Mix Tape

Originally published via Armageddon Prose Substack:

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain”
-T.S. Eliot

One of the lingering regrets of my life is that I never produced an angst-ridden, hormone-fueled high school mix tape in the cruel grip of springtime for a girl with whom I was hopelessly enamored yet didn’t know how to impress my feelings upon so that they would be reciprocated, so I channeled them through the artform of music by compiling what was, in the days of cassettes, called a “mix tape” in a desperate bid to express myself, in the process creating an artifact of undying devotion that would be looked upon fondly in perpetuity by all involved parties.

Having never done any of that, at the tender age of 37, here is my sweet redemption, the first and last (digital) mix tape I’ll likely ever make, which I dedicate to my wife, a living saint.

Track #1: Leaving on A Jet Plane, John Denver

https://youtu.be/SneCkM0bJq0?si=xxZwjVYE7bDM85ES

Track #2: San Francisco, Alkaline Trio

https://youtu.be/ruFNQyhpviU?si=3RUVRN5i6bsdXFHT

Track #3: Are You There, Margaret? It’s Me, God, The Lawrence Arms

https://youtu.be/xc29d2R7t6Q?si=tFq1WbhRryVjfn9_

Track #4: Another Girl, Another Planet

https://youtu.be/ilDD5SeHxXE?si=xAA-tY-JU9yMPJdF

Track #5: Tonight, Tonight, Smashing Pumpkins

https://youtu.be/NOG3eus4ZSo?si=FO2rHB-VSWXziEvS

Track #5: Accident Prone, Jawbreaker

https://youtu.be/EgxhQN8X0u8?si=0kW3wNXL2S_BkHYu

Track #6: Black Box, Tony Sly

https://youtu.be/59osItAxKjQ?si=gQBboSVWiaJCep_n

Track #7: Blinded, Third Eye Blind

https://youtu.be/G9o4FTTQkDM?si=v2zs5JQhybZCw68m

Track #8: Heart-Shaped Box, Nirvana

https://youtu.be/by6lyNC3D9Y?si=j3tvefQeMZi01ftr

Track #9: AM/PM, American Nightmare

https://youtu.be/sXJPTNKjjFY?si=eBIgo2m4Z3qXwmpp

Track #10: I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash

https://youtu.be/J-6fW66IUY4?si=RNX8py_EO3PDLw7v

Track #11: I Guess This Is What Brains Look Like, Anorexic Olsen twin

https://youtu.be/C5-fmUubEAM?si=m28aFeSeAl1Lkfj2

Track #12: Wagon Wheel, Old Crow Medicine Show

https://youtu.be/1gX1EP6mG-E?si=IjdiUbZEqp2fcmut

Track #13: Stuff’s Weird, Mischief Brew

https://youtu.be/fXt0pHTF_tY?si=tRtOImGM7sFHy3vp

Bonus Track: Closer, Nine Inch Nails

https://youtu.be/PTFwQP86BRs?si=JRomGghB0NLx3pKl

Feel free to let me now where I went wrong in the comments and berate me for being an emo hipster.

Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.

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