Mixtape #116: No Other Place To Be

Songs for a long weekend

August 28th, 2022

Side A

1. Lullaby by Emitt Rhodes
2. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) by George Harrison
3. Be Here Now by Mason Jennings
4. Charley’s Girl by Lou Reed
5. Tango In The Night by Fleetwood Mac

Side B

6. Dogs Got A Bone by The Beta Band
7. Have You Seen The Stars Tonite by Paul Kanter
8. Rainbows by Dennis Wilson
9. Don’t Fight by Donnie & Joe Emerson
10. Killer Parties by The Hold Steady

Spotify

Liner notes

This project was always best when there was no agenda. When there were ten songs and a whole Sunday to listen to them, where the theme held together with loose instrumental affiliation and rough tempo, and where I got to introduce a few recent favourites to ears other than mine. From what was then my London-based cave, this project was about crossing the lonely divide with an olive branch and an empathetic ear: Here are some songs that have helped me process the way I’m feeling this week.

Maybe they’ll help you too.

Mixtape hasn’t so much been on hiatus as I have. I retreated to recharge, rebuild, rebrand. To lick my wounds. To work out what’s next. I burned out on London, on ambition, on anxiety. I spent much of a decade willing a life into existence, one that I thought was what I wanted, one that I thought would save me. I poured my soul into projects that needed external validation to sustain themselves. Articles, novels, newsletters. I was asking to be seen, to be accepted and to be understood. I was asking to be saved. When it didn’t work. When my novel didn’t win a bunch of prizes. When I no longer had an outlet willing to publish my writing, I ran. I found a quiet place by the coast and stopped trying. I gave myself, and life, a little space. I laid low and let it come to me. It didn’t mean not taking opportunities that were presented, it meant not forcing them. Not pinning my every hope on a certain out come. It was about, to paraphrase George Harrison, letting it roll. 2022 finds me in a much different place. I’m still in Margate. But I’m married – to another writer who came here on her own journey towards an idea of something else – and we welcomed a son 2 months ago.

It’s a story for another newsletter, perhaps. This is just to say maybe I’m trying to work out how to re-engage. With life, with the wider world. With this newsletter. Maybe I’m ready to try again. Maybe I don’t have to try any more. Maybe I can just be.

Here are some songs I listened to on our honeymoon, a selection limited by spotty wifi and a set of songs I’d already saved on Spotify. It’s as good a creative limitation as any. Especially when the result is a sunny poolside afternoon spent wondering how you got here, and being very glad you did. No agenda, no plan, no promise of more to come. Just ten songs, some feelings, and a friendly wave.

Until next time,

Dan x