An impossible task...
“Ah naw, here comes another one” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot in our office over the past few days. Contrary to what you might think it doesn’t herald the arrival of yet another mince pie as I have been trying to limit myself to one a day.
( Today’s came from a new posh grocery shop that’s opened in Aberdeen and were sort of a mince-pie and bakewell tart mash-up. Could have been an overdose of sweetness, but went down very well with the team here.)
No, “Ah naw, here comes another one” is what’s shouted out every time another one of your ‘mixtapes’ arrives in the get it on inbox. When the first four arrived they all sounded terrific and were full of clever song choices, sequenced in a great order and all of them chosen for specific and personal reasons. The problem for is is the next four that arrived were like that as well, and the next four, and the ones after that…
The plan is that on the week beginning 31st Dec, the entire show will be given over to one listener’s ‘mixtape’. There are only four evenings, so choosing who gets to fill the slot is going to be incredibly hard. Mind you, I realise it’s not been easy getting the music of your life down to 12 choices.
Harry from Gatehouse described the task as ‘Herculean’ and Patrick Carstairs has really been struggling: “This is the 37th compilation I've devised in the last two hours, and you have come up with a heinous, cruel and horrific competition which in some US states would be regarded as a capital offence. Already I want to change the titles I've selected and my soul is completely tormented.”
Thanks to everyone who’s submitted one so far, and for those who are still working on them the closing date is tomorrow. E-mail them to getiton@bbc.co.uk and don’t forget to tell me why the songs mean so much to you…