After a hiatus of a few weeks, we return to the age of the Afro, the glorious times of sunny soul which talked about love and preached social-consciousness. Read more…
I’ve said it before (sort of): Valentine’s Day is crap. But that is no reason not to deal with the subject of love this month. All of it: the good, the bad, the shitty. And, oh man, love can be a real bastard. So over ten posts I’ll aim to cover almost all emotions that accompany love: the butterflies that take residence in one’s stomach, the giddiness of being in love, the betrayal and pure pain of love dying, the emotion of being left heartbroken, the bitterness that follows a broken love, the regrets of a love failed, the confusion and conflicts that love deals in several ways, the pure pain of unrequited love, and love that cannot be (not necessarily in that order).
We’ll kick off with the butterflies of falling in love, that incredible emotion when you know that somebody else has dominates your mind, the euphoric fear as you realise things will not be the same again, as you face the prospect of happiness or utter heartbreak. The artists in our selection here are generally a hopeful lot.
The Spinners – Could It Be I’m Falling In Love.mp3
The singer in this glorious slice of 1973 soul has discovered with amazement that he is falling for his latest flame. He makes grand promises of that love being everlasting, mainly, one suspects, because he fears that “there will never come a day when you up and take your love away”. In the fadeout he is begging that she, who in the first verse seems to have fallen for him, will not fuck him over. He doesn’t use such language, of course, but the message is clear: dude is giddy and scared.
Colbie Caillat – Realize.mp3
I’ve posted this before (twice, I’m ashamed to say), but I’m all for recycling. And this song is as perfect for this post as Colbie believes she and her object of love are for each other. A cute song which acknowledges that love on first sight is not a common occurrence. She and the paramour have known each other for a while, and suddenly — pow — she realises she’s in love. That happened to me once while away in Johannesburg (possibly the ugliest city in the world). Sitting in the car, I realised — pow — that I was in love with a girl back home. Alas, the story will have to continue in the post about unrequited love.
The Weepies – Gotta Have You.mp3
Another recycled song, I’m afraid (I promise, it’ll get better as we go along, but this is about finding the right song for the right emotion. And this one happens to feature four I’ve posted before). The cute Deb Talan sets out her agenda: she has to win the heart of the man who has entered hers. I’m not sure she is going about it the right way as she admits to deliberately annoying him in the first verse. Yet, her commitment is evident: “No amount of coffee, no amount of cryin’, no amount of whiskey, no amount of wine; no, no, no, no, no, nothing else will do: I’ve gotta have you, I’ve gotta have you.”
Stephen Bishop – It Might Be You.mp3
As I said in the introduction to the Valentines mix tape (thanks for the nice comments, those who bothered), love demands some cliché, and Stephen Bishop is our man for that purpose with the love theme from Tootsie, which was a rather nice movie starring the lovely Jessica Lange, and some chap. Beware though, only the melody is cliché; the lyrics are quite beautiful. “I’ve been saving love songs and lullabies. And there’s so much more no one’s ever heard before”. Awwww! This is a vinyl rip, for that extra piece of romantic nostalgia (that is to say, I can’t find my Stephen Bishop CD).
Michelle Featherstone – Falling.mp3
The wonderful Michelle Featherstone doesn’t go with the giddy in this quite fantastic, Mazzy Star-ish song. Love is sucking her in and making her knees buckle, but not necessarily in a good way. She’s not comfortable making herself vulnerable: “In my state of vertigo I can’t look down, can’t feel the ground, so will you catch me?” The fear of falling…
Weezer – Falling For You.mp3
Oh yes, falling in love can come in all sorts of musical genres (though in C&W that would probably involve a doggy gone died). So we’ve had the Spinners falling in love soulfully, Colbie Caillat acoustically, the Weepies folkily, Michelle Featherstone darkly and Stephen Bishop schmaltzily. Weezer doing so alt.rockingly. And what a joyous song to do it with. The lyrics are less joyous. Rivers Cuomo knows he’s setting himself up: “I’m shakin’ at your touch, I like you way too much. My baby I’m afraid I’m falling for you. I’d do ’bout anything to get the hell out alive, or maybe I would rather settle down, with you.”
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