[I’m starting to wonder if I haven’t posted this before sometime, it would’ve had to have been back when I first started the blog, ‘cuz I’ve moved since then and finding these tapes today kicked off a bunch of memories…]

I found five old “themed” audio cassettes today while scrounging around looking for something else in one of my closets. Three of the five are dated and were recorded “in honor” of the person that I was dating at the time – so there are a lot of sappy love songs, but it’s still fun. The first one was recorded back around 1990 or so. It was dedicated to my first real “head over heals” love/infatuation, and it’s simply titled:

 “Love Songs”

• Moments in Love – The Art of Noise
• Kiss – Art of Noise/Tom Jones
• In The Flesh – Blondie
• Fall – Berlin
• Time In A Bottle – Jim Croce
• Love Song – The Cure
• Be – Neil Diamond (Jonathan Livingston Seagull)
• Take Me To Your Heart – Eurythmics
• Songbird – Fleetwood Mac
• In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
• Kiss of Life – Gene Loves Gezebel
• Never Tear Us Apart – INXS
• La Eile – Don Henley
• Your Song – Elton John
• Unconditional Love – Cindy Lauper
• Live To Tell – Madonna
• Nothing Else Matters – Metallica
• Still Loving You – Scorpions
• Magic – Mysterious Art
• Try To Believe – Oingo Boingo

The second tape was made for someone who I’d met in the mid-1990’s. I’d sworn off love and relationships and all that bothersome junk but he was able to break through my shell and got me to say “I Love You” once more. It didn’t hurt that he was also a porn star, whose video happened to be playing on the PDX Eagle’s TV’s the night I met him!

“Bill’s Tape” [Dated Dec. 13, 1994, shortly after he had left for Halfmoon Bay, CA and I was left behind in Portland, OR]

• Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots
• Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
• Send Me An Angel – Scorpions
• Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
• Come To My Window – Melissa Etheridge
• Still Loving You – Scorpions
• I Feel Love – Jimmy Sommerville
• Grand Designs – Rush
• Ghost of a Chance – Rush
• Love Song for a Vampire – Annie Lennox
• Texarkana – REM
• Better Than The Real Thing – U2
• One More Night – Sandra
• Cold Fire – Rush
• Sin – Nine Inch Nails
• I’m The Only One – Melissa Etheridge
• Sensual World – Kate Bush
• I Can’t Explain – Scorpions
• A Night to Remember – Cindy Lauper
• Emotion Detector – Rush

The third in a series of “love tapes” is one that I put together for a romantic Valentine’s “dinner for two” with the man I had just started dating a couple months before to try and move the relationship into a more romantic stage instead of the stage of convenience it seemed to be stuck in. It’s obviously modelled after the first “love songs” tape I’d made several years earlier.

“Valentine’s 1998”

• The Sensual World – Kate Bush
• You’re My Best Friend – Queen
• Tonight’s The Night – Rod Stewart
• Fall – Berlin
• Songbird – Fleetwood Mac
• In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
• Love Song – The Cure
• Love Song for a Vampire – Annie Lennox
• Moments In Love – The Art of Noise
• Falling – Twin Peaks Soundtrack
• Time in a Bottle – Jim Croce
• Come Undone – Duran Duran
• The Miracle of Love – Eurythmics
• Head Over Feet – Alanis Morisette
• Never Tear Us Apart – INXS
• The Power of Love – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• I’m On Your Side – DiVinyls
• Time And Tide – Basia
• Your Song – Elton John
• The Promise – When In Rome
• New Year’s Day – U2
• Ghost of a Chance – Rush

Shortly after that Valentine’s date, I realized that the relationship wasn’t going anywhere, so I made two more tapes to wallow in my depressed state of mind.

“Regrets”

• Why Can’t I Have You? – The Cars
• Purple Rain – Prince
• Yesterday – The Beatles
• Don’t Speak – No Doubt
• I Remember You – Eurythmics
• Decadence – Pet Shop Boys
• My Heart So Blue – Erasure
• You’re The One – Kate Bush
• Take A Bow – Madonna
• Photographs & Memories – Jim Croce
• It’s Over – Lisa Loeb
• You Oughta Know – Alanis Morisette
• Temple of Love – Sisters of Mercy
• I’m Gonna Be Strong – Cindy Lauper
• Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’Conner
• You Look So Fine – Garbage
• Turn Back Time – Cher
• Dance Along The Edge – Concrete Blond
• Don’t Cry – Seal
• One – U2

And the my second “pity party” tape was:

“Nostalgia”

• Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue
• Time Stand Still – Rush
• Where Has The Childhood Gone? – Camouflage
• For A Friend – Jimmy Sommerville
• You Are The Everything – REM
• Daniel – Elton John
• Operator – Jim Croce
• Better To Have Lost In Love – Eurythmics
• Lovelight In Your Eyes – Sandra
• Hello Earth – Kate Bush
• The Fog – Kate Bush
• Why? – Annie Lennox
• Sweetness Follows – REM
• Sanctified – Nine Inch Nails
• Breath of Life – Erasure
• Live To Tell – Madonna
• One – U2
• Pale Shelter – Tears for Fears
• A Forrest – The Cure
• Hymn – Vangelis

Ok – so there’s a whole ton of song lists, and now you know how I’ve been spending my day – re-creating playlists to match my old cache of tapes!  Hope your day was fun and interesting, and that I didn’t totally bore you to tears! And if you don’t hear from me before then, I hope y’all have a great Thanksgiving! Enjoy!