Soundtrack: Volume Five - Summertime in Waco

I was the firstborn grandchild, the first of six Martin granddaughters. There was probably some disappointment that none of us were boys to carry on the Martin legacy, but you wouldn't have known it, because all we ever knew was love. Every day spent with my grandparents in Waco, Texas was like magic. Sadly they are no longer around to see the girl that they helped mold into the person I am today, but they are with me all the time and I know they're smiling down with pride.

My Grandfather coached me in the art of being a good tomboy. He took me to the dirt track races and the rodeos. We'd go to the fairgrounds and he'd let me ride as many of those rickety carny rides as I wanted, time didn't matter, we went home when the sun went down. He caught me a "pet" armadillo, showed me how to shoot beer bottles off a fence post and taught me to drive his red and white El Camino, while I sat on his lap, steering the wheel, while he worked the pedals. Had we ever gotten into some kind of accident, I'm sure he would have just brushed me off and told me that was God's way of toughening me up.

My Grandmother, she was strong as nails, but as close to a genuine southern belle as I've ever seen. She was glamorous, with the perfect Texas drawl, it sounded like melted butter and brown sugar. She always smelled amazing, I can't describe it, but I'd know that scent anywhere. She taught me the pretty side of being a girl. When I wasn't allowed to keep a wild armadillo as a pet, she gave me a kitten. I caught frogs in the backyard all dolled up like a little debutante in sundresses and pig tails. Every time we drove through a yellow light, she'd kiss the palm of her hand and press it to the ceiling of the car for good luck, something I still do to this day.

In me they instilled a wicked combination of elegance, brawn, brains, good solid Texas roots and an appreciation for great music.

Long before I worked in a record store, I learned about music from an old radio that sat on a nightstand between two twin beds at my grandparents house. By day it was all Country. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, all the greats. I heard of Elvis Presley's death on that radio one hot August afternoon. By night it was tuned to a Big Band/Jazz station, that is the music that I can still hear when I drift off to sleep. It was the perfect soundtrack for slumber.

The radio sat directly under a mounted deer head. The glow of dial lit up the six-point buck's face in a gentle, calming way. My Grandfather told me that the rest of the deer lived behind the wall. As a child, I imagined it watching over my sister and me as we slept. Nothing could hurt us, if any potential harm came our way, I just knew that brave deer would bust through the wall and save us all. As a child it made perfect sense. That glass-eyed stag was my hero and every night before getting under the covers, I'd stand on my bed and kiss it on the nose in a gesture of thanks for keeping us safe.

Summers in Waco, that is where it all began. Tomboys, girlie girls and fine, fine music.

Soundtrack: Volume Five July 22, 2013

Destination Moon - Dina Washington
Let's Get Lost - Chet Baker
Knock Me a Kiss - Louis Jordan
It's Raining - Irma Thomas
Got My Own Thing Now - Squirrel Nut Zippers
Miserlou - Dick Dale
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
What'll I Do - Rosemary Clooney
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - Ella Fitzgerald
Begin the Beguine - Sheryl Crow
Someone to Watch Over Me - Ella Fitzgerald
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
Night and Day - Ray Charles
A Kiss to Build a Dream On - Louis Armstrong
The Girl From Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto/Stan Getz
De-Lovely - Robbie Williams
Too Marvelous for Words - Frank Sinatra
Melodie d'Amour - Dean Martin
Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darin
Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
Que Sera Sera - Doris Day
Wishin' and Hopin' - Ani DeFranco
Let's Do It - Alanis Morissette

Let the Music Play

It's a typical girl meets boy story. They meet online, boy asks girl out, girl asks boy to make her a mixed CD of significant songs that capture pieces of his life. Not necessarily his most favorite songs or artists, but songs that mean something, the ones that remind him of where he's been and how far he has come. Oh, and she asks him to have this prepared and recorded to present on their very first date, in return she'll do the same.

Sound familiar?

Of course not! Who does that?!

I do, a girl who put off college to work in a Record Store, because not only was that quite possibly the coolest job in the world right out of high school, but that is just how much music influenced and continues to influence my entire life. The sounds, the beats, the instruments, the voices, the dissection of the lyrics, I cherish it all. That job was no summer fling, it was true love! I ended up working there for 14 years as a store manager.

"How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world that's so cold
Maybe I'm just too demanding
Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold
Maybe you're just like my mother
She's never satisfied..."

It was a first. I'd never challenged anyone to a first date mix tape before, but with this one, it felt like the the right thing to do. And it was, I got two pretty solid mixed CDs out of it... on date number two. To be fair, mine weren't ready on the first date either, only because the date itself took place sooner than I had expected.

Long story short, we didn't go the distance. Don't be sad, we're still cool, just not cool "like that." And I have some pretty great souvenirs to show for it. His musical taste was almost, almost as good as mine and that's pretty swell in my book.

I'm old school, I grew up in the age where we actually painstakingly made mixed tapes. And even now, in this day of iPods, I still prefer a mix CD to a playlist. Anyone can throw a playlist together, but making a mix CD with limited space, getting the perfect playlist in 20 songs or less is a lost art and takes some serious thought and skill. It's an amazing gift to get and receive.

As a music lover, if you haven't read "Love is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield, you're missing out. It's a book that I've actually highlighted passages in, because his thoughts on music so closely reflect mine.
In it he writes, "There are all kinds of mix tapes. There is always a reason to make one."

Ummm, yeah!

"I have built my entire life around loving music, and I surround myself with it. I'm always racing to catch up on my next favorite song. But I never stop playing my mixes. Every fan makes them. The times you've lived through, the people you shared those times with - nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they add up to the story of life."

Seriously, how perfect a paragraph is that? I wish that I had written it before Rob did!

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..."

Some things take pause, but the music never stops. You get over yourself and move on.

Press Play.

Soundtrack: Volume Three 06/20/13

Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Darlin' One - The Replacements
We've Been Had - The Walkmen
Miss Misery - Elliott Smith
It's All Alright - fun.
Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House
Everybody Here Wants You - Jeff Buckley
Aint' That Lonely Yet - Dwight Yoakam
If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett
Bad Things - Jace Everett
Creepy Jackalope Eye - Steve Earle
I Saw You First - John Mellencamp
You Belong to My Heart - Old 97's
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon
Idiot Kings - Soul Coughing
Someday I Suppose - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover - Sophie B. Hawkins
Boys of Summer - Don Henley
Feel the Pain - Dinosaur Jr.
What is Life - George Harrison
Closing Time - Semisonic

Soundtrack: Volume Four 07/04/13

The Galway Girl - Steve Earle
Stubborn Love - The Lumineers
Pulling Back the Reins - kd Lang
First Glimmer - Paul Westerberg
Every Day is Like Sunday - Morrissey
Black Coffee in Bed - Squeeze
Take it on the Run - REO Speedwagon
Crime Scene, Part One - Afghan Whigs
Remedy - The Black Crowes
You Got Lucky - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
6th Avenue Heartbreak - The Wallflowers
All the Young Dudes - World Party
The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys
Change - Churchill
Special - Garbage
So Much For the Afterglow - Everclear
Here's Where the Story Ends - The Sundays

Seriously? Seriously! What Were You Thinking?

A couple days ago I made a "break-up" mix CD to help get over the pain of being a jilted lover.

I thought that I'd feel all empowered by the messages sung along to those catchy beats.

For the most part I guess I did, for I had made a pretty solid list of tracks that would become the soundtrack to my grieving process, with the exception of one misplaced tune.

Sandwiched between "Don't tell me you love me" by Night Ranger and "I hate myself for loving you" By Joan Jett, I foolishly put "I'm all out of love" by Air Supply.

It was a fatal error. Seriously, what was I thinking?!

On the surface that song could not be more benign, it seems like a perfect choice, right?

Boo Hoo, poor me, I'm all out of love, blah, blah, blah...

Forget the fact that the lyrics are all wrong for a break-up CD, unless you are the one that fucked up in the first place, which for the record I did not AND could they be a little more candy assed?!

Sheesh!

I'm lying alone with my head on the phone
Thinking of you til it hurts
I know you hurt too but what else can we do
Tormented and torn apart


I wish I could carry your smile in my heart
For times when my life feels so low
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring
When today doesn't really know, doesn't really know


I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you
I know you were right, believing for so long
I'm all out of love, what am I without you
It can't be to late to say that I was so wrong


These lyrics aren't me AT ALL!

Am I tormented and torn apart? Yes, I'll give you that, but I would never lay my head down on the phone, not only is it uncomfortable, it's just stupid!

I'm not really all about carrying that smile around in my heart either, granted it was a nice one, but the mouth that housed those pearly whites said a slew of hurtful things.

As far as "being right," you weren't, but it is never too late to continuously tell me how "so wrong" you were, but we both already know this, so why bother.

No, this song is better suited for someone else, you maybe, but certainly not me.

Ugh, the very sight of those smiling, soft-rocking balladeers makes me angry, what could they possibly know about love?

Next time I'll go with something more along the lines of "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor.

It may be the most over played, cliche break-up song to have ever been recorded, but damn if it isn't right on.

I apologize Ms. Gaynor, by choosing an Air Supply song over yours, I not only disrespected you, I have disrespected myself.

Required Listening: Volume One

A "Mix Tape" is a beautiful thing. Each one serves a purpose, some merely entertain while others help to heal. No matter the reason each and every one of them is a personal gift from the mind to the heart of the listener.

I take great pride in making a mix, I guess because I am old enough to remember just how painstaking the process was of making an actual mix tape. It wasn't the quick process of being able to pull up your i-Tunes play list, drag & drop a handful of songs, then burn them onto a disc.

The time invested into making a mix tape meant pure love. A 90-minute tape took a minimum of two hours to make.

Each of the songs had to be played in full as they recorded. You had to ensure exactly what order you wanted them to be in and the timing had to be spot on!

I would have rather died than to have the last song on Side A cut off by seconds just because I didn't time it properly. It was a process that was often started over & over again in my perfection driven world of mix tapes.

But here we are in a different world, I burned four mix CDs today in less than 15 minutes. It is a beautiful thing.

The first three were for a couple of people that I work with, they know my mix CDs rule & asked me to make them some to which I happily obliged.

The fourth was just for me, required listening I suppose.


I Kinda Always Knew I'd End Up Your Ex-Girlfriend - Break-Up CD Vol. 1


Gives You Hell - All-American Rejects
You Better, You Bet - The Who
Ex-Girlfriend - No Doubt
You Got Lucky - Tom Petty
Anything But Down - Sheryl Crow
Don't Tell Me You Love Me - Night Ranger
I'm All Out Of Love - Air Supply
I Hate Myself For Loving You - Joan Jett
Since You're Gone - The Cars
Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad - Meatloaf
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Separate Ways _ Journey
She's A Beauty - The Tubes
Take It On The Run - REO Speedwagon
Last Call Casualty - Bowling For Soup
Shadows Of The Night - Pat Benetar
Is She Really Going Out With Him? - Joe Jackson
The Break-up Song - The Greg Kihn Band

There will no doubt be more in this series.

While I relish the chance to listen to it over and over on my commute to and from work to help release the pain, what I really long for is finding that CD under my car seat in a year or two, popping it into the player and wax nostalgic, by then I won't even remember what today feels like.