Valentines – Any Major Love Mix CD-R
I am no great fan of Valentine’s Day, and don’t usually join in the hype. It seems time appropriate to post a Valentine’s mix though — especially for all the lovers out there who want to express their emotions via the time-honoured medium of the mix-tape, but lack the time or energy to bang a good one together. If I can prevent one fool in love from rushing out to buy a Valentine’s Day comp featuring the stylings of Celine, Whitney and, invariably, the totally misapplied James Blunt classic “You’re Beautiful”, then I feel I have done good.
Compiling this mix represented a challenge, for the genres represented herein tend to be less than effusive on matters of the heart. But when the artists representing these genres do effuse, they tend to do so eloquently and without dangling too much by way of cliché. Of course, love does attract, even demand, cliché, and some of our artists here toy with the odd hackneyed sentiment. These may sound silly to us cynics, but to the fool in love, these clichés are poetry and fact.
Has there ever been a more beautiful love song written than Ben Folds’ “The Luckiest”? Not all the songs here are about the blissfulness of love, perhaps Colbie Caillat’s song is the most conventional love song in this lot. Bright Eyes’ “First Day In My Life” has an undertone of uncertainty. Jens Lekman’s love is slavish, to the point of making grand romantic gestures involving vandalism at his lover’s instructions. Hello Saferide introduces a wonderful paradox in wishing her lover sickness. Liz Phair rounds things off with a take which makes being love seem as difficult as it really is.
Tracklisting:
1. The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
“˜I am thinking it’s a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images, and when we kiss they are perfectly alligned.”
2. Jets To Brazil – Sweet Avenue
“˜ Now all these tastes improve through the view that comes with you. Like they handed me my life, for the first time it felt worth it, like I deserved it.“
3. Michelle Featherstone – Rest Of My Life
“˜ How ’bout that? Waking up every morning with me. Spend our time drinking coffee, speaking softly as the days go by.“
4. The Weepies – Somebody Loved
“˜Now my feet turn the corner back home. Sun turns the evening to rose, stars turning high up above. You turn me into somebody loved.”
5. Bright Eyes – First Day Of My Life
“˜ Yours was the first face that I saw, I think I was blind before I met you. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know where I’ve been, but I know where I want to go.“
6. Ben Folds – The Luckiest
“˜And where was I before the day that I first saw your lovely face? Now I see it everyday, and I know: I’m the luckiest.”
7. Joseph Arthur – Echo Park
“˜ The fire never understands the spark, the way it is with you and me.”
8. Ron Sexsmith – Whatever It Takes
“˜The sun alone will never do, without your love to shine on through”
9. Jens Lekman – You Are The Light
“˜ Yeah I got busted, so I used my one phone call to dedicate a song to you on the radio.”
10. Hello Saferide – Get Sick Soon
“˜ Oh, I love you! I wish you got the flu, you”re the cutest thing I”ve ever seen — like a teddy bear on heroin ... You can lay your weight on me and I”ll be your backbone. Lay your weight on me, you won”t have to worry.”
11. Colbie Caillat – Magic
“˜ I remember the way that you move. You’re dancing easily through my dreams. It’s hitting me harder and harder with all your smiles.“
12. Josh Kelley – To Make You Feel My Love
“˜ I’d go hungry I’d go black and blue. I’d go crawling down the avenue. No there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do to make you feel my love.“
13. Ben Harper – By My Side
“˜My care for you is from the ground up to the sky it’s over under up above down below and to the side.”
14. Mason Jennings – Ballad For My One True Love
“˜And all the while I ‘m dreaming of the ballad for my one true love, searching for the perfect way to say: I love you sweetheart, this is my dream come true.”
15. Peter Mayer – Now Touch The Air Softly
“˜And I”ll love you as long as the furrow the plow, as However is Ever, and Ever is Now.”
16. Richard Hawley – Baby, You’re My Light
“˜But I believe in you and now I’ll show it. And as life goes on you know you don’t have to hate all you find. Baby, you’re my light.’
17. Mindy Smith – It’s Amazing
“˜ It’s amazing what you do to me: took my heart and made me feel things I never felt before. It’s changing me, Which direction so certainly; shook me up and threw me around. When we learn to breathe it all in.”
18. Josh Rouse – Wonderful
“˜ Reading the paper with my coffee, and before you must go there’s one thing you should know: I think you’re wonderful. Don’t change.“
19. Jackie Greene – Love Song; 2.00 am
“˜ Should your mind forget me, regret me, or even do me wrong, you’ll always live here in my heart, ’cause, baby, that’s where you belong.“
20. Eastmountainsouth – So Are You to Me
“˜As the ruby in the setting, as the fruit upon the tree, as the wind blows over the plains, so are you to me.”
21. Bob Schneider – The World Exploded Into Love
“˜The world exploded into love all around me, and every time I take a look around me, I have to smile. “
22. Liz Phair – Good Love Never Dies
“˜ Tell me what can I say to keep you in my life, all the words slip away when I look in your eyes, because I can never relax.“
Haven’t downloaded the mix yet but love your opening comments; I should write so well. I listened to Colbie Caillat from yesterday’s post and actually liked her; the cynical old guy in me expected it to be much more vapid. And, Liz Phair’s “Leap Of Innocence” might land on my list of love songs…bittersweet and a bit sarcastic.
Nice!! Thanks for this Dude – and keep up the great writing and good lovin. This site is an awesome discovery.
Very cool. I like that not everything is sappy sappy love love. Much more real this way.
So nice not to see the usual. You obviously gave this a lot of thought.It’s not exactly a valentine, then again, maybe it is: Martha-Tom Waits. It’s from his first album:Closing Time. The older you get, the more this song kills.
What’s a RAR file? I’ve tried downloading the mix three times. No luck. Was so looking forward to this for all the Bens at the very least.ldp
Anonymous, you’ll need a programme called WinRar, which you can download free at http://www.rarlab.comIf you use a Mac with OS X, StuffitExpander tends to play the fool. Best thing to do is to stick the file on a memory stick and unpack it on a PC. I hope you get to enjoy not just all the Bens but the Joshes too.
Got it. First time I’ve heard of that format. I swear I’m not a techdinosaur!Great music. Nice flow. Really enjoying it.I did sign my initials and will again….ldp
Oh dear, I’m sorry, ldp. I should have acknowledged your initials.Thank you for our very kind comments. It is really appreciated.I wonder if anyone used the mix as a Valentine’s gift, and if that was appreciated…
What a perfect mix…I love stumbling on it even if it is a few days late. :)Love the blog!
Nice song selections. I love them though I’m only familiar with just about 3 of the featured artists.Bravo, dude!
Too bad zshare has deleted it. Any chance of re-uploading???
I’ll have to collate the songs again. But your request might inspire me to make another love-song mix incorporating much of what was on the deleted one. If there are still songs on the old mix, let me know. But give me a little time.