I’m becoming a big One Tree Hill fan. Gah. Anyway there’s a song in their OST which I really like. It’s Butch Walker’s “Mixtape.” I’ve gotten a bunch of mixtapes from friends and not-so-friends. Mixtapes or CDs burned with a variety of songs are one of the nicest gifts I’ve ever got. I’m not a huge music person so I don’t really know what’s good or bad or new or old. I just listen to music that resonates with me.
I’ve found that giving someone a mix of songs is one way of telling a person that you know him or her really well — provided of course you put careful consideration into the mix of songs! I’m not talking about mass compiling songs and just giving them away. I’m talking about carefully picking out songs that matter to that someone then sharing the tape or CD with that person. And if you’re on the receiving end of such a gift, isn’t it such a flattering and comforting feeling to know someone painstakingly chose the songs for you? It’s no easy feat!
I suddenly miss my high school best friend. She would record songs on the radio (96.3 WROCK was the station!) and she’d give me a cassette tape full of sentimental songs the next day. And well, high school being one of the most turbulent times of anyone’s life, those senti songs really connected with me. Think “Foolish Heart,” “We’re All Alone,” all those Side A songs, “I’ll Always Love You,” “”Heart of Mine,” — hahahaha I laugh about it now but I sure as hell felt every word of those songs back then.
Have you ever compiled a bunch of songs? And have you ever given them to someone? Why’d you do that anyway? And how did they react? Share! Share!
Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs of the moment:
Mixtape
Butch Walker
You say hello, inside I’m screaming I love you
You say goodnight, in my mind
I’m sleeping next to you
You drive away from my car crash of a heart
And I don’t know
But you gave me the best mixtape I have
And even all the bad songs ain’t so bad
I just wish there was so much more than that
About me and you
You talk to him, and it burns me like the sun
You talk to her, and you say that you feel like he’s the one
I talk to me, but you can’t hear the pain I feel
You don’t know
Cause you gave me the best mixtape I have
And even all the sad songs ain’t so sad
I only wish there was more than that
About me and you
[Bridge]
Oh, don’t turn around and say bye again
Yeah it crushes my head when you call me
Your friend and I’m not the same person
From back in the day in the back of the class
That you thought was gay
No I can’t find the words cause I lost them
The minute they fell out my mouth
And it’s love and I’m in it, so give me your lips
And just let me kiss ’em
And let’s get messed up and listen to probably…
The best mixtape I have
And even all the bad songs ain’t so bad
I just wish there was more than that
About me and you
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
Sidney
August 9, 2005 at 11:44 am (19 years ago)What about the copyright ?
paz
August 9, 2005 at 12:06 pm (19 years ago)this entry reminds me of my best friend, daday, who would religiously tape us 80s mixes, mike francis songs, side A tunes and lots, lots more!
she would compile them and give it to us, her friends! everytime i listen to them, i associate every song with her!
tin
August 9, 2005 at 12:10 pm (19 years ago)i do that and sometimes i exchange compiled cds with friends.
Toni
August 9, 2005 at 12:46 pm (19 years ago)sidney: back in my highschool days it wasn’t a huge concern… 😀
paz: do we have the same best friend? haha!
tin: how nice! i don’t have the patience to burn cds so if someone gets one from me, it’s a labor of love on my part!
BabyPink
August 9, 2005 at 2:48 pm (19 years ago)toni and paz, was i your best friend? hehehe:)
i used to do the same. there was even this one time when a tv special was running and i wanted to record the weekly top ten. so, what i did was i left the player recording while i went to watch tv. recorded everything, commercial ads included and the dj’s wisecracks which would normally give me nosebleeds! hehehehe:) hay, high school!:)
Toni
August 9, 2005 at 2:50 pm (19 years ago)diane: hahahhaahaha ang cute ng tanong mo!!! i didn’t know you were a music person, friend! something new i’ve learned about you naman!
Linnor
August 9, 2005 at 4:27 pm (19 years ago)the great thing about my redford (my ibook, lest you get other ideas, ehehehe) is i could easily download songs and burn them to cd really quick. my 1st project was to burn my 12 y/o matt a compilation of songs by mario, jojo, john legend, ludacris, etc…did that last weekend.
Toni
August 9, 2005 at 4:38 pm (19 years ago)linnor: ang galing talaga ni redford mo. hehe!
dexie
August 9, 2005 at 7:29 pm (19 years ago)I once compiled Lea Salonga songs for my Mother-In-Law. she was very impressed. Just listening to Lea belt out Les Miserables’ “on my own” haunts me so I wanted her to know that we do have a Filipina with world class talent.
I’ve also compiled songs for a friend in Florida. We’re very much into supporting pinoy talents here in the US, so I picked songs from Innerlude(http://www.innerlude.com/), and a 3-girl group called PINAY. she loved it
Junnie
August 9, 2005 at 10:30 pm (19 years ago)i did that for a business in high school. well it started as a hobby but i got connections to the latest 80s new wave records and recorded them anyway. so when i read the book and saw the film, “high fidelity” (starring John Cusack), i thought they filmed my life, minus the Top Broken hearts in his life.
I gave one to my last girlfriend (now my wife) in a cassette, and it died after playing several times. i recompiled them in the ipod for eternity purposes.
pinayhekmi
August 10, 2005 at 1:26 am (19 years ago)When Woody was courting me he made me a mix tape of love songs, it was really good. Then when the courtship was over, he accidentally taped over it. Very telling, isnt’ it? hahah!
pinayhekmi
August 10, 2005 at 1:29 am (19 years ago)okay, i have to make another comment. Michael Buble’s “Home” which i heard flying back to Texas really made me cry on the plane. Its about being in really exotic places, or amidst a lot of people and all you wanna do is go home. I highly recommend it if you haven’t heard it yet!
mare
August 10, 2005 at 9:23 am (19 years ago)I have a best friend who is always caught up with the latest slow jams, he’s a one -man DJ/Band! The last time I made a mixed cd was for a good friend leaving the states. I’ve received a few personalized cds with no rhyme or reason but having Hall & Oates, NKOTB, and Vince Guaraldi makes sense to me!
bea
August 10, 2005 at 12:50 pm (19 years ago)I LOVE this topic…
in 1995 when Mark and I got together, he gave me a casette tape filled with songs he would want to sing to me. suuuper sweet songs!
fast forward 10 years later, the casette tape got warped… but mark surprised me again by finding a set of CDs that contain ALL the songs in the original casette!
I cried when we started listening to it in the car. I was so overwhelmed with emotions, grabe! (Mark just sat beside me holding my hand,, he didnt know what to do daw
Hay toni, thanks for helping me remember
Dr E
August 10, 2005 at 1:28 pm (19 years ago)Very passionate ang new fave song mo, Toni. =)
Toni
August 10, 2005 at 5:25 pm (19 years ago)dexie : How thoughtful of you!
Junnie : High Fidelity nga! Very you, music and all. Save for the broken hearts that is!
tintin: I’ll watch out for “Home” — sounds beautiful from the way you decribed it!
mare : Aaah yes, to YOU there was rhyme and reason. That’s what matters!
bea : THAT IS SO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad I was able to bring back such wonderful memories!
Dr E: Have you heard it?! The melody is sooooo nice.
sha
August 11, 2005 at 2:01 am (19 years ago)france ulit hahaha….
does school choir counts
20 years ago when I was at this international school we had our annual xmas concert and somebody managed to record it and shared it to all of us
sa akin pa to.
if my sis and I play it even on peak summer we would sing oh my its such a good laugh and good memory
maan
August 11, 2005 at 8:50 am (19 years ago)my ex-boyfriend and i exchanged recorded tapes of songs we’d play on the guitar! if not, siguro a compilation nga of love songs. oh dear, those were the days…
watson
August 11, 2005 at 6:43 pm (19 years ago)Hi Toni! I once gave Pinoy alternative songs to a friend of my wife. But mostly I have new wave songs (80s kid po!) which I swap around with friends.
Toni
August 11, 2005 at 8:55 pm (19 years ago)sha : Umabot nanaman ako ng France! Hehehe. That’s a beautiful memory. Thanks for sharing it with me!
maan : Senti ba? Hehehe. Oo nga ako rin, there was a phse in my life when exes would give mixtapes!
watson: ’80s kid ka rin pala! New Wave – type din ng husband ko!
annabanana
August 11, 2005 at 11:15 pm (19 years ago)tones,
one of my bestfriends taped one song—as in one song, over and over again for 120 minutes, and gave it to me for my birthday. the song? “touch and go” i don’t know who sang it, but the first line goes something like: “nobody said that life is always fair, sometimes it clips your wings while you’re in mid-air….” i think mixtapes is to 80s as iPod is to now….
Toni
August 12, 2005 at 6:57 pm (19 years ago)annabanana: Hahahaha paulit-ulit lang? Well, that works naman talaga if we really LOVE the song. I could listen to “Mixtape” over and over.
annabanana
August 14, 2005 at 9:51 pm (19 years ago)yup paulit-ulit! talk about torture! ;D
eye
August 15, 2005 at 9:31 am (19 years ago)why do i feel like i was your best friend in HS? haha! honestly, i thought i was the only one crazy and OC enough to fill up cassette tapes with recorded music from the radio! then i would give them out to my friends.
but then of course, we are now more civilized (read: with piracy here & there) so i now give out mp3 cd’s 😀
Toni
August 15, 2005 at 3:00 pm (19 years ago)anna: well hindi naman torture kung type mo ang song! 😉
eye: hahaha this was more common than i thought!!!
Lissa
August 19, 2005 at 7:04 am (19 years ago)Alam mo whenever I hear the song “Hold On” by Side A and “I’ll be there” by Escape (?) it reminds me of you.
Toni
August 19, 2005 at 10:51 am (19 years ago)Lissa: I remember you when I hear the song from Mac and Me. yun “Take Me I’ll Follow You.”
Tired of feeling all by myself
being so different from everyone else
somehow you knew I needed your help
we’ll be friends forever…
I can’t take the thought of you leaving
but take me along
I swear I’ll be strong
if you
Take me wherever you go
I wanna know the things that you know
Now that you made me believe
I want you to take me
cuz I want to be
able to see the things that you see
I know that whatever you’ll do
I’ll follow you
I’m not even sure if the lyrics are right!!! But I remember the day you left for the U.S., I wanted to cry during Art class. Na-affect ako sa pag-alis mo ng OVER!!!