Last weekend, my good friends (and favorite couple) Mr. Sticking Point & Mrs. Fits & Starts celebrated both their son H's 1st birthday and their wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I made them a Parenting Year One mix. Below is the track list and select liner notes:

1. “Oh Boy” – Buddy Holly: I saw The Buddy Holly Story for the first time a few months ago and have been really into his music every since. The lyrics for this song are just as appropriate for your relationship to H as they are for your relationship with each other.

2. “Babysitter” – The Ramones

3. “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” – The Runaways: I like this song better with a female vocalist, which is why I chose this version of Slade (I know enough not to even bring Quiet Riot into the equation). I wish I could say the same for some of the other covers on Little Lost Girls, particularly “Eight Days a Week.”

4. “Come Back Baby” – Jefferson Airplane: A great reinterpretation of the Lightnin’ Hawkins blues song, available as a bonus track on the reissue of Surrealistic Pillow. Boggles the mind that they could evolve (dissolve?) from that album to Knee Deep in the Hoopla.

5. “Suffer the Children” – Tears for Fears: Pay no attention to the lyrics… just enjoy the song.

6. “Forever Young” – Alphaville: If the Germans were good at one thing, it was [potentially offensive WWII joke deleted]. If they were good at a second thing, it was producing great 80s pop songs. T, if my calculations are correct, this song was probably played at your senior prom. Hopefully H will be so lucky…

7. “Young and Innocent Days” – The Kinks: I think that “Some Mother’s Son” is a better song from Arthur… but it’s just too damn depressing for this mix. Not that this song is particularly uplifting...

8. “Lullabye” (acoustic) – The Cure: One of my favorite songs of the 80s. This acoustic version isn’t as good as the original, but I’m hoping you don’t already have it in your collection.

9. “Mama Told Me Not to Come” – Three Dog Night: When I was a kid, my mom kept 3 cassettes in her car at all times: Purple Rain, Born in the USA, and Three Dog Night’s Greatest Hits. This was the first track on Greatest Hits. I loved it even before I had any idea what they were singing about.

10. “Baby Lemonade” – Syd Barrett

11. “Mother Mary” – Eels

12. “So Young” – Stone Roses: One of their earliest songs, and one of their rawest, this is my favorite of their songs that doesn’t have the word “stone” in the title (and that’s just a complete coincidence).

13. “Mummy Can’t Drive” – Angelfish: Shirley Manson’s pre-Garbage band. They actually sound quite similar, but not as produced or polished… almost like an album of Garbage demos.

14. “Prodigy in a Bottle” – Christina Aguilera vs. Prodigy: I still don’t really like this song, but it’s a vast improvement over Xtina’s original, and I couldn’t resist having a song with “Prodigy” in the title, cause we all know that’s what H is.

15. “Mother Mother” – Tracy Bonham

16. “Mouth’s Cradle” – Bjork: This was one of my favorite albums of last year… there’s just something about a capella that gets me every time. Although I’ll be damned if I know what “and you can use these teeth as a ladder up to the mouth’s cradle” means, or what the last two lines (“I need a shelter to build an altar away from all osamas and bushes”) have to do with the rest of the song.

17: “Daddy Sang Bass” – Johnny Cash: I picture [your] household being very similar to the household in this song, albeit with one less member and a record / CD collection replacing the singing. But the image of the three of you sitting in a circle, enjoying music, is the same.

18. “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” – Elvis Presley

19. “Cry Baby Cry” – The Beatles

20. “The Only Living Boy in New York” – Simon & Garfunkel: Thanks to Zach Braff, this song is now totally overplayed (if it wasn’t already), but it’s still one of my favorites from S&G.

21. “Son” – Scott Weiland: Surprisingly heartfelt lyrics from a songwriter best known at that point for “You wouldn’t want me have to hurt you too.”

22. Bonus track ("Treat Your Mother Right" - Mr. T): This song has no actual worth except for its kitsch value. Hopefully you’ll get at least one laugh out of it before you never listen to it again.

Updates:
Since giving the mix, I have since learned that
1) "Forever Young" was in fact in the running for T's prom song. The winner ended up being the theme from Cheers. Lame!
2) T had already used "Daddy Sang Bass" on a mix he'd made for baby H. Check out his track list here.