soundtrack (we *can* rebuild him)

I'm sure every one of us has a time in our past that stands out as the BEST time. A particular time that, from this far-removed vantage point, seems perfect. During that time you were happiest, most free, most loved, most held, most met, most excited, most whatever. Nothing in the present day can compare to that best time.

My best time was the summer between high school and college. I have written about this time before, but I'll quickly recap: I spent the whole summer hanging out with my "band" the Spinning Jennies, mostly not playing music, mostly just fucking around and enjoying our temporary, carefree, freedom. I was in the throes of unrequieted crush-love-lust for Jodi, Jodi was dating Paul, Donor and Paul were best friends, Donor and I were best friends, everybody was in love with each other in different ways and we had a lot of fun.

Somewhere along the way that summer, Paul made us a mix tape and it became the soundtrack for the rest of our time together. Whether we were laying out under the stars in the field next to Donor's house or driving to the beach for the weekend together, we were listening to this tape. We called it "The Stoned Tape," I think for obvious reasons. I loved this tape.

Last night, inspired by South Carolina Girl's post about Melissa Etheridge, I started digging through my old box of tapes to find the few remaining M.E. tapes I still have. But before I could find Melissa, I ran across the stoned tape. Wow.

So I played it (in fact, I'm playing it again right now) and what a blast from the past! It transports me back into a different world. I was so young back then, summer of '93, 18 years old, so young. I had so many *feelings*! Everything was so exciting and either blissful or devastating depending on the moment. All the possibility, the newness of pot, the comraderie around music, my deep attachment to Jode. Fuck, what an intense time.

This isn't the first time I've listened to the stoned tape in all these years. I dig it out every few years and listen again, but I've lately been worried that the tape will give out eventually and I'll lose this precious little artifact and my palpable link to a long distant version of myself. Last night I got the brilliant idea to write down all the songs and all the artists as the tape played so that I can use iTunes to try and reconstruct the stoned tape digitally. That way, it will never be lost!

So, for your own personal edification, I will share with you the entire contents of the stoned tape, reconstructed to the best of my ability. There are a couple artists and song titles I'm not sure of, those will require some research. (*denotes a guess at a song title) But for now, here's what I've got:

1.) The The -- Save Me
2.) REM -- Everybody Hurts
3.) The Cure -- Pictures of You
4.) Morrissey -- Seasick Yet Still Docked
5.) REM -- Night Swimming
6.) Concrete Blonde -- Everybody Knows
7.) The Pixies -- Wave of Mutilation
8.) Smiths -- Last Night I Dreampt That Somebody Loved Me
9.) Smiths -- I Won't Share You
10.) Janes Addiction -- Summertime Rolls
11.) The The -- True Happiness This Way Lies
12.) The The -- Love Is Stronger Than Death
13.) Radiohead -- Been Thinking About You
14.) Morrissey -- Will Never Marry
15.) The Pixies -- Where Is My Mind
16.) Peter Gabriel -- In Your Eyes
17.) REM -- You Are The Everything
18.) School of Fish -- Euphoria
19.) U2 -- Surrender*
20.) REM -- Wendell Gee
21.) Smiths/Morrissey -- ??
22.) Cranberries -- ??

Sucks that there are a few songs I have no clue about. I'll have to do lyrics searches and see if I can track them down. And I think all these Smiths/Morriessey songs are probably just Morrissey, but I included the Smiths just in case. Who knows. Paul must've really liked Morrissy, he's on here a lot. Damned Morrissey, but his music is particularly suited to a "stoned" tape. I'd like a little more Jane's Addiction, but that's just me.

** Post Script: Thanks to comments from Shelley and Witchtrivets, the list has been updated with better information. Thanks guys. :-)