We’re a week and a day into the new year. So where are my resolutions? Shouldn’t there be a posted list for all to see?

I suppose there ought to be one, but I’m not doing it. What resolutions I’m making are simple enough for me to remember without listing, and personal enough to document without public scrutiny. It’s not that I don’t appreciate my people, because I do, but really, this is for your own good … do you want to read monthly updates about improvements made to my time management prowess? No. You really don’t.

Instead, I put a little weekend effort into compiling another mix CD.

1. “Take Me Just As I Am” – Lyn Collins
2. “I’m Beautiful” – Aloe Blacc
3. “I’d Like To” – Corinne Bailey Rae
4. “Slow Dance (Fox Edit)” – John Legend
5. “He Can Only Hold Her (Stone Fox Intro)” – Amy Winehouse
6. “Chain Of Fools (Live)” – Aretha Franklin
7. “Popcorn” – The Upsetters
8. “God Been Good To Me” – Mighty Walker Brothers
9. “Call To Renewal Keynote (Excerpt)” – Barack Obama / “You’re The Man (Parts 1 & 2)” – Marvin Gaye
10. “Home Is Where The Hatred Is (Live) (Excerpt)” – Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
11. “The Corner (featuring Kanye West and The Last Poets)” – Common
12. “People In The Middle (Angel Mix)” – Spearhead
13. “I Know You Got Soul” – Bobby Byrd
14. “I Got The Blues” – Desmond Dekker and The Aces
15. “Love & Happiness (Live in Tokyo, 1981)” – Al Green
16. “Whole Lotta Love (Live at Filmore West, 1971)” – King Curtis
17. “She’s A Fox Now” – Jimi Hendrix

Sometimes, a good mix with develop out of a starting song. Find something to tag on to the end of it, then move on to the next. Links in a chain, you know? Other times, you get a theme in your head, so the songs you choose are meant to support that central idea. In this case, I started off with a realization and a little research. Two songs from two of my favorite albums of last year share a remarkably similar groove. So similar, in fact, that a random iPod shuffle from one to the other gave me a healthy shot of deja vu. The best source for sample source information is sadly out-of-date for more recent tracks, so I turned to AllMusic.com instead.

After some research and comparing credited songwriters, then tracking down other musicians that those songwriters worked with, I had my answer. It turns out that both tracks sample the same song, a very old number by a very young Jimi Hendrix called “She’s A Fox.” The original is very doo-wop, not very rock & roll, but that signature Hendrix riffing is still there.

I didn’t want to start the mix with either of the two tracks, though I knew I’d use the original source to link them somewhere. So instead, the mix grew outwards to either side. I wish I could better describe the whole decision making process for what goes where. Sometimes, it is all about matching sound for sound, or mood to mood. Other times, things hook up lyrically or thematically. The best is when you realize after the fact that the titles for two songs you paired way back in the list just happen to be having a conversation. “I Know You Got Soul” right before “I Got The Blues.” Or they complete a sentence like “I’d Like To” … “Slow Dance.”

So what does any of this have to do with resolutions? Nothing and everything. I’m calling this the “Make You Do Right” mix, borrowing a line from Al Green’s contribution to the compilation. I think that phrase fits the mood from one end to the other.

Enough commentary. Here’s a SendUIt link to the mix. And this time, I learned my lesson. Each mp3 is properly tagged to make your iTune-ing and iPod-ing easier. Give it a listen, let me know what you think. Cheers.