D  O  W  N  L  O  A  D     H  E  R  E  !

The foundation of this playlist is based on an old cassette tape my dad made in the eighties. He had titled it “Spring Hits” or “Spring, baby” or “Summer Jams.” Something like that. My memory betrays me. I remember it was one of those clear Maxell tapes with the colored plastic gears inside and it had a meticulously written track-list in blue ball-point on the inside label. It sounded like molten gold.

My friends and I spent the majority of our high school summers listening to that tape in my Volvo; cruisin’ the burbs looking for ways to waste the weekend. It was the soundtrack to countless humid cemetery crawls, Slurpee pow-wows and awkward teenage make-out sessions.

Long story short, after I totaled the car the cassette tape was towed off with the wreckage and we never saw it again. Over the years I have tried to recreate it. Song-by-song, jam-by-jam. At some point I decided to add some of my own numbers to the mix and in the process the playlist has grown from twenty-something springtime hits to a hefty sixty-five.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with most of these cuts. None are obscure and some are downright tired radio mainstays. My hope is that a few of those worn out classics — presented within the greater context of the mix — will feel fresh and new again. Like spring. Without further adieu, roll down the windows and turn up the volume. April is here and this is the soundtrack to the season. Hope you dig.

Eddie O’KEEFE

Partial Tracklist:

Sonny & Cher – Baby Don’t Go

Carole King – I Feel the Earth Move

The Free Design – Kites Are Fun

Mercy – Love Can Make You Happy

Eagles – Take It Easy

Alive N Kickin’ – Tighter, Tighter

The Lovin’ Spoonful – Do You Believe In Magic?

Chicago – Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

John Lennon – Hold On

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Even The Losers

Carole King – So Far Away

Three Dog Night – Easy To Be Hard

Harry Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’

Carole King – It’s Too Late

Jose Feliciano – Light My Fire

The Left Banke – Walk Away Renee

The Lovin’ Spoonful – You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice

The Moody Blues – Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)

The Rascals – Groovin’

The Ides of March – LA Goodbye

Crosby, Stills & Nash – Marrakesh Express

The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – American Girl

Eric Burdon & The Animals – San Franciscan Nights

The Monkees – As We Go Along

The Buckinghams – Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song)

The Rolling Stones – Beast Of Burden

Fleetwood Mac – Gypsy

The Association – Never My Love

Tommy James & The Shondells – Crystal Blue Persuasion

Spanky & Our Gang – Lazy Day

Paul McCartney & Wings – Band on the Run

The Velvet Underground – Who Loves the Sun

Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon

The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon

Neil Diamond – Shilo

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – American Girl

The Zombies – Tell Her No

Chicago – Saturday in the Park

Grateful Dead – Box Of Rain

King Harvest – Dancing In the Moonlight

The 5th Dimension – Stoned Soul Picnic

Looking Glass – Brandy

America – Ventura Highway

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – I Need To Know

And many, many more . . .

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Dear uncool, lonely, chubby sixteen year olds of the world — it gets better. Here is my senior year high school portrait as proof.

Eddie

p.s. I’m not sure why I’m spreading this.

Brutal. Sentiment without cheese. Every time I sit down to write, a part of me is still just ripping off Daniel Stern’s ending narration here.