on used to acoustically perform this at parties I went to… and used to ask me to sing it with him to the crowd of drunk people. And he wasn’t mine. And I wasn’t his. And there was no possibility that it would ever be anything different – but oh, man… I would sing this song with him and wish…. that he was aiming those words at me. He made excellent guitar faces.

3. Bad Goodbye – Clint Black & Wynonna

My all time favorite duet. “My heart won’t let me put you through… what my mind knows must happen now”… oh, one of the great rubs in life. I don’t love you anymore, but I’d still walk through fire to not hurt you. We’ve all been there.

4. Stupid – Toad the Wet Sprocket

I think it’s no surprise that a song entitled “Stupid” has to be on my personal mix tape. This is also my all time favorite band and I could sing every word of this song in my sleep. It’s a happy, fun, nostalgic stupid and the handful of people who have surprised me with this Toad song in my life will forever have a soft, lovely place in my heart. You know who you are.

5. Look What You’ve Done – Jet

I’m fascinated by songs that sound like one thing and the lyrics say another. This Disney lullaby that says, “Oh, look what you’ve done – you’ve made a fool of everyone”, just kills me.

6. Black River – Amos Lee

Give me a campfire. Give me my deck. Give me Monte and Chris on the guitar and this song. If you haven’t listened to Amos, please do. His voice will transport you.

7. Times Like These – Foo Fighters

You know I love the Foo. The acoustic version is even more poignant – it’s about somehow finding a way to love one another again in a time of division and war and labels and teams. It’s about deciding to stand up and fight or just decide to not even be a part of it. It’s big and small. It’s everyone and also just you and me.

8. Still Lovin’ You – Scorpions

Hello 1989. It’s been a long time. We had a mesmerizing year, didn’t we? I was 18 and for the first time in my life felt truly sexy. I could work my black boots and my black tights and my black skirt and my shirt cut down to there… and I could sway my hips and throw my long hair back and forth across my face to this song and boys…men… would watch. And for the first time, I felt like a woman. Too bad I was such a prude tease good girl.

9. The Blowers Daughter – Damien Rice

Beautiful. A fairy tale to music that you can actually visualize, if you try.

10. Home – Sheryl Crow

A bittersweet song for me as home was always difficult to pin down. We moved all the time growing up. I mostly considered my grandparent’s house my “home” and when they finally sold it in the early 90’s, I was devastated. I always had people that loved me, but longed for “home”.

11. The Rock – Etta James

Everyone thinks of “At Last” the quintessential wedding song when they think of Etta James — but I am a huge fan of hers and I can tell you that most of her songs are not about love and lasting. Her songs are about heartbreak and doing people wrong and being done wrong and picking up all the pieces when your life is shattered. I love this song because it’s about moving on, but moving on strong.

12. Be Mine – David Grey

I don’t remember how it happened, exactly. But this is our song. We danced to it at our wedding and my heart lurches a little bit every time I hear it.

13. The Flame – Cheap Trick

This one is my first love. This one is losing yourself completely in another person. This one is fierce, painful love that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies.

14. What If – Coldplay

I love Coldplay and still listen to them at least once a week… but what I love about this song is the vulnerability of a cocky, extremely rich and famous person still wondering – loudly, poetically, publicly – what if you decide you don’t want me anymore? What if nothing I could say or do would change that? What if you throw me away? And while I think Gwenyth Paltrow is something of a douche, I love that he loves her enough to still have a least a nugget of worry about how lost he would be without her.

15. To Make You Feel My Love – Garth Brooks

From the “Hope Floats” soundtrack, also recorded by Trisha Yearwood (and don’t even get me started on their love story). It’s my favorite Garth song and one of my favorite movies (if you don’t like it, you can suck it) and I always feel fierce and triumphant when he says “You aint seen nothin’ like me yet”

16. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

Have you ever been in a bar when this comes on? Or driven in with a carload of girlfriends to Oakland Stadium and heard this performed live to tens of thousands of people? Because whether its 100 people in a bar or 50,000 people in a stadium – when they all raise their voices to sing, “We’re just two lost souls swimmin’ in a fishbowl, year after year” – you have no choice but to feel connected to this world.

17. Black – Pearl Jam

My coming of age song. This is about torn jeans and flannel shirts and the pool hall and that breath of time before I chose my life.

18. Question – Old 97’s

I first heard this song on the TV show “Scrubs” when Turk proposed to Carla. He played this song over a boombox while standing on car and JD ran around the car in circles with sparklers in his hand. It was so romantic, I almost threw up. I then found out that Kory was already a big Old 97’s fan and fell in love with all their music. I secretly harbored the hope that one day I would come out of work and Kory would be on a car with this song playing while Monte ran around the car in circles with sparklers. (His actual proposal was actually even more romantic, involving 12 dozen roses and Christmas lights and surprise parties…but that is another story)

19. A Dream About You – Keri Noble

A song by a woman about how badly she feels about how she ended a relationship with a man that loved her too much, too quickly and how she wished even years later she could apologize for making him cry. I love it because I relate but also because there are so few songs out there about a woman regretting how badly she broke a man’s heart.

20. Blue – The Jayhawks

This song is Cape Cod. This is me in a bubble bath, shy. This is Kory humming along to this song while sitting on a chair next to the tub, but politely facing the other direction while I tried to make those bubbles cover me. This is him passing me slices of mozzarella and olives and crackers and dark chocolate. This is candles and rain and claw foot tubs. This is falling in love.

21. Time and Time Again – Counting Crows

This song is finding a new life.

22. First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes

One of the most romantic songs and the all time most romantic videos. If you haven’t seen it, watch it here. I get teary eyed every time I see the love and loss in this video. I am drawn to watching love in all its forms in this video – and I don’t know why, but the part at end when the woman just strokes the place between her lover’s eyes seems so tender and intimate to me that it just pulls me apart, every time. Yes, this was extremely shmoopy. WHAT? I can be shmoopy sometimes!

23. Seein’ Things For the First Time – Black Crowes

I listened to this song about 47 million times when I divorced my first husband.

24. I Can’t Make You Love Me – Bonnie Raitt

One of the few songs that I really wish I could sing. Like, in a bring-down-the-house kind of way.

25. We’re Going to Be Friends – White Stripes

A great way to end my mix tape – and my favorite song when I saw them live at First Ave.

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May 19, 2008

More things that suck, by people that are not Deeple.

Filed under: Blogging — Tags: mix tape, things that suck, top 100 list — denise @ 3:22 pm

So, a 6 more people sent me their lists or part of their lists… or links to their lists… if the numbering is goofy – blame me. I don’t know why WordPress doesn’t like lists of 100 and insists on changing them to be 100 #1’s or 10 sets of 10. Probably WordPress are communists!

And here they are:

This is Faith’s List. (Evidently, Faith and I suffer from the same Spilling Disease)

This is Dani’s (partial) List. (Sugar? Sugar sucks?! You are a toooough judge…)

This is Kory’s (work in progress) List (Singin’ to the choir about the messy yogurt baby!)

Jeff The Ninja (who met Prince Caspian last week) adds these: (Whatever, man, more yams for me.)

I’d add the following to your list of things that suck:

People who clip their nails at work. It drives me nuts. I feel like I should go stand next to them, take off my shirt, and roll some deoderant on my armpits just to get back at them.
Bad service at a restaurant. Hey, I can get that for free at home. Sitting and waiting, sitting and waiting, noticing other tables getting served, sitting and waiting, feeling like a captive, wondering if I can get up and leave without a hassle, sitting and waiting, sitting and waiting.
Showering at the gym with other guys. I hated this in Junior High and High School and hate it even more now. I’m enjoying a nice hot shower after a workout and then other guys come in and shower near me. The shower enjoyment evaporates immediately. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I need more diversity training.
Yams. Always hated them. Always will.

Tracy P (Tee Pee) adds her twist on things: (Sorry, girl… I DO NOT DANCE!)

Top 100 things that bug me (not necessarily in order of level of irritation)

People clipping their fingernails in places where I am – do it in the bathroom or when I’m not around. Yuck!
Neil Young
itching
missing a phone call from someone I want to talk to
…when those people don’t leave a message
the smell of fish
having to get up in the middle of the night to pee
The word “slacks”
The word “panties”
Road kill
People who don’t clean up after themselves – i.e. bathroom nest
Sales at Kohl’s – I mean really, they should just reduce their pricing.
Whining
toenail fungus
President Bush
Condeleeza Rice
Dick Cheney
Pictures of President Bush and Dick Cheney
that hunting mourning doves is legal
that I can’t eat everything I want and not gain weight
gas prices
that ball of white spit that forms in the corners of people’s mouths
when my jeans are too tight
Jetix, Power Rangers, any of those violent “kids” shows.
Nose hairs
crabby and rude people working grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations
crabby and rude customers
jello
braggarts
people who won’t dance
celebration dances in the end zone
cellulite
Rap music
fatty steak
cars turning without signaling
people who are always negative – wah waaaaah
waiting in line
STROLLERS at the state fair
cutting up raw chicken
boiled ham
rutabagas
when people say words that don’t exist – like orientated – it’s oriented – unless they are cute or funny like ginormous
nasty feet
people swearing in front of children
people swearing in public
boys wearing pants that don’t fit – I want to pull them DOWN
thong underwear
mean people
clowns
animal circuses
ticket scalpers
cheesy car salesmen
slow internet service
chapped lips
headaches
political ads
Ann Coulter-geist
Bill O’Reilly
TV evangelists
dirt under my fingernails
not feeling safe
stupid do-nothing, go-nowhere politics
having to walk through puddles in my dress shoes
cleaning the cat box
when people park their carts on one side of the aisle in the grocery store only to go over to the other side to pick out what kinds of soup they want. Hello!?!? Need to get by….
Racist people of all colors
When people at the nail salon talk in a different language – I know they are talking about me!
Losing my temper.
spiders in my house
TV shows like the Bachelor, Flavor of Love or any of those other girlfriend “audition” shows.
Wheel of Fortune
cervical injections
Realizing it’s only Tuesday when you thought it was Wednesday
dog slobber
coffee at work
friends that always cancel
Being sick
Snot
Loud sneezes – I want to take cover
kids that set off firecrackers a. after 10:00 at night b. on non-4^th of July nights
People that abuse animals
Industrialized slaughter
Drug Addicts
not finding help at Home Depot
People who want to wash your windshield when you are stopped at a red light. If I want my windows washed, I’ll do it myself or have it done at a car wash where I can get the whole outside washed.
The obligatory 15% tip at restaurants. Tips should be for great service not an addition to the cost of the meal.
Having to sign contracts
My flabby arms
traffic
bad hair days
long wearing lipstick that doesn’t last
When someone says, “You People!”
Finishing a good book
Losing my keys
Aches and pains
The wind tunnel walking into work – contributes to #90
People who like to make you feel bad so they feel better
Oversleeping
When people take credit for other people’s stuff

100. Constantly worrying about how I “show up”.

And we have Rob’s List as well: (I would commit a high crime to have a Coca-Cola slurpee.)

1	People who don’t use turn lanes, only use them halfway or drift into them ever so slowly braking the ENTIRE TIME!!!
2	Athletes who thank God for their victory. Get over yourself. God doesn’t love you more than your opponent.
3	My dog rubbing his butt on my carpet.
4	Ads for horror movies during daytime or early primetime. Thanks for running that slasher movie ad during Dirty Jobs. I was hoping I could be up multiple times tonight with my daughter having nightmares.
5	Hang nails.
6	Pedophiles.
7	Empty Diet Dr. Pepper 12 packs left in the fridge.
8	That weight is added too easy to put on and is too hard too lose.
9	Those “Calvin” peeing car decals. Bill Watterson never approved that crap.
10	Randy Jackson trying too hard to be like Simon this year. Know your role. Randy you’re supposed to be constructive, Paula is drunk and overly sugary and Simon is the ass.
11	The fact that I care about number 10.
12	When my DVR randomly only records the first minute of a show.
13	The gray hair in my beard.
14	My newspaper not delivered to my porch but instead at the end of the driveway, in the bushes, in the yard just shy of the sidewalk, etc. Of course, that only happens on snowy or rainy days so it’s soaking wet and completely useless.
15	Tools who drive the speed limit or below in the left lane.
16	Turning on the car radio just as one of my favorite songs ends.
17	When I lose my train of thought as I’m talking to my boss. Smooth, now about my raise?
18	That Marvel killed Captain America. Assassinated? Really? If you need to ruin an icon at least let him go out in an epic battle giving his life for everything he stands for. But no, you just punked him. Yep, I’m done with you Marvel.
19	Speaking of Captain America, no 24 for an entire year?!! Damn writers strike!
20	Firefly being canceled.
21	Unflushed toilets.
22	Meetings that continuously grind to a halt so that one person can make Maddenesque observations. Listen to the sound of your own voice on your own time damnit!
23	The fact that the only version of the PS3 currently available is not backwards compatible with PS2 games.
24	The rate that gas prices are rising while oil companies are posting record profits.
25	ATM Fees.
26	Rainy weekends.
27	Technology. I want to be current for at least one year. I hate buying the next big thing only to have the next big thing 2.0 come out a month later.
28	Rocks that fly up and hit your windshield.
29	Politicians.
30	Dress pants that bunch up when you sit down making it look like you’re pitching a tent.
31	Losing touch with old friends.
32	Under-cooked chicken.
33	People who use cell phones in the theater. Don’t text, don’t check the time and for God’s sake don’t talk on it during a movie!
34	And while I’m at it, don’t bring your damn baby to the movie and what the F is your 3 yr old doing in Aliens vs. Predator?! I’m here to enjoy a horror movie and your 3 yr old has no business being here. Get a damn babysitter.
35	The need for news agencies to put a local spin on everything. “Today in Never-Never-land a plane crashed into The Lost Boys hideout killing all 200 on board as well as all of the Lost Boys. One Minnesotan was on the plane. We’ll be sure to stick a camera in the grieving widows face by the end of the broadcast.” There was a Minnesotan on the plane? Well now it’s a tragic story! Before I found that out I could have cared less.
36	Zits. With the exception of Belushi’s impression of one from Animal House.
37	Cigarettes. Sorry smokers I know they are not illegal. I know that you think that you’re not hurting anyone but yourself, blah, blah, blah. Cigarettes blow.
38	Buy outs for CEOs that drove their company into the ground. What the F? How can a CEO get millions to leave a company that may never recover from the mess they left it in?
39	CEO compensation in general. You want true economic stimulus? Then share some of that down with the people that make it possible.
40	Mosquitoes.
41	Ooo, worse yet, gnats.
42	The Weather terrorists. Hey weather people stop crying wolf and instead tell us when it’s really going to be bad not every time that there is a one percent chance that it might rain because you know what, I now never believe you. And enough with the we’re doing this for your safety crap. You’re not saving my life. In the old days it was simply a thunderstorm. Now somehow they’re all the storm of the century.
43	Yard work. I know some people like it but I am not one.
44	The end of a great vacation. I love a good vacation and I must have a little nomad in me because I typically don’t find myself missing home.
45	When my mailman doesn’t close my mailbox the entire way and it rains causing all of my mail to be soggy on one end.
46	Political correctness. It’s gone terribly overboard.
47	Bad hair days.
48	People who write computer viruses.
49	Dandelions.
50	Ouzo. This one is my own fault and I am painfully aware of that.
51	Stubbing your toe.
52	Those snot-nosed kids that are talking crap while playing Halo 3.
53	That there are no 7-11s in Minnesota. Man, I want a Slurpee.
54	When someone is too busy to talk but don’t tell you that and instead hear only like every tenth word you say.
55	Working on the first truly nice Friday in as long as you can remember.
56	Gangs.
57	Killing in the name of Religion. I would wager that if you double check you religion’s holy book you would find that you misunderstood.
58	Burning your mouth on pizza.
59	Picking the wrong lane at the store.
60	That freak in Austria. Okay I realize that I already listed pedophiles but this psycho deserves his own listing.
61	Everything Highlander related after the first movie and yes this includes the television series. There can be only one and he’s Christopher Lambert, not Adrian Paul.
62	Regrets.
63	The higher standard to which the video game industry is held. MA is the video game equivalent of an R rated movie and yet old folks still think that video games are for kids. Guess what, they’re not and I want to play GTA IV not some edited watered down version.
64	Telemarketing. Our number is on the National Do Not Call list how is it that you continue to call?
65	The lack of customer service in the airline industry lately.
66	All animated movies now being C.G. I’m a big fan of 2D animation. None of the new breed have the style that came from a well done Disney 2D movie.
67	Blockbuster Video. Damn censorship pushing, drive mom and pop video stores out of business, big chain, overdue fee scandal-ridden company.
68	Birds flying into windows.
69	Scratches on your favorite cd.
70	The far left and the far right. Hey I’m in the middle along with most of America and you’re leaving me out!!
71	Freezer burn.
72	The idiot teen that speeds down our residential street in his Mustang like he’s in a NASCAR race.
73	Spilling on a new or favorite shirt. Somehow the sauce is always bright red and extremely obvious.
74	Biting your tongue.
75	People who don’t start writing their check until the cashier gives them the total. Hello the store name is not going to change while you are standing here. Fill that out. Fill the date out. Put both of them in the registry. Heck I even sign the check while I wait but I’m willing to understand that it might make some uneasy.
76	Walking into an unexpected stink. Funky odors are the worst other peoples funky odors are worse than the worst.
77	When an awful song gets lodged in my brain.
78	When your child cries because they’re hurt. Either emotionally or physically it’s no fun.
79	Backing a format that dies. Thanks HD DVD.
80	Faux-hawks. Either man up and go with the real mohawk or don’t.
81	Bars that don’t keep at least one good beer on tap and I don’t mean MGD. Bass, Guiness, Newcastle all qualify you know something dark.
82	Muzak of any rock and roll tune. Whoever decided that Muzak versions of Beatles or Led Zepplin song was good idea should be drawn and quartered.
83	Long periods of gray or dark skies with no sun.
84	Bad wait staff. I’ve been on the other side and there’s really no excuse. At the very least you should pass on an apology for being in the weeds. We all can tell when our food has continued to cook under the warmer b/c you can’t keep up.
85	Bigotry. Nuff said.
86	The offseason that the Minnesota Twins had. Call me back when you care enough to field a professional baseball team. You’re a billionaire Carl, spend a little and don’t whine to me about operating loses. This should be a hobby for you not a business. Say what you will about Mark Cuban but he get’s it.
87	What Janet Jackson’s nipple did to the entertainment industry as a whole not to mention the Super Bowl half time show. What over the hill rocker with they parade out next year?
88	Those nights when you can’t sleep and you’re watching the clock going “If I fell asleep now I could still get 3 hours of sleep.”
89	Phobias.
90	Mushrooms.
91	Lifetime Television or as I call it the All Men Are Bad channel.
92	School shootings at any level. Enough with the woe is me therefore you all must die crap.
93	When food has the “Spicy” indicator on it in restaurants and it’s anything but spicy.
94	Shoveling snow. I love Minnesota. I love snow. I hate shoveling.
95	When good TV shows Jump the Shark. If you don’t know what Jump the Shark means, Google it.
96	The fact that I don’t draw much anymore. Again, I know that this is my fault but it doesn’t change the suckiness. Knowing that just adds a layer of guilt to the suckiness.
97	That sip of coffee that has sat too long so now it’s cold.
98	That DQ Blizzards taste SOOOO Good. See number 8.
99	My commute to and from work.
100	Have I mentioned how much I can’t stand people that don’t take full advantage of turn lanes?

Ok — list makers. Krista’s challenge is the Top 25 Songs of All Time and why – due on or around this Friday.

I plan to do mine from a ME perspective, instead of a global Top 25 songs for the world/music industry perspective because as previously stated… it’s all about me. I’m not especially globally tuned. I don’t even turn the water off when I brush my teeth! It’s true. *hangs head* … and sad.

So mine is going to be more of a “mix tape” to myself of the 25 songs that move me, slay me, rock me, make me cry, etc.

I hope everyone will make their own mix tapes…

“To me, making a tape is like writing a letter. There’s a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You’ve got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention (I started with “Got to Get You Off My Mind,” but then realized that she might not get any further than track one, side one if I delivered what she wanted straightaway, so I buried it in the middle of side two), and then you’ve got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can’t have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can’t have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you’ve done the whole thing in pairs and…oh, there are loads of rules.”

-Rob, “High Fidelity”

Comments (8)

March 9, 2006

Push Play Now

Filed under: Life — Tags: letter, mix tape, note — denise @ 2:56 am

I’m sure you guys all have your own mix-tape memories. Tapes you’ve made for yourself… tapes you’ve made for other people… tapes other people have made for you.

But I need to talk for a moment about the Mix Tape Letter. This is the letter from your friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/crush that includes places where you are supposed to stop reading and hit “Play” on your dual cassette stereo and listen to the song dripping with meaning and emotion…. This extreme method of teen communication was usually reserved for a fight.

“If you really thought that I said that about you then [Hit Play Now]…”

(Simply Red’s “If you don’t know me by now” comes on the stereo)

but it was occasionally used to express feelings of unrequited love

“I should know better than to like you this much [Hit Play Now]…”

(“Teacher” by George Michael comes on the stereo)

Or perhaps it’s the “We broke up but let’s get back together” mix tape letter that has the required “I miss you” by Klymaxx…

I can remember getting them from a few boys…. and making a few of my own. My best friend Steph and I used to make these for each other when we’d fight… a mixture of songs that were meant to sting and ones that practically begged for the fight to be over (“That’s what friends are for”, et al) My problem was that I had almost no cassette or records growing up.

We were almost always poor and so when I’d make my tapes, I had to use my mom’s old records… Led Zepplin, Steppenwolf, Bad Company, Chicago, The Who, Beatles… with a little Carpenters mixed in…. which wouldn’t be that bad today, but in the late 80’s Wham! era… it’s was very, very, very, very……… bad.

They came at me with “Love, in itself” by Depeche Mode and “Don’t Dream it’s Over” by Crowded House…. and I come back with… “I aint Gonna Cry Tonight” by Barbara Streisand… and “Thank You” by Led Zepplin…..

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