I've decided to start this series with the first mix-cd playlist I made for Sarah, back on Valentine's day 2011, aka "Sarah 1". The making of this happened to coincide with when I got my first mp3 player, which meant a minor explosion of musical exploration for me at the time. This mix makes a pretty good spread of my musical tastes, with the exception of my most abrasive ones. As such, I feel it is a nice starting point for the series.
The mix is wistful throughout. Sarah's taste in older music helped inform the two most retro songs in the mix ("32 20" and "Our Car Club"), but the songs certainly also convey an ebullience of complex feelings that continues through the mix. A number of the songs were actually chosen with Jill in mind and are either serious love songs our outright breakup songs. "Sick of Goodbyes", "Outtasite" and especially "Weird Fishes" best represent this strain. Sarah knows this, which is why I am comfortable saying it here. Of course, the greater share of songs, when they are wistful, are utterly swept up in the moment, like "Ocean", "Sweet Avenue", "Strange Ones" and, of course, "Just Like Heaven". I spent many a wee hour of the morning walking home from Sarah's house, mp3 player plugged in, savoring happy thoughts. Frankly, this mix cd was composed in a state of new love's swirling bliss, and I think it shows. The rhythms are irrepressibly upbeat, and the singing is fervent. Even a seeming breakup song like "Fire for Awhile" practically drips with the seductive tender haze of new love.
Playable playlist
http://grooveshark.com/playlist/For+Sarah+1/81910856
Official tracklist
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0u7rvh5l1qt2vt/Sarah1playlist.xls
If this all sounds pretty personal, that's because it is. Please enjoy this little piece of my life.
