It’s a two-discer.
Disc 1
Art Brut – Good Weekend
Ben Kweller – Thirteen
The Beatles – Martha My Dear (I don’t care if it’s allegedly about Paul’s dog; it always has my heart.)
Billy Joel – Rosalinda’s Eyes
Ben Folds Five – Don’t Change Your Plans
Bob Dylan – Girl from the North Country
The Box Tops – The Letter
Bright Eyes – First Day of My Life
Ryan Adams – Gonna Make You Love Me
Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
Buffalo Tom – Late at Night
The Everly Brothers – Dreams
Tom Waits – I Want You
Voxtrot – Every Day
Hall & Oates – You Make My Dreams (Don’t make fun. It’s delightful.)
James Taylor – Only One
Jack’s Mannequin – Made For Each Other, parts 1 & 2
Disc 2
Sam Cooke – (Ain’t That) Good News
Pete Doherty ft. Wolfman – For Lovers
Jim Sturgess – All My Lovin’ (See how I did that? I avoided my own dilemma – I’m very against the same artist appearing more than once on one CD, but love “All My Lovin’” and “Martha, My Dear” equally – by bringing in the very loverly version from “Across the Universe.” Bam.)
Cory Morrow – Live Forever
Joshua Radin – Only You
The Decemberists – Red Right Ankle
Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
The Kooks – She Moves in Her Own Way
Gavin Osborne – The Greatest Thing There Is
Little Man Tate – You and Me Might Be Alright, You Know
The Maccabees – Toothpaste Kisses
The Romantics – What I Like About You
Mason Jennings – Darkness Between the Fireflies (I may or may not have included this solely on its mention of the Appalachian mountains. But it’s still wonderful.)
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Passionate Kisses
Modern English - I Melt With You
The Mountain Goats – International Small Arms Traffic Blues
Wilco – I’m the Man Who Loves You
Neutral Milk Hotel - In an Aeroplane Under the Sea
The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up is hard to do. It takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick it off with a killer to grab attention. Then you gotta take it up a notch. But you don’t want to blow your wad. So then you gotta cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. Anyway, I’ve started to make a tape, in my head, for Laura. Full of stuff she’d like. Full of stuff that’d make her happy. For the first time I can sorta see how that’s done. – Rob Gordon, “High Fidelity”
