“When you stick a song on a tape, you set it free.”

“The radio tape puts you right back in the original time and place when you first heard the songs. You arethere, my friend.”

“It's always that one song that gets to you. You can hide, but the song comes to find you.”

“Tonight, I feel like my whole body is made out of memories. I'm a mix-tape, a cassette that's been rewound so many times you can hear the fingerprints smudged on the tape.”

“The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with — nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they can add up to the story of a life.”

“The country singers understand. It’s always that one song that gets you. You can hide, but the song comes to find you. Country singers are alwaystwanging about that number on the jukebox they can’t stand to hear you play, the one with the memories.”

“Neither of us ever threw anything away. We madea lot of mix tapes while we were together. Tapes for making out, tapes for dancing, tapes for falling asleep. Tapes for doing the dishes, for walkingthe dog. I kept them all. I have them piled up on my bookshelves, spilling out of my kitchen cabinets, scattered all over the bedroom floor. I don’teven have pots or pans in my kitchen, just that old boom-box on the counter, next to the sink. So many tapes.”