Aretha Franklin "Another Night"

Dad wanted one thing for Father's Day: he asked me to convert his old cassette tapes to CDs. In essence, he wanted me to bring his musical technology from the 1980s into the 1990s. No problem (even though it was the 2000s). After handing me a shoe box filled with his old mixtapes that he created by taping songs off the radio, I went to work. At first, I was surprised by his eclectic tastes: Phish, Nirvana, Paula Abdul, and even Heavy D and the Boyz made appearances. One constant among his dozen of mixes: the song "Another Night" by Aretha Franklin. This song (which I had never heard before) make quite a few appearances on his tapes. Perhaps that was testament to my Dad's life at the time because this and several other sad ballads littered his tapes among Motown, Grunge and House music.

My Dad made these tapes shortly after he and my mom divorced in 1992. While my mom, brother and I stayed in the house he built, my Dad moved a few miles away into a dingy studio apartment he rightfully nicknamed "the dungeon" . One particular mixtape contained a handwritten title on the label "Exile on the Boulevard". Once again, this tape contained "Another Night". My Dad wasn't one to show his feelings...much less put them into words, so I believe the lyrics to the Aretha Franklin song revealed what was going on in my Dad's heavy heart...

Another night without you

Another night, I know I can get through

Another night, it's only

Another night, I won't be lonely

Another night

Another night

Another night, it ain't much

Another night without your touch

Eric Clapton "Layla (Unplugged)"

When MTV revived their Unplugged television series in 2017, the cable network tabbed Shawn Mendes to perform on the reboot of the show. The series originally debuted in 1989 and featured big names such as Elton John, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and nearly 100 others, but less than 30 Unplugged episodes were turned into albums. One of the most successful Unplugged editions featured Eric Clapton. Originally taped in 1992, Clapton originally didn't want to release music from his performance, but later changed his mind. It's a good thing he did. Clapton's Unplugged album went on to sell over 26 million copies worldwide and earned him six Grammy Awards. His unplugged version of "Layla" was a night-and-day take on one of his biggest hit and gained radio airplay across multiple formats and introduced Clapton to a whole new audience.

Sting - "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You"

Woodmar Records opened a record store in Schererville, Indiana in 1992 which meant that my friends and I would ride our bikes down busy US 41 to buy the latest music (usually on cassette or CD).  While my friend Matt was perusing the latest Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana album, I was checking out their selection of "cassingles" (one song on a cassette tape).  Woodmar had quite the bargain: $3.99 for one cassingle or you could buy three for $9.  What a deal!  This took some thought as I already had Dr. Alban's "It's My Life" in hand along with Eric Clapton's unplugged version of "Layla".  I wasn't about to pass up their three for $9 deal, so the hunt continued.  I eventually chose Sting's "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" as my third cassingle.  This caused my friend Pat not to question my choice of Dr. Alban, but rather Sting.  "Why would you spend money on that song when you can turn on any radio station at any time and hear that song?" he asked.  Good point. (Editor's note: I realized this song was covered in a previous post.  My bad.)