Theme: Songs about miscommunication in romantic relationships
Rules:
- The story must be told in first person.
- The story must be told from the point of view of the person on the receiving end of the pain.
- The mixed signals in the relationship might stem from a variety of sources: from simple miscommunication or differing romantic worldviews, to outright deception.
- This rule is a bit subjective; but in the arc of the romance, these songs are at the beginning of the end. To borrow from the Kubler-Ross model, the person singing the song is in the first stages of grief: shock or denial. They may have jumped ahead to the bargaining phase, but the key is they have not moved into anger or depression. (We could, and might, create entire separate mixtapes for both of those phases.) At the very least the song itself mustn’t sound angry or sad.
- The length of the mixtape must not exceed 90 minutes.
- Only one song per artist.
- I must like the song.
- Each mixtape must, if at all possible, conclude with a great quote.
There Must Be Some Misunderstanding
- Misunderstanding – Genesis
- Poison Arrow – ABC
- I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye
- Cruel To Be Kind – Nick Lowe
- I Know There’s Something Going On – Frida
- It’s Different For Girls – Joe Jackson
- You Dropped A Bomb On Me – The Gap Band
- Hello, Goodbye – The Beatles
- I Missed Again – Phil Collins
- No More Words – Berlin
- I Want Your Love – Chris Isaak
- Train In Vain – The Clash
- Cuts Like a Knife – Bryan Adams
- Fool In The Rain – Led Zeppelin
- Smoke And Ashes – Tracy Chapman
- “I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen." – from Say Anything
Selected commentary:
Misunderstanding – This song—one of the first Genesis songs written by Phil Collins—was the inspiration for this mixtape. Collins is the master jilted lover. Therefore he is allowed two slots on this mix. (Exceptions can be made for the “one song per artist” rule as long as one recording is by a group and the other is as a solo artist.) Actually, Collins produced and played drums on Track 5, so really this mix is all about him.
I Know There’s Something Going On – Another fun fact about this track: Frida = ¼ of ABBA
It’s Different For Girls – I have always liked this typical-gender-role-switching tale that borders on bitter. Maybe there needs to be an additional Kubler-Ross grief phase: sarcasm.
You Dropped A Bomb On Me – Now there are several stellar examples of awesomely bad, early-MTV videos featured on this list, but this one takes the cake. Beyonce says the inspiration for her “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” video was “Walk It Out, Fosse”, but I believe it actually was the Gap Band boys. You be the judge.
I Want Your Love – I could only find a live clip of this song. But that gives me the chance to tell you that I got to catch Isaak in concert a couple of years ago at The Backyard in the POURING RAIN with one of my best friends, Renee. It was an amazing show! Any fellow fans should jump at a chance to see him if he comes your way.
Train in Vain – This song was originally released as an (unintentional) hidden track at the end of The Clash’s London Calling album. Mick Jones on where the title (which is not mentioned in the lyrics) comes from: "The track was like a train rhythm, and there was…that feeling of being lost."
Say Anything – Originally I was just looking for a clip of the “she gave me a pen” quote—one of my favorites of all time. But then I found this original trailer for the movie, which includes so many classic, awkward interpersonal moments—and plenty of misunderstanding.
What songs did I miss? Anyone want to share painfully awkward personal experiences with misunderstanding?
To check out my other mixtapes, click here.
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