Songs 87-88

I am listening to "Songs 87-88." A classic mix tape if ever there was one.

SIDE A

Lots of blur and 20-year-old tape messiness, then ...

1.) In My Dreams by REO Speedwagon.

Video is here.

2.) I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany.

Truthfully, I still sort of like this song. I don't think this is the official video, but here's some kind of video involving a mall. (Here's Robin Sparkles for good measure.)

3.) Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle.

Video is here. I do not remember it being this bizarre. Belinda Carlisle looks very pretty, but the people in blindfolds? Dancing with the globes? Weird. I really loved this entire tape in the 8th grade.

4.) I've Got My Mind Set on You by George Harrison.

Video is here. I have a vague memory of my mother really liking this song.

5.) Shake Your Love by Debbie Gibson.

Like Belinda, I also wore out this tape. Video is here.

6.) FAITH BY GEORGE MICHAEL in all caps because apparently this is the song I love the most to this day from this collection. Video is here.

7.) Push It by Salt-n-Pepa.

Video is here. I remember being very proud of myself after committing the "Salt-n-Pepa's here, and we're in effect ..." verse to memory.

And then dedications. Just the kind of wonderful stuff that makes sitting here going through these tapes on this wretched walkman worthwhile. Every night when the radio station counted down the top 8 songs of the day at 8:00, they would take phone dedications. We called a lot. Here's one from someone else on the tape: "To Caleb from Danielle. I hate you so much and I resent what you said about me." I don't remember the nasty dedications, but apparently they were allowed.

And then the dedications on the tape … become so awesome that I almost cannot fathom it.

Here are ours. (Names of boys have been changed.) Please keep in mind that we were 12 years old.

Shelley: "To Joe from Shelley ..." (Hands phone to me.) Eliza: "And to Andrew from Eliza." Then in unison: "WE LOVE Y'ALL A LOT."

Next, dedications from another night.

Eliza: "To Andrew from Eliza. I love you so much." (Hands phone to a Mean Girl named Callie.) Callie: "And to Jeff from Callie and to Ben, I'll always ... [dramatic pause] love you." DJ: "Always?" Callie: "Always."

And still more dedications ...

Shelley: "HI!" (most excited "hi" ever heard on the radio) "Ok. To Joe, I love you so much, and hi to his cousin Jacob, from Shelley." (Hands phone to Eliza.) Eliza: "And to Andrew from Eliza, I love you a lot, and we want to say hey to all of our friends at school! Thanks!" DJ: "Boy, they were a happy sounding bunch."

AND THEN, THE BEST PART: "This is Shelley, and you're listening to Countdown '87! Here's song #79, Samantha Fox, Touch Me."

8.) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2.

Video is here. I was only first becoming aware of U2 around this time, partly due to Maryelizabeth and her always advanced taste in music and partly because of a conversation I had at Thanksgiving with my cousin, whom I idolized. I told him about my love for Whitney Houston, and he said he preferred bands like U2. I think I tried to defend her, and he said, "But Eliza. On the one hand, you've got I Wanna Dance with Somebody. On the other, you've got Sunday Bloody Sunday." I understood what he was telling me. And that is that I was very young, dumb, and shallow. But he did it with love. Weirdly, I've always thought my cousin looked a lot in the face like Bono. Maryelizabeth and I used to sing Running to Stand Still on the playground at recess. I'm sure everyone really enjoyed it. I know I was deep into Bono love by some point in 1987, because I wrote a paper for 7th grade English that if I could spend the day with anyone in the world, it would be Bono, sitting with him on a grassy knoll discussing how to bring about world peace.

SIDE B

1) I Wanna Dance with Somebody -- number 1 in Countdown '87.

Shelley and I went with Callie and Callie's mom to see Whitney Houston in concert in 1987. It was, needless to say, awesome. Video is here. Oh, how I loved her.

2.) Tell It To My Heart by Taylor Dayne.

Video is here.

3.) Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen.

Callie's mom also took us, incidentally, to see Dirty Dancing, much to my own mother's chagrin. Video is here.

4.) Cajun Rap Song by ??

5.) True Faith by New Order.

Very, very awesome video. And I still think this is a pretty great song.

6.) Honestly by Stryper (the Christian heavy metal band).

7.) Candle in the Wind by Elton John.


Listening to this tape has definitely been an enjoyable walk down memory lane. As embarrassing and silly as they were, it makes me extremely happy, twenty years later, to listen to our 12-year-old selves make proclamations of love to boys on the radio. At that time, Shelley and I both had braces and really big bangs, and I like picturing us lying on my bedroom floor with the rotary-dial phone (with the really long extension cord from my parents' bedroom because we weren't allowed to have our own phones in our rooms at that time) being total dorks. I have no idea what happened to Andrew. I think he might be an attorney. Meanwhile, Shelley's seventh grade love, Joe, is now a Christian rock recording artist.

Maryelizabeth, who first showered the light and love of U2 upon me, stopped by tonight, and we decided to look up this video. Fatigued by newborn-induced sleep deprivation, a three-year-old, an obese cat, a husband, and a job, she declared, "This video is the most inspiring thing I have ever seen." Old friends + old music = love.