The Moose River Mix

Once upon a time, I "ran" a "website" called the Mixtape Collective. Through a series of unfortuante events, I closed my P.O. Box and ended the service. It was really fun while it lasted, and sometimes I fantasize about getting it up and running again. There were all of these great mixes that I'd made to give away, like the Cruise Mix, the Back to School Mix, etc. It's been so long since I've made a mix for someone, a tape or whatever, but one of my favorite things to do is make an accompanying tape narrating over the songs and why I decided to include them.

Here is the written version of that for the Moose River Mix:

Take Me to the River: Seems kind of an obvious first choice, the live version off of Stop Making Sense. It's an Al Green cover and a big hit for the Talking Heads, and although the river is obviously a metaphor for like, love or whatever, it's kind of perfect since we were, you know, going to the river. I've been totally obsessed with this album for weeks months, and I think it's because of Andy Lyman's performance as David Byrne at the Clash of the Titans. I've been to a couple of these things, and mostly I've been underwhelmed, but these guys really pulled out all the stops and I was blown away. Andy even had the dance moves. Mandy's been so sick of me listening to it, imagine my joy when the Talking Heads came on two for Tuesday on WBLM at the Q Street Diner the other day.

I'll Be on the Water: Akron/Family's I'll Be on the Water is such a sad, lovely song. "Thinking of you/there's lightning bolts in my chest. I know you know/I think our love's the best." The Moose River trip is entirely on the water, aside from the portages, and when we say, I'll be on the water, really,we left and said, see you in four days, there's no cell service up there, we're totally cut off. In the wilderness. On the water.

Sitting By the Riverside: I almost always find a way to include the Kinks in my mixes. This song came up when I searched for "river" in my iTunes. So did all my Weezer albums and "Ghost of the River" by the Anniversary (blast from the past!) We often beached the canoes and had lunch sitting by the riverside, sometimes we've taken shelter from a flash thunder storm. Nick did some fishing, I did some sunbathing. This mix is really literal, a narration of sorts, in case you haven't caught that. Two years ago we passed the time in the boats by brainstorming Karen's epic 8 disc (plus two bonus) 90s Mix, which could've been marketed in an infomercial by Time Life during late night reruns of Friends and 90210.

Northern Sky: Anyone who's seen the clear night sky, unpolluted from city lights, knows how beautiful and magical it is. It's something that I took for granted growing up. The first night it was pretty warm and clear and we took all three canoes out and did a little mega-canoeing, where we held all three together and jumped off and swam and stuff. Under the Milky Way was also in the running for this idea of sleeping under the stars, but I thought because we were so close to Canada (ahem, north,) and this song matched the tone of the mix and the trip a little bit better. We brought an iPod this year, and listened to a bunch of Magnetic Fields songs.

Wind of Change: It was so fucking windy. Darcy almost had a meltdown. We were paddling as hard as we could against a really strong headwind and were barely moving. Every year the weather significantly changes the trip... this year it was just so incredibly windy right away. Plus this song fucking rules.

Proud Mary- CCR can EAD, this is all about Ike and Tina. One of my favorite memories from last summer was Erin talking about the really mean geese on the farm she was working on, named Ike and Tina. You know what you're supposed to do if a goose is chasing you? Grab it around the neck with both hands and throw it. I'm terrified of large birds, so I'd probably be pecked to death. "Left a good job in the city, working for the man every night and day. Never lost one minute of sleep worrying about the way things might have been." Don't we all just want to leave our jobs to do whatever the hell we want? Someday I'll be the person that saves up, quits and lives in New Zealand for a year, or takes that cross-country road trip- throws caution to the wind. The Moose River trip is like a little taste of that, and I know we all fantasize about making that sort of thing a bigger part of our lives while we're out there. Proud Mary is also an awesome karaoke song, and someday I'll get to see Kate Digby Skinner and her bff Lauren preform it in person.

Big River- This came up in the brainstorming sesh while we were on the river itself. I love Johnny Cash.  Enough said.

Harvest Moon- I usually try and use some of the time while we're gone to reflect on the things I'm happy with in my life, how thankful for everything and everyone in my life, and it fills up my chest with happiness. Kind of like this song. "There's a full moon rising, let's go dancing in the light."

Red Squirrel Sun Rises- There was literally this little red squirrel at the campsite who was PISSED at me for shoeing it away from our food. That sucker got really, really close to me. Then a chipmunk came, and they chased each other around the campsite up trees and through the fire pit (no fire was actually going.) I was alone when this happened, and I had a really difficult time conveying the ridiculousness of the scene, the squirrel chirping at me from the tree. It was like a cartoon.

Walking On Sunshine- Remember that scene in High Fidelity that Barry takes off the new Belle and Sebastian ("sad bastard music") and put this song on, then did that obnoxious dance around the store? This song is like, pure happiness. We had some really beautiful weather once the wind died down.

With Arms Outstretched- I've loved this song forever, and I can't believe how well it describes the trip in so many ways. "It's 16 miles to the promise land/and I promise you, I'm doing the best I can" Halfway through the trip is actually about 16 miles and we are like, so tired but we're still trying. "I visit these mountains with frequency, and I stand here with my arms up. Now some days, they last longer than others, but this day by the lake went too fast." Third year in a row, check. Mountains, check. Lakes, check. Feeling like the trip was going too fast, check. Big singalong at the end, check.

End of the Line- Wrapping up the tail end of the mix, End of the Line by the Travelling Wilburys. I've always, for as long as I can remember, hated Tom Petty. But in recent years, I've relaxed, and realized that actually, he's a really great song writer.  "Even if the sun don't shine/Well it's alright/we're going to the end of the line." It's such a relief to see that final stretch of lake and know that in a matter of hours I'll be in a shower and a bed with a pillow. This song also kind of embodies the way I've been living my life, "Well, it's alright." Some friends recently described me as organized, which is sort of ridiculous. Here's a good example of how not organized I am: I left my backpack at the lodge at the Northern Outdoors in The Forks three and a half hours away, and didn't realize it until we were already two hours away. Yeah, I made a mistake. Especially because I was borrowing Angela's backpack, sleeping pad and Heather's sleeping bag and I would have to spend hundreds of dollars to replace those things, but it was already done, and I could've flipped out about it, but it's so much easier to not flip out and try to problem solve. I knew I could create a shipment on UPS.com, and I knew some friends would be up in The Forks in a week or two, and worst case- I could've made someone drive me up. In the end, the Northern Outdoors ended up sending me the pack and I didn't even have to pay. It was alright.

Right Back to Where We Started From- My love for this song was born from two things: My Best Friend's Wedding and listening to the Oldies station every single day in the office from 9-5. The Moose River trip is a big circle, a bow, if you will. Get it? We're right back where we started from. The relationship she's talking about in this song sounds pretty screwed up, though, and I'm glad I get to use the song as it relates to the trip and not "If you get hurt by the little things I say, I can put that smile back on your face." What a bitch!

The Final Countdown- The Arrested Development references first started on the trip when John Holt decided to come along, and even though Nick was the only one that he knew at that point, we automatically rebranded him Steve Holt! Then in Mama Bear's diner in Jackman on the first morning this epically ridiculous song GOB used as the theme song for his "illusions," and it's actually incredibly catchy. Unfortunately, we don't really know any of the lyrics other than "It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN.". We added a day of whitewater rafting, since we were all so psyched about not being in Portland for another day, and our raft guide, cute as a button, thought we were  singing Eye of the Tiger because we just repeated the synth parts over and over. So catchy. I just happened to look up the lyrics, and it turns out the song is about leaving the Earth and travelling to Venus in a space ship.

Notice the one river song I left out here: River of Dreams by Billy Joel. I hate that song. It was stuck in my head for the entire fourth grade.

Let me know if you want a copy. amandajennifer@gmail.com