Instead we turn to this driving, acerbic track from hip-hop trio the Perceptionists, the Boston-based combo on Definitive Jux composed of Mr. Lif, Akrobatik and DJ Fakts One.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.