Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Amid all the heartbreak and unrequited love (with lovelessness and death still to come) we are looking at this month, we need a respite from the gloomy tears and instead frolic in the calm waters of true love reciprocated “” which in itself, as some of the lyrics here suggest, is a source of anxiety and uncertainty. And, well, perhaps some lucky person might need a decent mix for Valentine”s Day which does not include the unlovely horrors perpetrated by Chris DeBurgh, Jennifer Rush, Peabo Bryson, Céline Dion, Engelbert Humperdinck, Stevie Wonder and, of course, Michael Bublé ““ and who prefer to do without “edgy” comps featuring the love musings of Coldplay, U2, Avril Lavigne and James Blunt. As always, the mix is timed to fit on a CD-R. It might be a good alternative to an overpriced VD card (and if anybody tries that, please let me know if it was a good idea).

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1. Donny Hathaway – A Song For You (1971)
You taught me precious secrets of the truth withholding nothing, you came out in front and I was hiding. But now I’m so much better and if my words don”t come together, listen to the melody, “cause my love is in there hiding.

2. Carpenters – I Won”t Last A Day Without You (1972)
When there”s no gettin” over that rainbow, when my smallest of dreams won”t come true, I can take all the madness the world has to give, but I won”t last a day without you.

3. Ben Kweller – Sundress (2006)
I don”t need a smile from a mannequin, I just want to hold you in my hands. I do everything you want me to”¦for you.

4. The Weepies – Happiness (2004)
Friday 13, lights go red, green, in a coffee shop. I”m giving you the look while someone else is fingering your wallet in my pocketbook. It”s a mean town, but I don”t care. Try and steal this! Can”t steal happiness.

5. Mindy Smith ““ Falling (2004)
When I”ve almost had enough, something about you draws me back again. When I”ve almost given up, something about you pulls me in. And we”re falling”¦

6. John Prine with Iris Dement – In Spite Of Ourselves (1999)
She thinks all my jokes are corny, convict movies make her horny. She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs, swears like a sailor when shaves her legs. She takes a lickin” and keeps on tickin”. I”m never gonna let her go.

7. Moldy Peaches – Anyone Else But You (2001)
Here is the church and here is the steeple, we sure are cute for two ugly people, I don”t see what anyone can see in anyone else but you.

8. Simone White – The Beep Beep Song (2007)
(Yeah, the one from the Audi commercial) Despite all the warnings I landed like a fallen star in your arms.

9. Curtis Mayfield – So In Love (1975)
This love affair is bigger than we two. Lose our faith and it will swallow you. Loving you is what I”ll always feel, never ever doing things against our will. Loving means, never require any kind of test “¦ Ya got me so in love.

10. Aretha Franklin – Baby I Love You (1967)
If you want my lovin”, if you really do, don”t be afraid, baby. Just ask me, you know I”m gonna give it to you. Oh, and I do declare: I want to see you with it. Stretch out your arms, little boy, you”re gonna get it ““ “cause I love you.

11. Ron Sexsmith ““ Never Give Up On You (2006)
I”d never give up on you because I know you”d do the same for me. Never give up on you because you take me as I am, how I”ll always be.

12. Mary Chapin Carpenter – Grow Old With Me (1999)
Grow old along with me. Two branches of one tree face the setting sun when the day is done. God bless our love. (Beautifully sung by Carpenter, the real poignancy of this song derives from its authorship: written and demoed by John Lennon shortly before his murder in December 1980, it first appeared on his posthumous Milk And Honey album)

13. Tom Waits – Falling Down (1988)
For she loves you for all that you are not “¦You forget all the roses, don”t come around on Sunday. She”s not gonna choose you for standing so tall; go on and take a swig of that poison and like it.

14. Alexi Murdoch – Love You More (2006)
Love you more than anyone. Love you more than anyone. Love you more in time to come. Love you more. (That”s the complete lyric”¦)

15. Finley Quaye ““ Dice (2003)
I was crying over you. I am smiling, I think of you. Misty morning and water falls, breathe in the air if you care, you compare, don”t say farewell. Nothing can compare to when you roll the dice and swear your love”s for me.

16. Dexys Midnight Runners – This Is What She”s Like (1985)
“Well how did all this happen?” “Just all at once really. The Italians have a word for it.” “What word what is it?” “A thunderbolt or something.” “What, you mean the Italian word for thunderbolt?” “Yeah, something like that. I don”t speak Italian myself you understand?” “No.” “But I knew a man who did. Well, that”s my story. The strongest thing I”ve ever seen.” (Single version)

17. The Cure ““ Lovesong (1989)
Whenever I”m alone with you, you make me feel like I am home again. Whenever I”m alone with you , you make me feel like I am whole again. Whenever I”m alone with you, you make me feel like I am young again. Whenever I”m alone with you, you make me feel like I am fun again.

18. Jens Lekman – I Saw Her In The Anti-War Demonstration (2004)
And the skies were clear blue skies, and her eyes were clear blue eyes, and her thighs were about the same size as mine, and we were walking in the anti-war demonstration; it was a sweet sensation of love.

19. Kacy Crowley ““ Kind Of Perfect (2004)
The last few years have been much harder than we ever thought they”d be. I know you hate it when I say I”m sorry, but I”m sorry. There was never a point in our love that I didn”t love you; not a point in our love. I always did, I always will, I always do, love you still, I always would, how could I not? Just look at us baby, we”re kind of perfect.

20. Joshua Radin – The Fear You Won”t Fall (2007)
I know you”re scared that I”ll soon be over it. That”s part of it all, part of the beauty of falling in love with you is the fear you won”t fall.

21. Nina Kinert – Through Your Eyes (2004)
All the time I stood here holding dandylions and chocolate for you. Tumbleweeds and fireworks go by. It”s hard to keep them still for you to see, nut you know that I try. I want to see you watching what I see, now that you”re mine, through your eyes.

22. Sarah Bettens ““ Grey (2005)
Will you be my everything? Maybe just this time we can really think that I am yours and you are mine; I am yours and you are mine…

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More songs about love

The term singer-songwriter has acquired a bad reputation, unjustly so. As I”ve said before, the genre is in its best state since the days of Joni Mitchell and her contemporaries. The critics, it seems, seem to conflate the rich diversity of artists thus categorised with a glut of performers who have found mainstream success, but who are not actually representatives of the genre. They are not representative because, as this collection (and the first one I posted earlier this week) may show. So in these collections do not expect a legion of Jack Johnson and Norah Jones clones.

Sure, some may be influenced by these, but the current crop of singer-songwriters draw their influences widely: Rosie Thomas, Kate Walsh and the Weepies” Deb Talan from folk or “Americana”, Brandi Carlile from rock; Ingrid Michaelson, Laura Veirs, Kimya Dawson and Hello Saferide from different strands of indie; Mindy Smith and Charlotte Kendrick from (alt.)country, Missy Higgins from pop; Maria Taylor from everything. And so on.

The women on this mix may be called “Songirds” (a term I had not seen used when I called my series that last year, but which seems to have currency; it is a good and obvious description). These Songbirds come mostly from the US, but other countries are represented: England (Kate Walsh), Sweden (Hello Saferide), Belgium (Sarah Bettens; the female part of K”s Choice), South Africa (the gorgeous Josie Field), Iceland (Emiliana Torrini), Australia (Missy Higgins). Catherine Feeny was born in the US and moved to England; Michelle Featherstone (who, scandalously, has no record contract) went the other way.

TRACKLISTING
1. Laura Veirs – Pink Light (from Saltbreaker, 2007)
2. Ingrid Michaelson – Breakable (from Girls And Boys, 2006)
3. Brandi Carlile – Late Morning Lullaby (from The Story, 2007)
4. Dar Williams – Farewell To The Old Me (from The Beauty Of The Rain, 2003)
5. Catherine Feeny – Mr. Blue (from Hurricane Glass, 2006)
6. Charlotte Kendrick – Thank You (from North Of New York, 2007)
7. Mindy Smith – Falling (from One More Moment, 2004)
8. Rosie Thomas – Since You’ve Been Around (from If Songs Could Be Held, 2005)
9. Kim Richey – The Absence Of Your Company (from Chinese Boxes, 2007)
10. Missy Higgins – Warm Whispers (from On A Clear Night, 2007)
11. Hello Saferide – The Quiz (from Would You Let Me Play This EP 10 Times A Day?, 2006)
12. Deb Talan – Cherry Trees (from Live at WERS Studio, 2001)
13. Maria Taylor – Two of Those Two (from 11:11, 2005)
14. Kate Walsh – Don’t Break My Heart (from Tim’s House, 2007)
15. Michelle Featherstone – Coffee & Cigarettes (from Fallen Down, 2006)
16. A Fine Frenzy – Come On Come Out (from One Cell In The Sea, 2007)
17. Laura Gibson – Hands In Pockets (from If You Come To Greet Me, 2006)
18. Sarah Bettens – Follow Me (from Scream, 2006)
19. Josie Field – Every Now And Then (from Mercury, 2006)
20. Kathleen Edwards – Scared At Night (from Asking For Flowers, 2008)
21. Emiliana Torrini – Next Time Around (from Fisherman’s Woman, 2004)
22. Gemma Hayes – Evening Sun (from 4.35 AM EP, 2001)
23. Kimya Dawson – Loose Lips (from Remember That I Love You, 2006)

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Here’s the trouble with Valentine’s Day, apart from the crass commercialisation and pressure to spend a month’s salary on a dozen frozen roses shipped in from Argentinia or wherever. Valentine’s Day is just for the select few, the lucky ones who are experiencing love in a good way. It excludes those who yearn for love, those who have had their heart shredded to ribbons, those who love somebody they cannot have. No, it doesn’t just exclude hem; it mocks them. The forced inclusiveness — red and white dresscodes, the Valentine’s cards and, worse, Valentine’s e-mails to people — creates an illusion that love causes no pain, that love is like it is in the movies (and how many rom coms open at your multiplex on February 14?). Worse, Valentine’s Day makes people in a relationship say or do things they may not really mean, even if they don’t really know what they are doing. So for most people, the most appropriate Valentine’s Day song is the one I posted a few days ago: Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris – Love Hurts.mp3

For most people, Valentine’s Day is a banal fraud, and so are many of the songs that extol the glory of love. In lyrics, romantic love, of whatever brand, is usually a musical McGuffin, the plot device that drives the song. The Beatles sang exclusively about romantic love until Rubber Soul, their sixth album, “Nowhere Man” breaking the mould. Some of the emotions portrayed in some of these songs ring true, of course. Sometimes the lyrics are eloquent even. But do they convey the feeling of love accurately? Does, say, Kylie Minogue communicate it today? The challenge today, as it was on the mix-tape I posted on Saturday, is to find songs that can convey being in love believably, in lyrics, sound and performance (songs marked with an asterisk have been recycled from older posts).

Art Garfunkel – All I Know.mp3
“I bruise you, you bruise me. We both bruise too easily, too easily to let it show.” Art Garfunkel breaks our hearts in his beautiful 1973 version of the Jimmy Webb song. Being in love is a fragile reality. You are vulnerable. Your future is determined by the one your with: “All my plans have fallen through, all my plans depend on you; depend on you to help them grow.” Hurt may be just around the corner. Is Art neurotic or realistic when he sings: “But the ending always comes at last; endings always come too fast”? All these questions have no answer. There is only one answer: “I love you, and that’s all I know.”

Sarah Bettens – Grey.mp3
Sarah Bettens, of the folk-rock duo K’s Choice, takes the vulnerable route too. Here, love isn’t red, nor black or white. It’s somewhere in between: grey. Love can die, and Sarah says it might do so from her side even as she pleads to be loved. “You can’t be my everything and I am not half you. But you can make it all worthwhile, and that’s why I love you.”

The Weepies – Cherry Trees (live).mp3
Yeah, posted again. This is a gorgeous love song based on Pablo Neruda’s poem. “I wanna do with you what spring does with the cherry trees”, the idea nicked from Neruda, means that love must renew itself and grow. “Sometimes our love is like a mountain: solid and steep, grounded in heat. And sometimes we rage like a river, cold and fast, then quiet and deep. We ride the storm, ’cause when it’s through we have changed and love is new.” This is the key love surviving summarised in two lines.

Everything But The Girl – Love Is Where I Live.mp3*
Some of the songs here are love-giddy, others communicate the fear of being in love. Of the latter, this is the darkest. Tracy Thorn seems certain that this love won’t last. It’s here now, but may not always be. So she repeats these three words like a mantra: “It won’t last”. She’s been burned in love before, clearly. Love is here, but it cannot survive when one partner thinks it is already doomed. What Tracy needs is a shot of Donny Hathaway’s brand of love.

Donny Hathaway – A Song For You.mp3
In this definitive version of Leon Russell’s stunning declaration of love, Donny Hathaway puts us through the wringer. He has treated the woman he professes to love poorly, but now he is going to articulate just how much he loves her back: “and if my words don’t come together, listen to the melody, ’cause my love is in there hiding”. He’s not lying: the melody is enveloped in pure love. It communicates tenderness and vulnerability. But the words do come together: “I love you in a place where there’s no space or time. I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine. And when my life is over, remember when we were together: we were alone and I was singing this song to you.” Would you not melt? Would that not reassure Tracy Thorn?

Herb Alpert – This Guy’s In Love With You.mp3
It may be a little premature to include this Bacharach composition here. It might belong in yesterday’s post. Our dude has only just picked up that the girl he desires seems to like him back. From here on, Herb gets into it. The deal, as far as he knows, is done. Back out of the deal, he tells her melodramatically in the best bit of the song, and he might not survive it: “My hands are shakin’, don’t let my heart keep breaking ’cause I need your love, I want your love. Say you’re in love and you’ll be my girl…if not…I’ll just…die.” To great effect, when it seems that the song has ended on that note, it resumes with Herb’s trumpet, indicating that probably the girl has not given him cause to die. Yay!

Blue October – Calling You.mp3
We’ve not dealt with the insecurity in love that produces quasi-stalker behaviour, have we? This is where alt.rockers Blue October come in to help us out. This seems to be quite a sweet song: guy finds girl (probably out of his league), life has become easier and better…except he feels the need to phone her all the time to see if she is thinking or dreaming of him (yup, way to keep the girl, dude, waking her up all the time). The thing is, love makes people act stupidly. We may laugh at our dude here, but who in love has not ever had the same impulses?

The Crimea – Lottery Winners On Acid.mp3
Let’s get giddy, kicking off with John Peel-championed Indie-rockers The Crimea (with the original EP version, not the inferior re-recording with which they scored a 2006 UK hit). The song has a ’60s-like exuberance about it, and not just because of the acid reference. Our boy is so deep-fucked in love, he even loses his grasp on basic grammar: “If she get a black eye, I want a black eye. If she get a splinter, I want a splinter too.” And later: “If she get a disease, I want a disease. If she go tripping, I go falling over.” And his Mom might rightly enquire: “If she jumps of a bridge, would you jump as well?” Of course our boy would. ” Everything she say, I was thinking anyway.” Isn’t that just the way love is, initially?

Style Council – You’re The Best Thing (extended).mp3
Presumably Paul Weller wrote this for Dee C. Lee, a former Wham! backing singer who joined the Style Council in 1984 when she and Weller hooked up. So when he sings stuff like: “I could be discontent and chase the rainbows’ end, I might win much more but lose all that is mine” (meaning Dee C.’s love), you sort of wonder what their chances are. All good intentions in vain, Weller and Lee ended up getting divorced.

Sarah McLachlan – Ice Cream (Live).mp3
Sarah McLachlan takes the more conventional route to explain love: it’s like ice cream or chocolate. A jubilatory song that conveys the euphoria that comes with being in love, and being loved back. A note of caution: ice cream and chocolate melt in heat; will the romance retain its shape in the heat of passion?

Minnie Riperton – Lovin’ You.mp3
A song just dripping with love. The birds are singing, so is Minnie, hitting orgasmically high notes. The song was written with her husband, and in the end Minnie sings, in multi-syllable mode, the name of their daughter, Maya (SNL comedian Maya Rudolph). Which is lovely, I think. The lyrics are simple, yet communicate all that needs to be said. The line, “Stay with me while we grow old, and we will live each day in springtime” is a great one for wedding proposals (though these are best not uttered on February 14). In the context of this song it is poignant: Minnie died of cancer in 1979, five years after “Lovin’ You” was a hit.

Earth, Wind & Fire – Love’s Holiday.mp3
Love finds expression in sex. So, to round this thing off, a couple of songs saturated with love and sex. On “Love’s Holiday”, Maurice White rocks his sonorous voice in the most seductive manner. Forget about Barry White or Isaac Hayes, Maurice’s is the voice of a sex god. “Would you mind if I looked in your eyes till I’m hypnotised, and I lose my pride?” Playa got game. But, ooops, what’s this: “Would you mind if I make love to you till I’m satisfied, once again.” Till you are satisfied, Mo? What sort of seductive proposition is that? Promise her satisfaction twice over before you think of yourself, you selfish goon!

Foo Fighters – Everlong (acoustic version.mp3)*
Maurice’s women may be better off with Mr Grohl, who may not look particularly hot, take much care of his hair (if the Grammys performance is a reliable guide) or have a particularly sexy voice, but he has a way with words: “Slow how you wanted it to be… Breath out, so I can breathe you in, hold you in.” And here is the beauty of Grohl’s seduction technique: he doesn’t make grandiose promises of being a bureau-of-standards-approved lovemachine; he doesn’t flatter about bodies being wonderlands. He just outlines how he plans to make an emotional connection while in the act of making love. Which makes this is one of the best song about sex ever.

Rosie Thomas
Four very good albums down the road, and Rosie Thomas remains obscure enough to impress the Eva Cassidy Consensus — the type of people who rave about this posthumously overrated singer as if there aren’t dozens better ones — with something superior. Detroit-born Rosie (by all accounts an utterly delightful woman) knows how to create a mood. Relaxed, cute and humorous one moment, you wish you were with her to share a giggle, next she moves the listener to tears with her beautiful melodies and poignant lyrics. Songs like “Much Farther To Go”, with the gorgeous arrangement and the sad lyrics (“Sometimes I cry when it’s late at night, and you’re not there to lay next to me. Morning breaks and the sun warms my face…how I wish it was you warming me”) reach deep into the listeners’ soul. Likewise, “If This City Never Sleeps”, which opens Rosie’s latest album, communicates in sound and words the sort of undefinable yearning that makes us sigh uncontrollably for no good reason.
Rosie Thomas – If This City Never Sleeps.mp3
Rosie Thomas – Say Hello (with Sufjan Stevens).mp3
Rosie Thomas – Much Farther To Go.mp3

Catherine Feeny
One of those chance discoveries that make you feel great love for chance. I have not heard Catherine Feeny‘s debut, but her sophomore album Hurricane Glass, released last year and re-released this year, is quite excellent. Where is the buzz for this wonderful talent? Born in the US, Feeny lives in rural England; and the influence of two different rock tradition shows. Hurricane Glass is an intimate album with intelligent lyrics telling of of struggles with regret, disillusionment, insecurity, and melancholy, often mitigated by a sense of hope. I love this line from the excellent opener “Touch Back Down”: ” I have got to learn not to go choosing the ones who don”t choose me. I am always picking the fruit that”s furthest on the tree; it”s sweetest to me.” It should be fairly easy to get hold of “Mr Blue”, which has featured on a few soundtracks, a sweet song with a brilliant flugelhorn interlude. If re-releases qualify for consideration when we compile our Albums of the Year lists, Feeny will surely have a crack at inclusion in mine.
Catherine Feeny – Touch Back Down.mp3
Catherine Feeny – Hush Now.mp3

Sarah Bettens
Bettens is a half of the Belgian twosome K’s Choice, an act that is not as well known as it ought to be, despite releasing a string of fine albums since the early ’90s. In 2005 Bettens released her appealing solo debut, Scream, which veered between intimate ballads and alt.rock. In keeping with the songbird theme, I’ve picked up two of the slower songs. “Grey” was just a bonus track, which is puzzling; to me, it’s the best song on the album. The piano-driven song is not only very beautiful, but has thoughtful lyrics about the depth, fears and transience of love (“I have tasted happiness, the innocence of joy. Do we pay a price for every moment we enjoy? I can make you promises, but even I can’t say if everything I feel for you will never go away”). “Stay” is a bit more upbeat and quite catchy; I particularly enjoy Sarah’s hoarse voice.
Sarah Bettens – Grey.mp3
Sarah Bettens – Stay.mp3

Kathleen Edwards
Another talented alt.country singer doomed to remain stuck in the ghetto of tastefully compiled soundtracks (including the exquisite Elizabethtown OST). Life is very unfair. Canadian Kathleen Edwards, who recalls the likes of Lucinda Williams, has supported Dylan, the Stones, and more importantly, the excellent My Morning Jacket. Edwards anticipated the general apathy towards her music when on her 2003 debut Failer she acidly dedicated a song to the radio playlist compilers, “Another Song The Radio Won’t Like”. The catchy number deserved to be playlisted. Alas, Kathleen isn’t big in the blogosphere either (the absence of new material since early 2005, of course, has something to do with that). Well, this blog loves her.
Kathleen Edwards – Summerlong.mp3
Kathleen Edwards – Another Song The Radio Won’t Like.mp3

Tristan Prettyman
Tristan Prettyman came recommended to me by somebody who likened her to Jack Johnson, whom I like in only tiny doses. Her name also put me off from investigating her music. Then I saw the CD cover of this Californian singer’s debut album, and just had to hear what she sounded like. Happily, it was all very nice indeed (an appearance by her boyfriend Jason Mrzaz notwithstanding). Prettyman is breezier than most contemporary songbirds, and on occasion her sound does indeed recall Johnson. In fairness, I think her Twentythree album, released in 2005, was a bit patchy. But where it is good, it hits the right spots. Like these two tracks, the first a sweet ballad, the other breezily upbeat:
Tristan Prettyman – Melting.mp3
Tristan Prettyman – Always Feel This Way.mp3