Episode #15: Valentine's Day Special

Yes, it’s that time. Time to be told how to celebrate your feelings towards that special someone. It’s also that time to be told to spend money to prove just how much. Obviously, I don’t care for such contrived forms of expression. However, I thought this would provide a good opportunity to put together a mix that explores the different manifestations and representations of love in music.

With this mix I incorporated songs that boast a variety of approaches to the always-elusive notion of just exactly what love is and how it should be. There is the simple exaltation of the splendors of love and love-making in Big Youth’s “I Love the Way You Love,” The Dynamic Four’s “Let’s Make Love” and Muddy Waters’ frank “I Just Want To Make Love To You.” Also represented is the wary, hesitant reaction to a potential blossoming of love, such as Tom Waits’ “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You” and Beck’s “Think I’m In Love.” I couldn’t exclude the quintessential break-up song and I think Sage Francis’ “Rewrite” is one of the best lesser-known ones. Antony and the Johnsons’ “Fistful of Love” shows that love is sometimes (if not always) a painful endeavor. And Common’s classic, “I Used to Love H.E.R.” is a clever extended metaphor about his truest love, hip hop.

I ended the set with Cartola’s “Nós Dois” (Us Two) to illustrate that even without understanding the words you can almost feel what the song is about. I guess this serves to prove that love is something inherent and unique to the human condition and can be expressed in infinite ways.

Give it a listen and enjoy.

Track listing:
1) Think I’m In Love (3:19) – Beck
2) I Love the Way You Love (3:21) – Big Youth
3) Careless Love (3:00) – Dave Van Ronk
4) Love (3:24) – John Lennon
5) Fistful of Love (5:53) – Antony & The Johnsons
6) I And Love And You (5:01) – The Avett Brothers
7) Somebody To Love (4:39) – Barbara & Ernie
8) Killing For Love (3:03) – José González
9) I’m The Man Who Loves You (3:56) – Wilco
10) Rewrite (3:20) – Sage Francis
11) Let’s Make Love (3:08) – The Dynamic Four
12) Skinny Love (3:46) – Bon Iver
13) I Used to Love H.E.R. (4:39) – Common
14) I Just Want To Make Love To You (2:52) – Muddy Waters
15) In The Privacy of Our Love (2:52) – Hot Chip
16) I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You (3:55) – Tom Waits
17) Nós Dois (2:37) - Cartola