A Lovingly Playlist

I don't know if you noticed, but it's Valentine's Day.  It's kind of been Valentine's Day in the greeting card industry since Dec. 26th.  So here we are, left to wallow in our misery of being lonely on a holiday intended to make us feel like shit or to excessively indulge in the romanticism of having a partner on a holiday intended to make us feel better about ourselves.  Does that sentence make sense?  I don't care.  I'm choosing neither of these options.  I may have a date, I may not... the blogging world will never know.  But what am I going to do for Valentine's Day?  I'm going to choose some of my favorite songs about love.

 One of the first images to appear in my google search.  Please... overanalyze.

I could easily choose love songs that are simply about "love."  You know, ones that say, "I will love you forever, I would die for you, I would give up my life for you (wait, that's the same as dying for you), I want to make love to you."  But that's not how I roll.  My love songs involve complex situations... like real love.  I'm not going to make eye contact with you and suddenly know you're the one.  What if you're a crazy?!?  You may have had really pretty eyes, but, I'm just saying...

So here's my list.  And yes, if you had at one point in my life made me a playlist that included these songs, you would probably have me as a Valentine's date this year (that would be a lucky thing):

in no particular order 

1) Kathleen Edwards - "Sure As Shit"

I can't find a clear YouTube recording of this video, and I'm a bit too lazy to properly upload an mp3 and go through that whole process.  So, this is what you get.  Here's an idea of why I like this song...

    a) Kathleen Edwards is Canadian and swears a lot

    b) Her eloquent way of confessing her love is to say, "And I sure as shit do love you / And I cuss because I  mean it / And for that in my heart I am hopeful / And these words that I chose / I was so careful"

    c) What the hell is the denim king?

    d) The song is not really a happy song, considering her lover is leaving.

    e) What a brilliant way to tell someone you love them.  Exactly how I would do it.

2) Ani DiFranco - "You Had Time"

Ok, maybe this is technically a breakup song.  But some of the other Ani songs have too many connections to them, and I always imagine this song as my own.  Am I in love with myself?  Maybe.  Let's take a listen:

I chose this live version because a) it comes with lyrics, b) it's actually on one of her CD's so it's not a crappy recording and c) all the other YouTube videos cut off the intro to the original version, and that's my favorite part of the song.

Ani is coming home with an empty head, blah blah blah.  We get it.  She hasn't made up her mind.  But I LOVE these lyrics, "You'll say did they love you or what?  I'll say they love what I do... the only one who really loves me is you."  It's funny, because the audience is cheering at this, but really, we're the ones who only loves what she does.  We shouldn't be cheering about this.  Anyway, I always imagine myself being the one in the passenger seat making jokes about the way things are.  Because really, that's what I'm doing.  Always.  And isn't that what we should all be doing?  Isn't that what love is?  Maybe I have a bad perspective on things?

Nick Hornby writes about this song in his book entitled, "Songbook."  I don't really want to write about an author writing about a song, because then it's just a lot of summaries of summaries.  Just go read it.  You'll enjoy his description of the oodling piano.

3) Kate Nash - "I Hate Seagulls"

If I wrote a love song, it would sound like this (minus the British slang/accent).  Enough said.

4) Rufus Wainwright - "The Tower of Learning"

It's so poetic, it doesn't even make sense all the way through.  By the way, don't watch the video... just listen to the song.

You know before when I was making fun of looking into people's eyes and seeing love at first sight?  Well, I don't know.  Sometimes, you really can see a lot in someone else's oval beings.  I'm all about reading the damn eyes.  Maybe it's because mine are always bloodshot when they're tired.  I mean, they speak a lot!  So shiznit, these eyes that Rufus sings about must be pretty darn powerful!

5) Ryan Adams - "When The Stars Go Blue"

I want to dance to this song. 

I don't know why the other artists decided to ruin this song with their covers.  Just listen to the piano in this original masterpiece... it is placed ever so perfectly right after, "Laughing after your broken eyes."  That, my friend, is intentional.  Where do I go when I'm lonely?  I don't know, but Ryan Adams is following me with all of his beautiful music.

6) Norah Jones - "Not Too Late"

Tell me how you've been

Tell me what you've seen

Tell me that you'd like to see me too

Aren't we all waiting for at least one other person in our lives to tell us that they'd like to see us too?  

7) The Avett Brothers - "If It's The Beaches"

I leave you with one of the most beautiful songs.  Hands down.  Simple melody, simple accompaniment, poignant lyrics, sad, and all about love.  Add the "I need you" voice in the middle layered over a depressing violin/guitar solo.  Painstakingly, gut-wrenchingly love love love.  Bring in the depth of the piano and offer the "beaches' sands" and the "mountain's bending rivers."  Hell, he will give her anything for love.  I would get in that truck and run away.

And there you have it.  V-Day 2011.  A great day to listen to love songs... and I'm not talking about Whitney Houston, Celine Dion love songs.  I'm talking about these good ol' heartbreaking love songs :)