It’s funny how a song can bring you back to a time and place.

Ever since I stopped driving the 4Runner on my daily commute, I’ve missed my XM radio. I used to be able to listen to MLB on 175 each morning, or flip around through The Village, The Loft, Bluegrass Junction, Fine Tuning, Deep, Top and Big Tracks, or maybe pop a couple of .mp3 discs into the player and choose from a few hundred songs…. but no more. Beacuse the Matrix (sans XM radio, sans MP3/WMA player) gets about 10 mpg better gas mileage for the long ride to/from work, my listening selections have been greatly reduced, to NPR on WNYC and CBS News Radio 880. I hardly ever bother to pick out a CD for the ride before I leave the house in the morning.

This morning, however, I brought with me a home-made mix CD, upon which I had hand-written “an eclectic mix”. Since I hardly ever bother to actually write down the track information on any mix CD, I did not recall exactly what was on this disc until I loaded it into the car player. The first track, Thank U by Alanis Morissette didn’t jog my memory at all, but once the beginning strain of the second track started to play, I remembered the details of this CD: I had created it to play in the car on the ride to see Dar Williams at the Keswick Theaterback in early October 2001 with Jay McG.

Here’s the track list. Eclectic? You decide.

  1. Alanis Morissette – Thank U
  2. Big Head Todd and The Monsters – Bittersweet
  3. Jill Sobule – I Kissed A Girl
  4. Catie Curtis – What’s The Matter
  5. Catie Curtis – Magnolia Street
  6. The Story – So Much Mine
  7. David Gray – Babylon
  8. Julie Miller – I Still Cry
  9. Natalie MacMaster – Get Me Through December
  10. Poozies – Another Train
  11. Peppino D’Agostino – Walk Away Renée
  12. Rickie Lee Jones – Walk Away Renée
  13. Rosanne Cash – Seventh Avenue
  14. Rosanne Cash – The Wheel
  15. Richard Thompson – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
  16. Sandy Denny and The Strawbs – Who Knows Where The Time Goes
  17. Suzanne Vega – Left Of Center
  18. Washington Squares – Can’t Stop The Rain