Monday, January 29, 2007

Music of Your Ex-Boyfriend

On Friday when I was pulling music for my radio show, I came across the Beth Orton CD in the library called Central Reservation. I've never played anything off this record because an ex-boyfriend of mine used to like that record and he put the song "Love Like Laughter" on a mix CD for me. If I played something off that record, I felt like it would just stir up old memories that I would rather keep unstirred. But I played the song on Friday after YEARS and it was a very beautiful song... and it did not stir up any unpleasant feelings for me.

There are other CDs that I have avoided at particular times in my life because of old boyfriend memories. Some are:
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
The Cure - Disintegration
The Reindeer Section - Son of Evil Reindeer
The Sea and Cake - The Fawn
That Lloyd Cole record with "No Blue Skies" on it
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Brian Eno - Another Green World

It's crazy that I gave up these recordings for sometimes years at a time because they brought back memories of ex-boyfriends. Thankfully, I can now play any of these without any pangs of heartache or sad memories, except I still finding myself skipping over Brian Eno's Another Green World on my Ipod. Oh, and anything from the Jam.

And I never ever go back and listen to mix CDs or tapes from ex-boyfriends (with one exception which I'll write about another day). There aren't that many mixes from ex's in my collection. It seems that in my past, I was the one who ended up making mixes as a wooing device. My track record goes to show that the way to a man's heart is *not* through his ear.

Maybe I need to learn to cook.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad your ex didn't ruin Central Reservation for you!

Beth really is in a league of her own, and I can unreservedly recommend everything she does.

Btw, learning to cook is always a good idea! lol

With love and squalor,
Ali

Anonymous said...

great post--the last line is hilarious.

funny, just yesterday I was thinking of old boyfriend's music and that I probably should go back and give some of it another chance, b/c it really is good, despite the associations...

christa said...

oh, i'm so sorry brian eno has been ruined for you! another green world is an album i LURVE!

Charlotte said...

Another Green World is not totally ruined.... I am slowly warming back up to it. It's the Jam that sometimes makes me feel sad... but I am getting over that one, too.

Charlotte said...

Oh, it has happened to Richard Thompson now TWICE!!!