This was my final entry on The Lifelong Mixtape blog.

[missing image of found CD]

I found this succinctly labelled disc in a small bag sitting on the free table at Wallingford Senior Center, where I was attending an Artist’s Way meetup. (This bag also contained a mixtape—perhaps the subject of a later post.)

The free table normally hosts old magazines, stationery, batteries, pens, and the occasional small appliance. On this occasion, it had already produced one surprise, in the form of a paperback copy of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (Having recently purchased a new copy of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, I interpreted this as a sign that I should take the book—that is the purpose of the free table, after all—and acted accordingly.)

Anyway, a couple of days later, after scanning the disc, I decided to see if I could determine its contents. Based on the handwriting on the sticker, I assumed the disc would have been made by a woman of about my age, or perhaps a few years older. (In my experience, men don’t have very neat handwriting.)

Most of the songs were unfamiliar to me; I recognized Nat King Cole’s version of “Mona Lisa”, Atlanta Rhythm Section’s cover of “Spooky”, and Dean Martin’s arguably definitive version of “That’s Amore” right off. The rest required some listening and research.

The biggest surprise: lots of hip-hop—about half the disc contains either hip-hop or hip-hop-influeced pop. Then, of course, there’s the odd juxtaposition of these tracks with standards, instrumental jazz, and ’70s rock.

Except for the two jazz instrumentals, I was able to figure out all the songs on the disc. Here is the track listing:

1. Sade—Soldier of Love
2. New Boyz—You’re a Jerk
3. [jazz instrumental]
4. Erick Sermon—Music (featuring Marvin Gaye)
5. Nat King Cole—Mona Lisa
6. Tommy James & The Shondells—Crystal Blue Persuasion
7. Eminem—Déjà Vu
8. Leslie King—One
9. Atlanta Rhythm Section—Spooky
10. Dean Martin—That’s Amore
11. Sugarloaf  (Jerry Corbetta)—Green-Eyed Lady (live)
12. Ludacris—How Low Can You Go
13. Black-Eyed Peas—I Gotta Feeling
14. [jazz instrumental—semi-smooth, probably not David Sanborn, but definitely sax]
15. Sade—The Moon and the Sky
16. Eminem—Purple Pills

As I mentioned, I don’t know a lot of these songs. I don’t like modern hip-hop, and the heavy hip-hop influence and horrible mastering standards still adhered to by most of the recording industry mean that I find most new pop/rock music more or less unlistenable—including a huge chunk of this disc.

From what I did hear, though, I have to tentatively conclude that this is a deeply conflicted break-up mix. Either the person who made the mix wasn’t sure about breaking up in the first place, or she was caught off-guard, and her emotions were a back-and-forth between love and anger.

Two final thoughts on this slice of life:

1. I still hate the Black-Eyed Peas. Not a fan.

2. How did this disc end up at the Wallingford Senior Center?

(10 August 2013)