I was just getting warmed up

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.