Mixtape 11: I Don't Want To Grow Up

Today marks the official end of my teenage years. 20 isn't the most monumental age to reach, but (in my mind at least) it's the end of childhood and the start of everything else. Perhaps more than any other birthday I've had so far, I'm feeling a lot of different things. A part of me is excited to move on to adulthood, but a big part of me is hesistant to leave behind the carelessness of youth completely. I tried to make a mixtape to illustrate some of my thoughts, disparate and incohesive as they may be. It's less of a celebration than just a big melting pot of transitional songs and themes. Kicking off with a perfect theme for this blog and for my music-centered life, Pizzicato Five's "World Is Spinning At 45 RPM" gets the mix off to a cheerful start, followed up by the happily tongue-in-cheek musings of The Cardigans on "Your New Cuckoo." From there on, it's all theme songs, beginning with the self-explanatory "Survivor" by Destiny's Child and a couple of tracks about keeping your youth alive (Robbie Williams' "Old Before I Die" and "Too Young To Die" by Jamiroquai) and jumping on the moment (Moloko's hit "The Time Is Now"). Several more personal theme songs are mixed in, like Pet Shop Boys' superb coming-of-age anthem "Metamorphosis," the Dixie Chicks' (and more recently my own) ultimate statement of defiance "Not Ready To Make Nice," and of course Britney Spears' entirely over-the-top "Outrageous," a fitting summary of my life past, present and future. Like Garbage, I hope that "When I Grow Up" my life will be a bit more stable, but for now that's looking a bit unlikely. Björk and the Smashing Pumpkins are spot-on in terms of my personality with their songs "Venus As A Boy" and "Zero" (respectively). Kylie, Moby and Poe are a bit more optimistic and less analytical with their included tracks, great for some more uplifting takes on a transitional day. Older tracks from Madonna and R.E.M. are also (though perhaps not literally) fitting for being in between phases in life. Hot Chip keeps it simple with their super-catchy "Boy From School," but P!nk gets a bit heavier with "Long Way To Happy" before Scarlett Johansson brings it home with the mixtape's key track. Featured on these pages previously, her cover of "I Don't Want To Grow Up" is everything I'm feeling right now (so much so that I almost just typed out the lyrics instead of a standard post recap). If you download none of the other tracks, grab this one, as its dreamy soundscapes and universal lyrics about trying to hold on to your rapidly-fading youth are nearly heartbreaking in their simplicity and scope.


1. Pizzicato Five, “World Is Spinning At 45 RPM” [YSI] (from Happy End Of The World)
2. The Cardigans, “Your New Cuckoo” (Radio Edit) [YSI] (full version on First Band On The Moon)
3. Destiny’s Child, “Survivor” (Edit) [YSI] (from #1’s)
4. Robbie Williams, “Old Before I Die” [YSI] (from Greatest Hits)
5. Pet Shop Boys, "Metamorphosis" [YSI] (from Bilingual)
6. Dixie Chicks, “Not Ready To Make Nice” [YSI] (from Taking The Long Way)
7. Moloko, “The Time Is Now” (Radio Edit) [YSI] (from Catalogue)
8. Jamiroquai, “Too Young To Die” (Edit) [YSI] (from High Times: Singles 1992-2006)
9. Britney Spears, “Outrageous” [YSI] (from In The Zone)
10. Garbage, “When I Grow Up” [YSI] (from Absolute Garbage)
11. Kylie Minogue, “Your Disco Needs You” [YSI] (from Light Years)
12. Björk, “Venus As A Boy” [YSI] (from Debut)
13. The Smashing Pumpkins, “Zero” [YSI] (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
14. Moby, “We Are All Made Of Stars” [YSI] (from 18)
15. Poe, “Hey Pretty” [YSI] (from Haunted)
16. Madonna, “Like A Virgin” [YSI] (from The Immaculate Collection)
17. R.E.M., “The Great Beyond” [YSI] (from In Time: The Best Of 1988-2003)
18. Hot Chip, “And I Was A Boy From School” [YSI] (from The Warning)
19. P!nk, “Long Way To Happy” [YSI] (from I’m Not Dead)
20. Scarlett Johansson, “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” (Tom Waits Cover) [YSI] (from Anywhere I Lay My Head)

Note: Half of the posted songs do not have YouSendIt links. I'm aware of this already, so don't ask for them. All songs do, however, have zShare links, so go ahead and use those. I am actually currently on vacation, and have been for the past week despite my frequent posting. I uploaded enough songs to last six posts or so before I left, but ran out of time to finish the links for this specific mixtape before leaving. Since YSI links expire after one week, I couldn't make more than a week's worth of posts. This also means that for the rest of my sabbatical there won't be any new postings. After tomorrow's post, there won't be new tunes for about a week and a half. However, I'll try to keep posting updates and music videos if at all possible to fill the void. Thanks for sticking around and make sure to enjoy your summer! Expect some fabulous imports when I return.

***Note: Links removed***

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