As John Cusack noted in the film “High Fidelity,” “the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art.” This is especially true when the compilation in question has a theme, such as “College Graduation 2004.”

Stringing together some songs for background music at your grad party is one thing, but if you’re really looking for tunes that speak for the moment, a little more effort may be required.

Fact is, there are very few songs that have actually been written specifically about graduation, and most of them are awful (see Vitamin C’s classic “Graduation: Friends Forever”).

This means you have to be a bit creative and choose some tracks that relate to the broader graduation experience, including farewells, nostalgia and moving on.

Everyone has their own favorite songs that could fit the bill, but for those looking for further inspiration, here’s a graduation mixtape with some well known offerings.

1. “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers. A great kickstart track from this old school R’B group. “Time has come today / young hearts will go their way.”

2. “The End of the Line” by The Traveling Wilburys. “Everything will work out fine.”

3. “Tonight Tonight” by Smashing Pumpkins. “Our lives are forever changed / We will never be the same,”etc.

4. “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. The traditional, but worthy choice. School is indeed, out forever.

5. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by REM. And we feel fine, relatively.

6. “Career Opportunities” by The Clash. The world’s over, now we need work.

7. “Road to Nowhere” by Talking Heads. The ride .The destination.

8. “These Days” by Nico. The sultry songstress muses on sweet nostalgia.

9. “We Live Again” by Beck. “I grow weary of the end.” A pretty song.

10. “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke. One of the great R’B anthems of all-time.

11. “It Was A Very Good Year” by Frank Sinatra. Retrospection from the Chairman of the Board.

12. “In My Life” by The Beatles. This John Lennon tune has become a popular grad anthem.

13. “Long May You Run” by Neil Young. Quite possibly the best farewell song ever written by a Canadian.

14. “Walk On” by U2. Bono reminds us what we can’t leave behind.

15. “Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley. Maybe it’s a breakup song. Who cares? It works.

16. “We’ll Meet Again” by Johnny Cash. “Don’t know when, don’t know where / But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.” That’s a nice note to leave on.