5 Songs About

My Bloggy Valentine: 20 Songs About Love

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Love is a many-splendored thing and all, but it's also dependent upon a relationship's context -- and so is the associated music. You don't want Al Green's "Let's Get Married" to stream through the car speakers during your third date, you don't want your intended to think you stopped listening to new records after "I Love You Just The Way You Are" was released, and you don't want "You Oughtta Know" to come on, well, ever.

Swapping out these embarrassing moments takes planning. Have you just hooked up or are you on the cusp of something more? Are you a hip-hop head who just hasn't found the right tracks to put on that gift CD? Or are you just looking for some sweet songs to sip hot cocoa by as you stare into each others' eyes?

Whether you're making a mix for that special someone or just looking for a soundtrack for the day, here are 20 timely tunes to consider for your personal "Favorite Love Songs" list.

FIVE SONGS ABOUT VALENTINE'S DAY

Let's start with holiday-appropriate fare. Given that roughly 92.3 percent of all songs written are in some way about love, it should comes as no surprise that songwriters have produced a depth of material about Feb. 14.

5. Various Artists, "My Funny Valentine"
Classics usually become so for a reason. This sultry standard originally performed in a 1937 musical has been exhorting Valentines to stay for more than 70 years in the voices of various jazz legends (and more modern artists). The video is a version by Chet Baker and Billie Holiday. For an updated take, try the piano-and-voice version by Ohio duo Over The Rhine.

4. The Get Up Kids, "Valentine"
This tune by the now-defunct emo band is as precious and bittersweet as you would expect. The fact that this YouTube video set to the song was evidently made by a sensitive high school student is also unsurprising and appropriate.

3. Califone, "Black Metal Valentine"
Experimentarians Califone make music that challenges, intrigues, sometimes displeases but never bores. This collection of joyous bumps, bells and bruises mutters along into a memorable groove, and the very notion of a Valentine's song by a black metal band (which Califone are most decidedly not) can't help but amuse. Sample it at eMusic.

2. Carissa's Wierd, "All Apologies And Smiles, Yours Truly, Ugly Valentine"
If you didn't spend a chunk of the 1990s on the West Coast, you might have missed out on the pleasures of the intentionally-misspelled Carissa's Wierd. Lucky you, it's Valentine's Day, and now is your chance to experience their melodic pop -- which is as unlike the so-called "Seattle sound" as it is unlike the Band of Horses, the group Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell of the Wierd went on to form. Download the MP3 and read an encomium to the band here.

1. Outkast, "Happy Valentine's Day"
If you have the Outkast double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below, you're aware that this Andre 3000 masterpiece is the funkiest track ever to celebrate Cupid. If you don't have it, we all forgive you: now go and get it, even if you're sick of "Hey Ya!" But listen to this first, since Andre just wants to say one thing:

The funk is strong with this one. But so many love mixes are either utterly unfunky or rely too heavily on 70s soul. To remedy this, I propose the following:

FIVE HIP-HOP LOVE SONGS
Growing up in the Golden Age, I've always loved hip-hop. Being a bit of an emo, I also venerate great love songs. For most of my life, I've been searching for that perfect blend of the two.

Here are my favorite five. This list is also a response to the Houston Press' "10 Great Hip-Hop Breakup Songs". Look, in a macho and often misogynist genre, those are easy. Finding authentically sweet hip-hop love songs that aren't cheesy is a challenge. Complicating matters: many hip-hop songs that seem to be about love are about love of music, or love of one's children.

I love a challenge, and I love these tracks.

5. Handsome Boy Modeling School, "If It Wasn't For You"
This somewhat breaks the "it's gotta be about adult love" rule, since one verse is about a baby and one is about fame. But the sentiment is unabashedly romantic, the chorus is charming without being cloying, and the beat interacts with the rhymes expertly. Worth it for the introductory sample alone. Listen to it, you won't be sorry.

4. De La Soul, "Eye Know"
In 1989, LL Cool J broke ground by releasing the tender ballad "I Need Love" as a single. LL took an immediate ration of undeserved shit for exposing his sensitive side, and an everlasting ration of deserved shit because that song was and remains wack. Two years later, Three Feet High and Rising changed hip-hop, and this under-appreciated song is to my ear the first classic hip-hop love song.

3. Jean Grae, "My Angel is You"
Most recently released of all these tracks, it's a testament to Ms. Grae's talent that this is actually a b-side. That's right, one of her leftovers is one of the best five hip-hop love songs ever released. Featuring fluid rhymes and subtle singing on the chorus, "My Angel" doesn't overwhelm but does get under your skin. Sample it on eMusic.

2. Method Man and Mary J. Blige, "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need to Get By"
Classics are classics for a reason, and Marvin Gaye's "You're All I Need to Get By" will always be in the pantheon. Even classics need a jumpstart, though, and the combination of Meth and Mary J. is enough to defibrillate a stalled heart. Delightfully, it's almost free of machismo, and though it doesn't celebrate wedlock exactly ("Word life/You don't need a ring to be my wife"), it's a song the celebrates commitment as much it does sensual exchange.

Embedding has been disabled, but check out the full video here: music starts about 45 seconds in.

1. Josh Martinez, "Just a Dood."
One of the most prolific and slept-on indie rap artists in North America, Vancouver B.C.'s Josh Martinez creates tuneful, diverse and listenable hip-hop that's subtle and creative. Most of his canon is composed of summer-day, windows down, good-time jams. On this track he takes it down a notch. Wait for the hook. It's simple, it's silly, it's irresistible.

That's the "genre" list. Moving along to the "where's the fire?" category:

FIVE SWEET SONGS THAT DON'T GO TOO FAR

Good mixtapes, like good relationships, should leave you feeling warm, comfortable and smiling. Over-reaching is verboten and morbid is right out.

To wit: you might love Death Cab, but in the name of Cupid Valentino The Modern Day Cupid, if you put "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" on that CD then you absolutely deserve to get dumped. In fact, after your paramour gives you the look of horror and drops you like a dope beat, I will come over and dump you myself, just to be sure it takes.

Don't let this happen to you. Go just far enough, with these.

5. The Weakerthans, "The Reasons"
I wholeheartedly endorse everything the Weakerthans have ever done. This song is a wonder for all occasions to show that person -- love interest or otherwise -- that you appreciate them. The chorus acknowledges its cornball qualities ("I know you might roll your eyes at this/But I'm so glad that you exist"), deflecting the eyeroll onslaught and turning it into harmless giggles. Reading the lyrics isn't enough. Listen to the song.

4. Amadou et Mariam, "Je Pense a Toi"
But why even bother with English lyrics that Convey The Deep Feelings You Have For Your Dear One? French is never a bad choice. It sounds sexy, and unless the object of your desire is bilingual, you don't have to worry about them understanding it. When the music is as rich as Malian masters Amadou et Mariam's, it doesn't even really matter that the title means "I'm Thinking of You." They'll know it.

3. Beulah, "If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart"
Judicious use of strings, horn and piano can add a lot to a rock song, and the parts in this tune show that. Melodic and multi-instrumental, this track is a journey as implied by the length of the (awesome) title, which appears nowhere in the lyrics. "All we need is a pretty song," they say: indeed.

This live version has its charms, for sure, but it's the studio sound you want.

2. The Pixies, "Here Comes Your Man"
Above I noted that you don't want to be the guy who stopped listening to music when Christie Brinkley divorced Billy Joel. Conversely, you want to show some appreciation for the indie music that has stood the test of time. There's only one candidate that compares to the Pixies, and Sonic Youth is not going to get you over.

1. Viva Voce, "Mixtape = Love"
The best ending choice to a mixtape ever. I will not brook dissent on this point. Lovely vocal interplay between man and woman, supple harmonies, and a message that wraps things up perfectly. Sample it at Last.FM. Plus, the band is a husband and wife, and you've gotta love that.

Speaking of nuptials ... now we come to the payoff.

FIVE SONGS ABOUT MARRIAGE

Mere weeks ago, my marine biologist friend donned dive gear and descended into a shark tank thinking she was taping an educational program. Instead, her musician boyfriend popped a most memorable question. Watch the video of the proposal here.

Aside from being sickeningly sweet, this offers an apt metaphor: if you're not willing to jump into a shark tank for somebody, maybe you ought to reconsider the commitment.

Ready to jump into the shark tank? Already taken the plunge? These are the songs for you.

5. Old 97's, "Question"
Country-rock troubadors the Old 97's penned lots of memorable tunes, but none so memorable as the one about a "question that you should say yes to/once in your life." This video has a creepy Half-Life deal going on, so you ought to just listen with the window minimized, or try this live version (with French lyrics! Remember what I said about French?).

4. Lou Reed, "Think It Over"
Post-Velvet Underground, Lou Reed was always at his best when effectively doing spoken word material ("Coney Island Baby," "Walk on the Wild Side," "Harry's Circumcision"). So it is with this slow, restrained approach, which somehow manages to keep the emotion percolating just beneath the surface. Yes, this song is about Lou's at-the-time-lover, a transvestite. What's your point?

3. Nellie McKay, "Cupcake"
The best song ever written about gay marriage, this piano ditty is catchy enough to get even your homophobic relatives toe-tapping. Especially if they listen to the lyrics, but not too closely. Hummable hooks and an irresistible vocal breakdown ensure this one will win your heart, gay, straight or wherever you fall on the Kinsey scale. (Nellie's other marriage song, "I Wanna Get Married," isn't nearly so suffused with romance. Stick with this one.)

2. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, "As Long As the Grass Shall Grow"
Alone among these songs in that it is a retrospective about a particular, real marriage, it gets an easy nod. Alluding to the authentic hardships suffered by the famous duo, it also sends a positive message: if they can make it, maybe we can, too. Man, do I miss Johnny Cash.

1. The Magnetic Fields, "The Book of Love"
Everyone should own The Magnetic Fields' magnum opus, 69 Love Songs. They're so inspiring that multiple local bands are joining forces to perform the record in its entirety, and there's truly something for everyone in there. Only if you're serious about someone, though, do you want to break out "The Book of Love," which builds to an emotional crescendo before the matrimonial end. If this doesn't get the ring on that finger, look elsewhere. Sample this and the other 68 Love Songs at eMusic.

No thanks are necessary. I am merely a humble servant in the cause of love. Although if any of these selections helps you in the cause of wedlock and procreation, remember -- "Jeff" is a great name for a boy, "Jefferina" for a girl.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at February 14, 2008 4:35 AM | Comments (1)

 

Five Songs About ... Martin Luther King

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On the Dreamer's day, we offer up five divergent songs about Martin Luther King and the holiday that bears his name. They are upbeat and somber, they are angry and hopeful, they are old and new. They are after the jump.

5. Ray Charles, "Abraham, Martin and John"
First recorded by Dion, the soulful Ray Charles version is my favorite. Penned in response to the assassinations of King and Robert Kennedy, artists from Marvin Gaye to Bob Dylan have lent their voices to the tune.

4. Common, "A Dream"
The most modern and up-beat of these songs is Common's track from the 2007 film Freedom Writers. The track samples King's famous speech, expertly weaving words into an update of the preacher's pro-freedom themes.

3. Public Enemy, "By the Time I Get to Arizona"
Influential as P.E. were, it's startling how dated some of their material seems now. The violent imagery in the video (Chuck and the S1Ws fantasize about taking out their frustrations on politicians who opposed the King holiday) is a bit discordant with MLK's pacifist message -- but this song reminds us that it wasn't long ago when powerful people were openly resistant to honoring King's legacy. Embedding for the video has been disabled, but you can watch it here.

2. U2, "Pride (In the Name of Love)"
Bono messed up the time of day in his reference to King's murder (it happened in early evening, not early morning), but what the hell, his heart was in the right place, and it's nice to see a purely rock song represented. From the same Unforgettable Fire album, there's MLK, a sweet lullaby-style tune in its own right, though you wouldn't know what it's about if not for the title.

1. Stevie Wonder, "Happy Birthday"
This offering from the legendary Stevie Wonder gets the nod not just for its subject matter, but because it was a centerpiece in Stevie's activist campaign to get King's birthday recognized as a national holiday. It's not just catchy, it helped catch a fire.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at January 21, 2008 5:37 AM | Comments (2)

 

Five Songs About ... The New Year

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Ah, the New Year. Time of transformation, time of bubbly-spawned magic, time of awkward passes and resolutions you mean at the time. While you're preparing for the long sled ride down Hangover Hill, here's some topical listening material.

5. Death Cab for Cutie, "The New Year"
"So this is the New Year ... and I don't feel any different." Who among us cannot identify with these sentiments? The ennui associated with arbitrary calendar-flippage? We've all been there at one point, and this captures one aspect of the nouvelle annee experience: sitting around and waiting for life to start. Some years are like this, running in place while holding a drink. Try not to spill.

4. The Zombies, "This Will Be Our Year"
A delicious pop nugget from decades past, this track isn't explicitly about the New Year, but about starting a new romantic relationship with an old friend. The words I'm looking for to describe it are "thoroughly charming." Share it with someone you love -- or ensure that it's playing when a longtime pal you have a crush on walks by. More recently, OK Go covered this song, and that version is also well worth listening to. You can find it here. But I think the video below, with decades-old footage of somebody's parents shot with a Super 8, fits the tune's feel.

3. Asobi Seksu, "New Years"
About a metaphorical rather than literal New Year, this song (which you can hear streaming here) is the finest track from one of 2006's best albums. Yeah, its almost all in Japanese. Yeah, you'll enjoy it anyway, even if you don't speak the language. You can see people wrestling with the tune's English meaning here.

2. ABBA, "Happy New Year"
You cannot go wrong with ABBA. It is an immutable law of physics. So when you get them all together around a piano, singing out a blessing for the annum to come, you feel it, you believe them, even if you keep waiting for the chorus to be "Happy New Year, Happy New Year -- may we all have a beer." Go on, listen, and tell me that wouldn't be perfect.

1. The Dismemberment Plan, "The Ice of Boston"
We started with the paralyzing effects of the New Year, and now we move to flip side -- being drunk in a hotel room far from home, and you end up covered in booze, naked, exposing yourself inadvertently to two million strangers.

What, hasn't that happened to anyone else? "Pop open a bottle of bubbly … yeah, here’s to another goddamn New Year." Indeed, Dismemberment Plan. Indeed.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at December 28, 2007 5:10 AM | Comments (2)

 

Five (times two) Songs About ... Christmas

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For this edition of "Five Songs About," we decided to double our pleasure. Christmas is a special time of year, and we found way too much here (and way too little we could justify leaving out) -- so you get 10 songs for the same low, low price.

Moreover, we tried to go a little further off the beaten sleigh path in most cases. Anybody can tell you to go buy White Christmas or the Love, Actually soundtrack. We delved a little deeper for these tracks.

Don't like 'em? It's the holidays, so kindly forgive me my trespasses. Leave anything out? Of course I did. Tell me all about it in the comments. And be sure you get all the way through, for a special appearance by local heroes, and the song that has been determined by science to be the finest Christmas carol of all time.

10 and 9: Two from Tom Lehrer
My uncle would never forgive me if I didn't mention Tom Lehrer's scathing, brilliant "Christmas Carol." Unfortunately, only the lyrics are available on-line, and the only performance of the song is a dreadful reading performed by the even more dreadful Christopher Hitchens. Do Not Want. On the brighter side, we can do a different-denominational holiday Lehrer experience with the peppy "Hannukah in Santa Monica."

8. Harvey Danger, "Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas."
In a nod to my current personal activities at this time of year, I must mention this track from Seattle's Harvey Danger. Permit me a little lyrical alteration: "The restaurants are closed/so are the banks and bars, the Wall Drug and so's the lefty book store/But City Pages is always open. And I always have to open."

7. Of Montreal, "Christmas Isn't Safe For Animals"
Kevin Barnes has a penchant for odd Christmas songs. Besides this preciously weird, violin-backed indie tune, his band has also produced two goofy Christmas-themed songs on their early record "The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower." But this is the most accessible of the three, and features a bizarre radio montage in the middle. Excelsior! Get the lyrics and the MP3 download here.

6. Dean Martin, "Jingle Bells (Dan the Automator remix)"
Lounge never felt so cool as it does in this gentle remix that is (gasp!) true to the original. The beatmaker behind Del and Handsome Boy Modeling School does the Rat Pack proud, and I bet even your mom will dig. Download it here.

Top Five after the jump.

5. Asobi Seksu, "Merry Christmas"
Who doesn't love The Ramones? They practically invented pop punk, they wrote "Cretin Hop" after seeing Cretin Avenue on a trip to St. Paul, and they penned a bittersweet holiday song called "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)". But truth be told, NYC-based indie band Asobi Seksu (the name means "playful sex" in Japanese) has a version that blows the doors off Joey et. al.'s original. Sacrilege, perhaps. True, though. Yuki Chikudate's girlish vocals over the fuzzy guitar mix just perfectly. Hear it at Asobi Seksu's MySpace page.

4. Donny Hathaway, "This Christmas"
One of soul music's most beloved voices ought not be forgotten this holiday season, and if you listen to this track, I guarantee you won't.

3. Run-DMC, "Christmas in Hollis"
I cannot believe 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of Run-DMC's gem. This staggering revelation narrowly edges Run's sporting a Portland Trailblazers jacket (from the Clyde Drexler era!) in personal significance. It's a classic song and a campy delight of a video that doesn't end until that elf's final "niiiiiiice."

2. Sean Na Na, "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)"
Local boys represent on this one. Recorded in 1998 by Sean Tillman (Har Mar Superstar, Sean Na Na) and our own Jeff Severns Guntzel (The Dynamiters) in Tillman's Chicago kitchen. Tillman plays guitar and sings. Guntzel plays a snare drum on a folding chair. The results are an exact mix of plaintive and hilarious, as Tillman's voice is confection-sweet over the bitter lyrics. Listen here:

1. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York"
What can be said about this? A song so bleak, it starts in the drunk tank, and that's as hopeful as it gets. A song so salty, the Beeb thought of censoring it. A video that includes a young Matt Dillon. A song so beautiful, you won't be able to feel anything but happy after listening to it.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at December 25, 2007 4:44 AM | Comments (0)

 

Five Songs About ... Snow

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Winter's first arctic emergence is expected tomorrow. It's time to settle in, brew some warm beverages and relax. For me, it's time to start thinking about some winter-flavored tunes rope into the ol' playlist. The guidelines: none other than songs about snow. No linking to Snow Patrol, though. That would be cheating.

Listen to these songs that celebrate the white stuff, and kindly leave your own choices in the comments.

5. The Pernice Brothers, “Pisshole in the Snow.”
Joe Pernice is a master of the pop song, both upbeat and gentle. The warm guitars in this one act as a bulwark against the cold outside. This tune is also, beyond any question, the most romantic song ever to include the word “Pisshole.” Hear the song streaming by clicking on the “Discover a Lovelier You” album cover here.

More songs with YouTube videos after the jump.

4. Death Cab for Cutie, “I Was a Kaleidoscope.”
“I put on my overcoat and walked into winter, my teeth chattered rhythms ... And I was a kaleidoscope/The snow on my lenses distorting the image of what was only one of you.” Ben Gibbard's angelic voice means he can pull this off.

3. Prince, “Sometimes it Snows in April.”
Yes, the snow in this one is a metaphor, even though the title is strictly accurate. No, we don't care about either fact. We care that this is a lovely gem from early Prince, and its somber tone fits in with the time of year. No, I don't know what's up with the video, and to the video's owner, I'm sorry for alerting Prince about this so he can sue you.

2. Clipse, “Keys Open Doors.”
If you're going to do lists like this, you've got to expand your interpretation at some point. In this case, that means slipping in a coke rap track. You were expecting maybe Bing Crosby's “White Christmas?” Some will say I should have picked something from Ghostface's “Fishscale” album, but I'm saving those cuts for “Five songs about fish.”

1. Dean Martin, “Let it Snow.”
After all these years, nothing touches this song. The Dean Martin version, in particular, stands up -- after hearing Dan The Automator's remix of Deano doing “Jingle Bells,” I recall thinking fondly of his timeless voice. Maybe because I had guzzled six hot toddies. But still. The first YouTube clip I'm linking to splices “Let it Snow” with “Winter Wonderland,” making it two classics for the price of one. The second is The Temptations' version of the same song. Pass the hot cocoa and don't skimp on the marshmallows, y'all.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at November 30, 2007 1:43 PM | Comments (1)

 

Five Songs About ... Thanksgiving

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Compared with other holidays, Thanksgiving hasn't inspired bards overmuch. There are no traditional hymns, no instantly identifiable music associated with the day save possibly various football broadcast bumpers.

Nevertheless, here and there we find certain songs that -- in lyric or in spirit -- fit the theme of the day. For the first installment of a new, recurring blog feature, we hunted down five such songs for your Thanksgiving listening pleasure.

We plan to do a similarly-themed post once a month or so, with songs about different themes and events during the year. Use the comments to talk about the songs, or to suggest your own potential additions to the list.

5. Adam Sandler -- The Thanksgiving Song
Before Adam Sandler's magnum opus about Hannukah, there was his fractured effort about Turkey Day. Performed on Saturday Night Live with a brief assist from Kevin Nealon, Sandler's silly song may be the first holiday hymn to mention both Mike Tyson and venereal disease -- though hopefully not the last. (Due to NBC's video fascism, you can't see the original version, but this live version has the same feel. Note to the Peacock: Information wants to be free, tough guy.)

4. William Burroughs -- A Thanksgiving Prayer
Feeling thankful? Got a warm sensation of fellowship with other human beings? Smiling after watching the Sandler video? William S. Burroughs can take care of that for you. Okay, it's a spoken-word piece and not a song. If Kurt Cobain had lived longer, I'm sure he'd have performed musical accompaniment to this the way he did Burroughs' "The Priest They Called Him." Sadly, Cobain killed himself, possibly after listening to this concentrated burst of depressing.

3. Spencer the Gardener -- The Gobble Song
From scathing social commentary to sweet and endearing testaments to food, this catchy tune from indie roots group Spencer the Gardener is a non-ironic celebration of Thankgiving's central component: the meal. The down-home feel of the song makes it possibly the only tune on this list indisputably suitable for mixed company. Warning: earworm potential.

2. The Dead Milkmen -- The Best Thanksgiving Ever (live)
Available on the band's 1992 "If I Had a Gun" EP, this live introduction to the band's classic "Bitchin' Camaro" is the story of young Timmy and, as the title suggests, his Best Thanksgiving Ever. But as you'd expect from the Milkmen, this tale is twisted, and Timmy is not actually the hero. The hero is invisible to the human eye. To say more would be unseemly, and unfortunately there are no video or audio representations of this song available on the Internets so far as I am aware. Seek it out. It's worth it. Until then, read the lyrics here.

1. Arlo Guthrie -- Alice's Restaurant
Guthrie's Vietnam-era chestnut is rambling, surreal narrative that is simultaneously folk art, political criticism, and communal performance project. It found its way onto the entire 'A' side of a record, into a film, and into our collective culture. And it all began two Thanksgivings ago (or was it 40?). Watch a live performance here. The lyrics are here.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at November 21, 2007 12:15 PM | Comments (3)