“Love and other Catastrophes: A Mix Tape” is by Amanda Holzer is a series of all types of love songs and I think it’s really cool how someone can make a complete story out of a list of songs. The mix tape kind of tells a story and at the beginning of it, the songs are about being alone then the beginning of a relationship starting, songs like, “All by myself” by Eric Carmen, “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, “We’ve only Just Begun” by the Carpenters and “My Girl” by the Temptations are just a few songs that are at the beginning of the mix tape.
These songs are about the beginning of a relationship and the beauty and happiness that comes along with a new relationship. Sort of in the middle the relationship becomes a little rocky and unpredictable and hints of cheating. Songs like “There goes My Baby” by the Drifters, “What’s Going On? ” by Marvin Gaye, “Where Did you Sleep Last Night” by Leadbelly, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” by Tammy Wynette are a few songs that enter the middle of the mix tape. But towards the end, the songs get colder and we see that the relationship is over.
Breaking up is Hard To Do” by Neil Sedaka, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, “All Out of Love” by Air Supply and “All By Myself” by Eric Carmen are the final songs that end the relationship so to speak. We see through this mix tape that people start out alone and they end up alone in the end. The range of when most of these songs were released spanned over several years. This shows that in a relationship, most of the feelings portrayed through the songs on this list last quite a while.
You can be feeling alone for any amount of time. Weeks, months, years. Then all of a sudden you get swept off your feet for what feels like forever. And just as fast as that happened, you could be in the predicament you were in from the start. With this story I found that the songs are the characters themselves. Each one has a personality to it. They convey feelings individually, as well as a group. A perfect example would be the beginning and ending song, “All By Myself”. This song is used to tell the simple story of being alone.
But the way it is used in the story suggest two different situations. The story takes on a familiar tone, as most people have heard many of these songs and understand how the artist felt, or have been in a situation that compelled the author to make this list. What I found interesting though is that not a lot of these songs are totally sad, or all that happy. Like this isn’t the first time the author felt like this so this is their go to playlist when put in that situation. Holzer’s essay struck me as genius.
Her essay shows us the cycle of our love lives and how we feel constantly. Some songs are longer than others. And what better way to reach an audience than through music, especially music that we hear so often. (If this isn’t your genre, I promise that your parents listened to some of it or you’ve heard it in a store somewhere. ) I spent all night looking these songs up and listened to them in order, and it really does have a roller coaster of emotion with it. I would strongly suggest that if you love the art and power of music to definitely try that out.
