I could have picked any year at random and put together a mixtape, but I chose 1971 because it was the year that I got out of the army. It was August 25, 1971 to be exact. It isn’t a date I am never likely to forget. I heard many of these songs for the first time on the Armed Forces Network when I was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. The rest I heard on various AM and FM stations back in my hometown, Rolling Prairie, Indiana. I’ve long since moved on from Rolling Prairie, but these songs always sound fresh to me.

As part of my new mixtapes project, I have asked select friends to curate playlists for me. This mixtape is specially curated for us by Norm. He quickly became a true friend and confidant 7 years ago when I correctly recognised a floppy disk for what it was. Since then, he has seen me through all my ups and downs through perfectly timed memes, several postcards, lessons on the American presidency, and music, music, music. When not spreading positivity by sharing his song of the day on Twitter, you can find him blogging at Classical Gasbag.