I was just getting warmed up

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I came across the very first mixed CD I ever burned for myself. It is called Emily’s Mix #1. I wonder what number I would be on now if the iPod hadn’t come along.

Here is the playlist:

  1. Crazy by Britney Spears
  2. American Pie by Don McLean
  3. Take A Picture by Filter
  4. Baby, I’m Amazed by Lonestar
  5. Angels by Robbie Williams
  6. LA Song by Beth Hart
  7. Bye Bye Bye by *N SYNC
  8. Genie In A Bottle by Christina Aguilera
  9. Inside Out by Eve 6
  10. I Try by Macy Gray
  11. Rhythm Divine by Enrique Iglesias
  12. There She Goes by Sixpence None the Richer
  13. Little Black Backpack by Stroke 9
  14. Meet Virginia by Train
  15. Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
  16. Enough of Me by Melissa Etheridge
  17. American Woman by Lenny Kravitz

I searched and searched but couldn’t find an MP3 of American Pie. I was adamant about having the song on this particular CD, so my dad brought his record player and set it up next to the computer with a nest of wires connecting them, the old turntable that smelled like oiled wood and rubber and the whirring, clicking CPU that smelled like static electricity.

I clicked ‘Record’ and my dad played the record. We listened to the song, grinning in awe, watching the words on the album label spin around and around.