The Missing Liner Notes

Two Kids

Various Artists

1. Last Person, Jenny Owen Youngs
2. Roman History, Pet Lions
3. Bad Kids, Black Lips
4. Camilo (the Magician), Said the Whale
5. Now We Can See, The Thermals
6. Sugarcube, Yo La Tengo
7. DC Comics & Chocolate Milkshake, Art Brut
8. Very Loud, Shout Out Louds
9. Sunlight, Harlem Shakes
10. Mint Car, The Cure
11. I Was Meant For You, She & Him
12. Last Person, Jenny Owen Youngs

I think I wrote in the cover that I wasn't including liner notes because it might be more fun to guess, but the more I think about it, the more I have to say about that mix. And I didn't want to bother you about it too much, because I don't want to give the impression I'm looking for compliments or whatever. I just have things to say. So, the missing liner notes:

I think I did at least include my mixtape rules in the jacket; those are pretty important, if not completely arbitrary. But I do have a rule about repeating artists on a mixtape; I make the exception here because the first and last tracks are really part of the same song, and help to tie the thing together. First/Last Person, for me, is sort of the mindset I decided to take up when I went out on that winter night. Instead of moping and feeling sorry for myself, I figure,

What's the worst thing that could happen? We find out that we don't quite fit.

But on the flip side, we could be just right, and sure there's the chance that we'll both end up broken and split,

but that's my kind of risk.

But I also came across Jenny Owen Youngs right as I was starting to get it together after my own heartbreak, and I associate her with things getting better and happy times. Sometimes, when I'm riding my bike on a sunny day, I sing to her album out loud as I fly down the sidewalk, regardless of the reactions of passerby. She helps me to look to brighter things, so she comes naturally first in a mix about getting happy.

In contrast to that, I have to remind myself of what my hang-ups were at the time. I did feel sorry for me. Roman History is kind of a depressing story, but he also talks about what he needs for it to get better. Then again, that's not why I picked the track. It's really meant to be light-hearted and fun. I have inside jokes with myself, like how I didn't really like or start to drink gin until we started hanging out, and the line about how he "says he knows Jude and she says she does too".

Bad Kids is just about being bad and having fun. Adventures. Not looking back.

Camilo (the Magician) is about a guy and a magician (obviously), and impressing a girl, and I recall a certain magic trick someone showed me using pennies and dimes when he sings the line about holding that coin tight. He's asking Camilo how to do magic, to show the girl that even though she's sad, not everything in life is real, and she'll get it together soon.

I admit I'm a little disappointed you already knew the Thermals track, but I guess I should have known you were a bigger music buff. I used that one for the same reasons as most of these, because we don't have to admit we were wrong, because we won, and we're okay.

Sugarcube is one of my favorite Yo La Tengo tracks. It's just a good song. But it's also about trying to do anything, even the impossible, for someone, and I think that's just a beautiful idea. I can admit here, when I really care about someone, and I think this is true for most people with good hearts, and I bet you too, I'd do anything in my power for them.

The Art Brut track, haha. that's just a nerdy little shout out. They ought to play it in Brave New Worlds.

I went to see the Shout Out Louds last week, and you said you didn't know them, so I knew that was a safe bet. This is my second favorite song by them, my first favorite being about breakups and not very useful, haha. It's about wanting to be better. Not that I don't think I'm good enough, but I think maybe if I had bigger dreams and more money and whatever else, I'd be better.

Sunlight doesn't really mean anything at all. I just like it and it's fun, and the way the beat rolls it makes me think of riding bikes.

The first time you sat at my karaoke table, you asked me what you should sing, and I said the Cure; you asked what track, and I said my favorite, or Mint Car. And you didn't know Mint Car, so I put in on here. It's a really sweet song. "I really don't think it gets any better than this."

The She & Him track is another sweet story. If I'm gonna go by Jenny Owen Youngs' mantra, "I'm not trying to make you think this is some kind of great big deal" by including sappy songs, I put this one on here because I really like it, and maybe it's the kind of thing I'll believe in next year. And anyway, I have a big crush on Zooey Deschanel, and it's a good lead in to the last track, which is about the end of worrying about it and maybe finding out how to be happy.

There. I feel better now that I got that out.