Valentine's Day Music... Awwwww Yeah! (2015 ed.)

Last year's songs:
"Be My Baby"-The Ronettes, "Downtown Train" -Tom Waits, "God Only Knows" -The Beach Boys, "I Can Change" -LCD Soundsystem, "Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space" -Spiritualized, "Let's Stay Together" -Al Green, "Lovefool" -The Cardigans, "Naked As We Came" -Iron & Wine, "Strange Powers" -The Magnetic Fields, "What Is Life" -George Harrison

This year I didn't get the chance to write about love songs for The Statesman, but who needs printed press when you have a blog? 11 songs this year instead of 10. Because I became obsessed with the 'love song' concept and have 350+ love songs-worth of spotify playlists.
ENJOY.

'I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU' -The Flamingos

The harmonies on the chorus are splendid. Instrumentally, it's a perfect recipe for the deep, personal, dream-like sentimentality. Especially for 1959.

'SOMETHING SO RIGHT' -Paul Simon
Paul Simon write my kind of love song. "When something goes wrong, I'm the first to admit it." That's me. My favorite verse? "They got a wall in China, it's 1,000 miles long. To keep out the foreigners, they made it strong. There's a wall around me you can't even see. It took a little time to get to me." There goes rhymin' Simon, for ya. Representing everyman and talking about China within 1 love song.

'DIGITAL LOVE' -Daft Punk
I bought a 1999 Ford Escort for $700 this summer with a 4-disc CD player. My 1983 Honda never had music in it, so this was my first time owning a car with a stereo system! I lost that Ford 10 days afterwards due to unfortunate events. But I believe I drove around with my window down and cranked up this song at least twice-a-day within that time.






'SOME THINGS LAST A LONG TIME' -Daniel Johnston

Have you ever met or known anyone with schizophrenia? Daniel Johnston has schizophrenia. He made music in his basement for years. He always loved this girl (Laurie) who didn't have any mental disorders, so they were never a couple. But in his head, they were made for each other. Here we have a simple, gorgeous song from Daniel to his Laurie.

'SPIT ON A STRANGER' -Pavement
If I'm not mistaken, this is Pavement's only love song. But it's by Pavement, so for all I know it could be about tennis or some stupid crap like that. Face it, Stephen Malkmus. You had a charming smirk on your face when you sang this one.

'DO YA' -Electric Lights Orchestra
I'm always searching for love songs that are BIG! POWERFUL! ELECTRIFYING! I feel like I've heard lots of them, but I can't remember them all at once. This song has a big riff and Jeff Lynne's voice is a powerhouse on this song. (the lyrics on the bridge are stupid, but I can get over that).

'TAKE IT IN' -Hot Chip
Great line #1: "The Wheel of Fortune stops at 6 o'clock. So what am I to do until midnight?"
Great line #2: Ends a phrase with the word "dove." Then he doesn't rhyme it with anything. This may be the most proper use of the word "dove"in music history.
Also: Dance!!!

'TRUE' -Spandau Ballet
You've heard this song before. It's the popular one from the 80s with the faux-sexy "uh-huh-huh--huuuh-huh!" hook. I had no idea who this song was by until a few months ago. Apparently they're French. "I knooow this--muuuch is--true..."









'YOU MAKE MY DREAMS' -Hall & Oates
I think Sam Smith only won his Grammys because he technically is a "blue-eyed soul" artist. (sigh) The genres we love today ain't what they used to be...
Anyways, this always reminds me of the Duck Tales theme song. 









'EVERYDAY I WRITE THE BOOK' -Elvis Costello & The Imposters

1st thing's 1st: Elvis Costello is probably my favorite lyricist of all time. I'm still not sure whether this song is love song or a stalker song (because it's written by Elvis Costello). Either way, the writing references in this song is extremely clever and his rhyme schemes are as great as ever. "Even in a perfect world where everything was equal, I'd still own the film rights to be working on the sequel." Cherry on top: Corny music video with Princess Diana!





'YOU'RE THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING' -Barry White

I just love the line "You're my reality." A line like that, man... solid.
Posted to the right is a video of Barry White singing this with Pavarotti!