Won't you tell me what you're thinking of, would you be an outlaw for my love?

This week I read the book, "Love is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield. He's a music writer and if you saw him, you'd swear he looks familiar. You might remember him as one of the many commentators on VH1's "I Love the..." (insert decade here. Oh that guy...)

Anyways, he wrote "Love is a Mix Tape", I think in 2007. It's about his relationship with his wife, who died suddenly of an pulmonary embolism. He explains their story...from their courtship to their untimely end and beyond through the mix tapes they both made over the years. The songs document the time and mood in their lives. (They danced to Big Star's "Thirteen" at their wedding. I love that. Hear below...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4

I completely wept throughout this whole book. It really touched me because I related to it so much. It reminded me of my relationship with my husband. I started thinking about how certain songs become part of memories, like your own little soundtrack. They say smell is the strongest sense linked to memory? I don't know. I think hearing something can instantly take you back.

It also got me thinking about mix tapes (or now mix CD's). There's a few memorable ones that instantly popped into my head.

1) A mix CD from husband, pre-dating, when we were just "friends" entitled, "Mix CD for My Lady?" (from a line from Jack Black in the movie "Saving Silverman" where he says "Beer bong for my lady?" We found that amusing.) One of my favorite mixes of all time**. It starts with These Days by Nico and ends with What a Wonderful World by Joey Ramone. Perfect.

2) A mix tape from a high school boyfriend, who also wrote a note, spritzed it with his cologne and put it inside the case. At the time, a swoon-worthy move. I remember it had Tiny Dancer and it also had Radar Love. I wonder if I still have that one.

3) Another mix I remember in heavy rotation home from college, between freshman and sophomore year. It had Smashing Pumpkins 1979 and Prince's Little Red Corvette. Once I was getting an oil change and I heard the mechanics blasting it in my tape deck in the garage.

4) The mix CD we made for our wedding favors. Nearly five years later, people still tell me they keep it in rotation! A classic! Success! Includes our first dance, God Only Knows by the Beach Boys and what's really "our" song, Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones. (You can't sway to Mick singing "all I'm asking is for you to make love to me" in front of your whole family.)

**I just dug it out of a box. Sigh.