Including "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" on crush mixes C/D

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My younger brother was recently the recipient of an obviously crushy mix, and I noticed the conspicious presence of the Smiths classic in-between 20 some odd tracks of shitty pop-punk. Admittedly, I can't say I haven't been guilty of doing this before (it may have been between Califone and Tiger Trap, but still). So... Classic or Dud?

― i am nervous (cochere), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 07:22 (twenty years ago)

including the schnieder tm cover is classic.

― rob mackey (mackey), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 07:23 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I'll count covers for this too... I've only heard two but I liked them both, for quite different reasons.

― i am nervous (cochere), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 07:26 (twenty years ago)

It's a slightly odd one. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 10:57 (twenty years ago)

I can laugh about it now but at the time it was terrible.

― Miles Finch, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 10:59 (twenty years ago)

did it... mostly coz all the stuff in the song actually happened. it's well documented that my life is basically a movie.

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 11:00 (twenty years ago)

I can laugh about it now but at the time it was terrible.

Yes, you're older now, and you're a clever swine.

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 11:13 (twenty years ago)

Well, it's better than putting "Reel Around The Fountain" on a crush-tape. Which I am totally guilty of!

― The Phantom of the Operating System (kate), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 11:20 (twenty years ago)

My crush mixes for people when i was about 15/16 were full of metal. I really had no clue about what girls liked to hear.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 11:24 (twenty years ago)

haha, mine were all hip-hop. duuuuuuuuuuuh.

― Miles Finch, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 11:28 (twenty years ago)

including the schnieder tm cover is classic.

i did that on a mix for a friend. a male friend. whom i don't think i'd fancy even if i were gay. hmm. perhaps i'm missing a semiotic trick or two.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 11:28 (twenty years ago)

I habitually put the Schneider TM version on mix CDs, for absolutely anyone.

Funnily enough, though, I've never used it on a mix for someone who I liked like that. Being almost certain they would hate it has been the deciding factor for quite some time.

― coco, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 12:49 (twenty years ago)

"girl afraid" would be a funnier choice.

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

I just put the Lucksmiths cover on a CD-R for someone, though no crush implications were intended. I also put Depeche Mode's "But Not Tonight" on there which seems very similar to me.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 13:32 (twenty years ago)

did it... mostly coz all the stuff in the song actually happened.

a ten ton truck killed the both of you?

― Nimrod Kovacs (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

no, it was the double decker bus !

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

i couldn't do it because my affection for someone never had anything to do with being all mad at my 'rents ("their home its not my home and I want it no more"). This didn't keep me from hoping some girl would be touched by hearing it on my radio show on dateless saturday evenings in my sophomore year of college (OMG WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS).

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

I got it on the break-up mix. But that was 1990, it was a different world then.

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Songs The Overplay Your Hand when Included on Mix Tapes designed for Crushees:

1. "You're the Best Thing" by the Style Council -- this will backfire on you and send her running for the hills!
2. "The You & Me Song" by the Wannadies
3. "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" by the Smiths

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

4. "What's Your Fantasy?" by Ludacris

― Miles Finch, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 15:07 (twenty years ago)

5. "Lovin' You" by Minnie Riperton

― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

And fwiw, there's a Joseph Arthur cover of TIALTNGO on the new Starbucks-only "Sweetheart II" cd.

― Chris Hill (Chris Hill), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

Classic classic classic, because the last person who put "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out" on a mix tape for me is now my wife.

Eat THAT, hatas!

― The Mad Puffin, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i know i must have done it once...

and im pretty sure ive used "i know its over" on a "you want us to be friends, but i hate you for dumping me" tape.

i do hope im cleverer and swineyer now.

― b b, Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

this song conjures up fairly specific images of a young gay guy giving a blow job in a darkened underpass.

no doubt it carries a more universal emotional resonance as well but i can't imagine it being the sort of thing that one wants to communicate on a crush tape.

not that i have believed in crush tapes for, i dunno, 12 years.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Does it? I always thought it suggested that nothing actually happens: "In a darkened underpass/I thought 'Oh God my chance has come at last'/But then a strange fear gripped me/And I just couldn't ask". All of that "to die by your side" stuff seems like it might come on a little too strong though. But I haven't ever made a crush mix as such so I might not be the best person to say.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

well if the singer (persona) doesn't actually give a blow job, i suspect it's what he's imagining when he says "oh god my chance has come at last." of course the person listening to the song can easily imagine something else, something more relevant to their own fantasies or experiences.

i think the triumph of this song can be partially explained by the way it is incredibly evocative of both a specific sort of fear and anxiety (having to do with being young and gay) and a more general sort of anxiety (being young and inexperienced and wanting romance, trouble at home etc.)--but my interest in the song has specifically to do with the way my understanding of the song modulates between these two interpretations, or registers, if you will.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

I think I want to do this. Is it really that bad?

― Satin Lives (Tape Store), Monday, 27 April 2009 15:53 (sixteen years ago)

i did this with "this charming man" once

― wallabout eve (donna rouge), Monday, 27 April 2009 16:03 (sixteen years ago)

don't try this with I Won't Share You.

― brotherlovesdub, Monday, 27 April 2009 16:15 (sixteen years ago)

"Damaged Goods" lol

― one thousand BIG HOOS raging and pounding (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 27 April 2009 16:22 (sixteen years ago)

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