This year, I'm going to attempt something I've always meant to do for Valentine's Day. No, not go out with a girl or anything like that (what a crazy notion!), but rather stay indoors sorting through music, which is in fact my idea of fun. More specifically, I'm going to make out a few playlists; one for people who are happily in a relationship this 14th of February, and one for people who aren't. The latter has a noticeable tendency towards bitterness, which is at least partly because there aren't a great deal of songs out there which have as their subject matter contentment with the single life (plus Valentine's Day does have a tendency to inspire bitterness in the single, especially those who are engaged in or have just emerged from a tricky or otherwise unsatisfactory romantic situation). At any rate, I hope that whichever category you fit into, these songs make your Valentine's Day a little more romantic/bearable (delete as applicable).
[Note: after writing this, I decided to throw in a few songs for the happy singletons out there. Wherever they are.]
For the Romantically Satisfied:
Something – The Beatles
It's almost a cliché at this point, but clichés don't come much more beautiful than this. Often considered George Harrison's finest hour, this has been called "the greatest love song ever written". The lyrics are an incredibly simple sentiment, almost (I stress "almost") to the point of banality, but rarely has such a simple, expressive melody been written. For the 'Love' album, George and Giles Martin pushed up the strings, but somehow George's lone guitar (gently weeping – ho ho!) is infinitely more majestic.
Someone – The Divine Comedy
This is roughly the point where Neil Hannon went from clever lyricist and talented arranger to full-blown composer. Again, the lyrics are uncharacteristically simple, but such thoughts just don't occur as one gets swept up in those strings (and let's not forget that brass backing plugging away), plus Hannon's steady, infinitely expressive baritone. If you're looking for a song to slow dance to with your significant other, look no further.
Kathy's Song – Simon and Garfunkel
In contrast to the previous examples, this one's all about the lyrics, with only a simple acoustic guitar backing. In fact, it's almost incorrect to call this a Simon and Garfunkel song, since Art Garfunkel barely even gets a look in. As so often, Paul Simon's lyrics owe more to conventional poetry than popular music lyrics, as in those final lines which never fail to move me: "As I watch the drops of rain/Weave their weary paths and die,/I know that I am like the rain/There but for the grace of you go I".
(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
This probably isn't the list on which you expected my old friend Nick Cave to show up, but the man can write some beautiful love songs (even if they do occasionally end in murder). This particular one is taken from the melancholy album The Boatman's Call, which is about divorce and new love in equal parts (yes, he's an odd man). In hindsight, this song seems to mark a transition for Cave from the apocalyptic imagery of his older work ("The stars will explode in the sky" is almost immediately countered with "But they don't, do they?"); the final verse has an air of serene patience, invoking the Gospels. This is really more a song about the period immediately preceding a relationship than the relationship itself, but the sentiment is beautifully expressed. Try also 'Into My Arms', from the same album.
Everybody Loves Somebody – Dean Martin
This song famously beat the Beatles to the number 1 spot at the height of their popularity; a sure sign of its greatness. It remains one of the most simply perfect love songs ever written, interpreted perfectly by Dean's smooth voice.
Crown of Love – Arcade Fire
Well, did you really think a WAKE UP list would be complete without these fine ladies and gentlemen? This is an interesting love song, because it doesn't try to sugar-coat the concept of a relationship ("the pains of love"). Rather, the singer has made some mistake, but is appealing to the power of love in begging for forgiveness ("If you still want me, please forgive me"). The emotion swells throughout the song, finally bursting through in the catharsis of "You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word that I can say". This gives way to what I believe to be the only "violin rave" in history.
[Random note: this is apparently the most played song on my MP3 player; 175 times in about two and a half years. Good going, I daresay.]
Slow Show – The National
I was going to mention this in conjunction with the previous entry, but really it's too fine a song not to merit a place of its own. The singer stands around nervously, trying to get his thoughts together (and "not [think] of my dick" – an admirable sentiment), before he goes home to make a romantic gesture to his lover. The lyrics, backed up by the relatively simple accompaniment, capture perfectly his neuroticism, but also the simplicity of his love (and if there's one theme that's emerging here, it's simplicity): "You know I dreamed about you, for twenty-nine years before I saw you".
God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
Guess what? More simple sentiment, beautifully expressed! In this case, though, the melody is what makes it; the complex texture made up of twenty-three (!) musicians jammed together in a studio, the result of Brian Wilson's admiration for Phil Spector's "wall of sound" technique. This combines with those sublime Beach Boys harmonies to produce what I've often thought to be one of the most perfect songs ever written.
Northern Sky – Nick Drake
Again, probably not the list on which you might expect to find the (in)famously depressive Drake, but this is a pure expression of a love that compares to nothing before ("I never felt magic crazy as this"). The song feels ethereal; the timbre is sweet and light (and features John Cale on celeste, fact fans), which suits Drake's voice perfectly. The result is probably the most simple and perfect expression of Drake's brief, shining genius.
Absolute Beginners – David Bowie
First love is a topic which has been documented by many songwriters. Even if Bowie was relatively late in life when writing about it (39 – not ancient, admittedly), he still captures that heady feeling beautifully – "As long as we're together, the rest can go to hell". Man's a freaky genius.
For the Twisted and Bitter:
It's All Right with Me – Sammy Davis Jr.
[This one's bloody impossible to find; clearly, I own some kind of crazy unique version of it. There are quite a few versions of the song around, including a brilliantly bizarre one by Tom Waits, but Sammy's is my favourite, and I recommend it.]
The genius of this one lies in its sheer unromantic nature. It's ostensibly a love song... except that the subject of the song is not the subject of the singer's affections, but rather some pretty girl he's met in a bar. Her good looks are emphasised, but not quite as much as the singer's nagging feeling that this just isn't right ("Though your lips are tempting, they're the wrong lips"). Sammy was a master of the bitter love song; an honourable mention must go to his sublime version of 'The Party's Over', which I consider (once again) to be the ultimate version of a fantastic song.
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Don't say you didn't see this one coming. Admittedly, this one is lent an awful lot of poignancy by the biographical details of Ian Curtis's life at the time, and particularly his imminent suicide, but even without that, it's still a piece of beautiful, tragic despair.
Idiot Wind – Bob Dylan
[Don't bother YouTubing it; you'll just get a bunch of covers.]
This song perfectly encompasses the emotions that come in the aftermath of a messy break-up. Extreme bitterness ("one day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes") gives way to a regretful melancholy ("You'll never know the hurt I've suffered...And I'll never know the same about you"), and finally a bitter, self-deprecating honesty ("We're idiots, babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves"). On an album (Blood on the Tracks) which is all about relationships and break-ups, this is the clear standout.
Take This Longing – Leonard Cohen
Not every amorous encounter involves love – an obvious fact, you might think, but rather overlooked. Cohen is the poetic master of lust and sex, and here he captures perfectly two people taking comfort in each other ("let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you loved"). The sadness is tinged with Cohen's trademark black humour –"You're faithful to the better man – I'm afraid that he left". The singer is aware that he's no more than a substitute ("I'll even wear these old laurel leaves that he's shaken from his head"), but he's willing to play that role.
We're Going Wrong – Cream
You want bitterness and sadness? Look no further than a blues-rock band. Cream were masters of their genre, and this is a beautifully sparse song, full of gaps stretched over by Ginger Baker's relentless drumming, while Jack Bruce's plaintive wailing echoes out futilely.
I Fall Apart – Rory Gallagher
Speaking of blues-rock, how about an entry for the Cork man for whom the guitar was like an extra limb? This is ostensibly a love song, but it's not the result of a happy relationship, but of impatient longing – "I'm only living for the hour when I hear your voice... And the day is long/So won't you come where you should be".
Melancholia – The Who
Not one of the better-known Who songs, but one which perfectly encapsulates a certain kind of depressive mood. It's made quite clear that this is the result of the end of a relationship, too – "What I despised/In other guys/Is here in me./They lose their girl/They lose their world/Then they cry for all to see". I often find Pete Townshend is underrated as a lyricist, something which deserves to be rectified.
If You Could Read My Mind – Johnny Cash
All right, I'm going to put a health warning on this one: it's seriously depressing. Not only is the song itself immensely sad, but Cash's delivery of it, recorded in the last weeks of his life as he was dying from diabetes, is so cracked and heartfelt that it brings a lump to the throat. It's hauntingly beautiful, and deserves to be listened to, but do be prepared to be depressed.
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Unlike the two Nicks, Jeff comes more or less where you might expect. As with the previous example, while the lyrics are fine, it's Jeff's delivery that really sells it, particularly on the line "Kiss me out of desire, baby, not consolation". It's a tale of decline, denial and loneliness. Which, admittedly, you should be pretty used to if you've gotten this far.
Black – Pearl Jam
It was pointed out to me recently that throughout the excellent lyrics to 'Jeremy', there isn't a single instance of end-rhyme. It's almost the same here (apart from "outside"-"by" in the second verse, and "see"-"be" later on). While I'm normally a stickler for form, this is quite remarkable in that I never noticed until it was pointed out to me, which is a tribute to Eddie Vedder's lyric-writing. These lyrics, with their imagery of darkness and broken things, are among his best, but once more it's all in the delivery, with his anguished howl at the end of the line "Why can't it be mine".
For Satisfied Singles (I hear they do exist):
I'm in Love with My Car – Queen
Because love doesn't always have to be romantic.
I'm Not Down – The Clash
A brilliant expression of defiance against the odds – "I've lived that kind of day, where none of your sorrows will go away...But I know there'll be some way when I can swing everything back my way". The singer's romantic status isn't really mentioned, but we may gather that, like everything else, it's not ideal.
Days – The Kinks
Who says the end of a relationship needs to be entirely sad? There's always regret, but sometimes that just seems insignificant in the light of the good times you had together – hence this song. There is sadness, but also a recognition that "tomorrow" will be better.
A Lot of Livin' to Do – Sammy Davis Jr.
For anyone who feels like celebrating the more optimistic side of singledom. The singer recognises his desire for "girls" and "kissin'", but rejects it almost immediately, and concentrates on what life generally has to offer him. Seems a rather healthy attitude to me. If anyone has any tips on how to achieve it, please do let me know.
Enjoy your Valentine's Day; wherever and with whoever you choose to spend it.
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