Jim's Farewell Mix

Pals at work asked me to make a gift mixtape for a co-worker who is retiring. He's a Motown freak, so it was easy. I started with my Boomerang! mix as a base and moved things in and out. I think he'll like it.

Destination Anywhere: A Farewell Mixtape for Jim Leonard

“When the rain turn to snow
And it's 90 below
That's when I'll come back to you!”

This mix has a gag opener. It’s a separate track so it can be easily skipped or removed. Bob & Doug McKenzie kick it off: “Good Day, welcome to school... How's it goin', eh?” There just had to be a cheap-shot Canada joke here. We'll get to the Motown, but we start off with Sam Cooke's “I'll Come Running Back To You,” the 1957 B-Side to “You Send Me.” The mix gets its title from the next track, “Destination Anywhere” by the Marvelettes; this is as good a Motown song as you'll ever hear, coming at the height of that organization's magic. We know that Jim isn't leaving heartbroken with no care for his destination, but this song captures a sense of the ambivalence he must feel about moving on. We stick with Motown for the moment and hear Junior Walker's “Do The Boomerang,” because like the Aboriginal hunting tool, we wish Jim would turn around and come back to us. Jim, be sure to heed Junior's direction when he sings “Do your own little thing, now!” Next and also Motown is “Farewell Is A Lonely Sound” by Jimmy Ruffin; Ruffin's kid brother was one of the lead singers in the Temptations. Sticking with “goodbyes” as a theme and Motown as a source, we hear a 13-year-old Michael Jackson drop the 1971 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye” by The Jackson 5. We're pulling out of Motown now, and we'll get pretty far away, but the first transition is pretty smoothly led by Al Green whose 1973 “Call Me” reminds Jim to stay in touch with us. From here, a couple of white rock/blues tracks fit really nicely: Jefferson Airplane doing the traditional blues “Come Back Baby,” arranged by Jorma Kaukonen while Grace Slick sits out; next is “She'll Come Back” from the last Turtles record entitled Wooden Head. We promise not to be as devastated by your departure as the narrator of this track appears to be. In an attempt to get Jim to stay, however, we pull out the big guns and play “Come Back to Me” from Roy Orbison's 1961 Lonely and Blue. When that doesn't work, dejected, we head back to Motown and listen to Eddie Kendricks sing “It's So Hard for Me To Say Goodbye.” Resigned, we put the Ink Spots on and spin the incomparable lament “When the Swallows Come Back To Capistrano.” Because the guitar intro of this track almost certainly inspired the Sam Cooke song that started this whole mix, we are ready to be done and need someone to put it all in perspective. Who better than Louis Armstrong, who tells it like it is to his wife Lil Hardin in this 1927 Frank Biggs masterpiece “That’s When I’ll Come Back To You.” Satchmo says it: “Baby, you lost a gold mine when you lost me!” True enough. Enjoy retirement, Jim!

Playlist

1. School Bell Gag Opener / Bob & Doug McKenzie
2. I'll Come Running Back To You / Sam Cooke
3. Destination Anywhere / The Marvelettes
4. Do The Boomerang / Junior Walker and the All Stars
5. Farewell Is A Lonely Sound / Jimmy Ruffin
6. Never Can Say Goodbye / Jackson 5
7. Call Me / Al Green
8. Come Back Baby / Jefferson Airplane
9. She'll Come Back / The Turtles
10. Come Back To Me (My Love) / Roy Orbison
11. It's So Hard For Me To Say Goodbye / Eddie Kendricks
12. When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano / Ink Spots
13. That's When I'll Come Back To You / Louie Armstrong and His Hot Seven