Love Songs

I thought I’d post a couple of my favorite love songs in honor of Valentine’s Day. I’m posting YouTube videos of them because Google/Blogger has gone all DMCA-enforcer on a bunch of people’s music blogs and has started pulling them down if they host mp3s. (Lame!)

“It’s Only Time” by The Magnetic Fields
I’ve been a fan of Stephin Merrit’s music since I borrowed a mix tape of songs from 69 Love Songs from N back in college. Merrit’s brilliant lyrics and catchy melodies played almost constantly in my car the summer after my sophomore year of college as I drove around wondering where this thing with this boy N was going. This song hadn’t yet come out when we got married and we weren’t really wedding-dance type people, per say, but I can’t think of a better wedding song.
(I have no idea about the picture (?) but this video had the best sound quality I could find.)

“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel
This is the song that N and I tend to think of as “our song.” During the ambiguous friendship stage of our relationship that lasted months and months we sent each other long, long emails almost everyday. N would sometimes include song lyrics in the signature of his emails and one day when I was home for the summer he included these lines:

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all around the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me

When I read those lines I squealed and proceeded to spend entirely too much time trying to analyze N’s meaning. I hadn’t heard the song before but I checked the cd out from the library and listened to it and promptly had my mind blown.

“My, You Look Ravishing Tonight” by Kleenex Girl Wonder
This song is by another artist linked to our courtship days. In college N had this beat-up orange ’74 Volkswagen bug that he drove around. The thing was pretty creaky but N had installed a cd player so he could listen to music as he puttered around. One day (during our ambiguous-friendship days) N offered to give his roommate a ride to the airport to catch a very early flight home and I volunteered to come along and keep him company. We had to leave at some ridiculously hour (I think it was around 5 am) but all I knew was that I would rather tag along so I could spend the hour-ride back to campus chatting in the car with N than sleep in. (And I really like sleeping in so I think I was starting to get the idea that this may serious).

Kleenex Girl Wonder’s album Ponyoak was playing on the drive back and I remember being sleepy but almost giddy with happiness and feeling like the songs fit the occasion perfectly. I love Graham Smith’s music and Ponyoak is still one of my top ten favorite albums ever. While this song isn’t on Ponyoak, it’s my favorite song by Smith.

After having a disappointing dining experience last year on Valentine’s day at one of my favorite steak places (the service was really poor and the food sub par) I vowed not to waste money by going to a fancy place on Valentine’s day again. So instead we’re going to hit up one of our favorite ethnic dives and maybe catch a movie tonight.

Whatever your plans include I hope you have a lovely weekend!