Despite the overwhelming response to this post, or in the wan hope that both of you actually read it but couldn’t come up with any guesses as to the organizing principle at work, I’m going to use [waste] another post.
Here’s another CD-R playlist, made using exactly the same general organizing principle as in the other post–but in this case, the specifics are such that the organizing principle could have been used to make a mix cassette back in LP days. Actually, I believe I used the same principle and this particular instance of the principle to do so, but of course the results were much different.
So here’s the playlist. I’ll take guesses (or lack thereof) until November 6 or so, then finally break down and tell a breathlessly waiting nobody what the principle is:
- Jump Up Behind Me – James Taylor
- Girl from the North Country – Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan
- I Need to Be in Love – The Carpenters
- Avalon – Randy Newman
- Steel Rail Blues – Gordon Lightfoot
- Red Sails in the Sunset – Fats Domino
- Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway) – Billy Joel
- Better Class of Losers – Randy Travis
- Miracle of Miracles – Fiddler on the Roof
- Blue Mountain Road – Tom Paxton
- Embrace Me, You Child – Carly Simon
- Joe Knows How to Live – Eddy Raven
- Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning – Willie Nelson
- Nikita – Elton John
- Power and the Glory – Phil Ochs
- Cool Cool Water – The Beach Boys
- The Duke (live mono version) – Dave Brubeck
- Desire – Boz Scaggs
- Kodachrome – Paul Simon
- Maid of Constant Sorrow – Judy Collins
- New York’s Not My Home – Jim Croce
Any guesses? (There’s actually a second CD-R, with precisely the same organizing principle but 22 different songs, including “Circus” by Eric Clapton, “Best of Friends” by Joan Baez, “Seamless Life” by Vance Gilbert, and “Joshua Gone Barbados” by Tom Rush, if that helps.)
No, I haven’t figured it out (my best guess is that it has something to do with track numbers, but that’s really a stab in the dark)–but it sounds like a good mix. I find the Dylan & Cash recording of “Girl from the North Country” endlessly entertaining.
We have a winner! You got it, Laura. The other post (which I just annotated) was for a CD-R that couldn’t have been created from LPs–because all the cuts on it were from Track 16 of the source CD. And very few (if any) LPs had 16 tracks… These were mostly compilation and box CDs, like the great “The Essential…” Columbia/Legacy 2-CD sets.
This time around, it was Track 6 (for both CD-Rs)–and if these CDs had the same track organization as LPs (not always the case, ’cause a lot of these were compilation/box CDs as well), that would usually be the last cut on the first site. Pop/folk/rock/country LPs were typically organized with special attention to the first and last cuts on each side, so a set of all cuts from the end of side 1 would likely be a great set.
I have to say that the 27 “Tracks” CD-Rs I have are probably my favorites for commuting. (Several tracks deserved two CD-Rs each; on the other hand, there’s one CD-R each for tracks 19-20, 21-23, and 24+, since you only get that many tracks on extreme compilation/box CDs.)
I had no idea of the answer to the riddle. But I’m holding you responsible for having the song “Miracle of Miracles” stuck in my head for the last four days 🙂
–Joy
Well, there are a lot worse songs to have stuck in your head. And I’ll be nice and not mention any of them…
*starts singing Belleville Rendez-vous, just to be annoying*