Listening

A long time ago I was given my first mixtape. My older brother made it for me and it opened a whole world. I had heard some of the music that he had put on the tape, but putting it in a particular order made my mind reel. To this day, when I hear Bohemian Rhapsody, I expect the very next thing I hear will be Maynard Ferguson playing MacArthur Park. That was the profound effect love this tape made on me.
In the following years I became the maker of many mixtapes. Initially, all of these wer for my own enjoyment. Mostly they got played in my car stereo where I could not access my extensive record collection. Then, it became apparent that part of the magic of mixtapes was the opportunity to impress thought patterns on the listeners. It also fit in well with my interest in creating a soundtrack to the movie of my own life as well as those around me . When I started making mixtapes for others, they were invariably for girls I wanted to impress. The music selection was varied, but still linked very much to my own personal taste .
I felt it was my duty to expand everyone's musical taste to mirror my own. And if somewhere along the line I managed to seduce one of my listeners, so much the better. I can say this now with smug assurance because one of the recipients of these mixtapes happens to be married to me.
The real magic of all of this music on tape was that I sent myself a great many rules and goals. Not the least of which was to fill a 90-minute cassette without repeating an artist. This meant that I spent a great deal of time trying to remember what I put on any particular tape because I kept no written record of what I was doing. Well I am able to go back and listen to the tapes I made for my wife, but I don't have access to all that music that I gathered together from High School through college for all those other lucky ears. All the subtle cleverness of me is now lost to the ages. Such a shame. But then again, no one else is stuck with that whole Queen Maynard Ferguson problem.