Oh, poor neglected blog. I wish I had some fantastic excuse as to why I haven’t posted here in so long. The truth, however, is just that I have been lazy.
It’s that time of year again though! Where those who are single hate couples that much more, and couples get stupid and gooey over one another for no reason other than corporate America tells us we should. Ah, Valentine’s day. The problem with Valentine’s day is that, while I would love to say “Fuck it! Stupid waste of a ‘holiday’! Don’t get me anything at all, tell me EVERYDAY you love me!”, as a dumb girl I get seriously (not-so-secretly
) mushy over the whole mess. This year, I am lucky enough to be in what I consider to be the most amazing, fulfilling, true relationship of my life, and because of that, this snarktress has lost some of her cynicism and has been a ball of moosh for a few weeks now.
One of the benefits of being with someone who loves music as much as my boyfriend does, is that the old tried and true mix”tape” is always a great gift idea. When we first met, we made one another mixes, mostly about the feelings that come along with brand new relationships. He also made me a mix called “The story so far” a few months into it, which was a chronicle via song of how we came to be. Note to readers: It is impossible to NOT fall in love with someone who spends the time picking out songs that express how they feel, putting them in the perfect order, and making wonderful cover art to go along with it. It’s appropriate for ANY occasion, free, and the most wonderful way to share with someone who you really are.
And there it is, the magic of the mix. The thrill of listening to a song and thinking, “That’s it! That’s exactly how they make me feel.” Putting it out there, saying to your crush, or someone you’ve just begun to date, “Please listen to every single line, every single note, and know that I mean every word, even if those words are not my own” is terrifying! What if they think your taste in music sucks? What if they don’t feel the same way you do, and find you to just be a creep? What if they just don’t “get” it? Or, worse, what if they end up hitting “skip” on most of the songs???
Haha, Suckers! One of the perks of being in a relationship, especially one where it’s still very much lovey dovey honey moony is that by default he will be just as excited by every word, every great line will touch him the same way. It’s a good feeling.
The scene in our bedroom last night: The two of us sitting on our bed, each on our own computers, ear phones on, making final choices for our mixes. We communicated via aim, turning once in a while to smile at one another, or mouth I love you. If that’s not pretentious, nerdy, sickening true love, I don’t know what is. It occurred to me that in looking for songs that screamed to me “I LOVE THIS PERSON SO FUCKING MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, I picked quite a few songs about sex. No surprise there to anyone who knows us, I suppose, but it worried me a bit at first. I got over that quickly though 😉
Melody and a catchy chorus are always good things. For me however, the most important thing about any song will always be the lyrics. So, because I’m sure everyone cares about what songs I chose as much as I do, I present to you:
My Musical Love Letter To you : Valentine’s day 2010 Mix
1) You Are The Best Thing – Ray LaMontagne I love this song, though it’s hard to listen to Ray’s voice and not fall in love with anything he’s singing about. “You are the best thing ever happen to me”. Simple, to the point, and perfectly sums it up.
2) I’ll Make You Mine – Rainer Maria “I’ll make, I’ll make you mine… because I love you so tonight. I promise that I will send my fears away.” That’s just it, isn’t it? Who here isn’t completely terrified of falling in love? But you just do it, and you stop being scared and you simply dive in. (Side note: All time favorite song about being terrified about falling in love, but doing it anyways? Anna Begins by Counting Crows. But let’s be honest here, thast’s my all time favorite song, period)
3) First Love – The Maccabees “First love, Last love, It’s only love”. Every time you fall, it’s like the first time, and you’re always sure it will be the last time. It’s always new, something different. This song is infectious, in the best way. And don’t worry, it’s not a (not so) subtle way of telling the boy I want to marry him 😉
4) Part One – Band of Horses I just don’t think a love mix should be without Band of Horses. I would have put “No One’s Gonna Love You”, but that was on the first mix I made him. The lyrics are just so sweet. “To wake next to you in the morning/ and good morning to you. How do you do? /Hey, good morning to you!”
5) Like U Crazy – Mates of State “I can’t wait to say all the things you can’t see All the things that make you better”
6) Funny Little Frog – Belle and Sebastian It’s impossible to hear this song and not smile and sing along. Humor and romance all mixed in one, what’s not to love? “Honey, lovin’ you is the greatest thing, I get to be myself and I get to sing” I love this. The boy and I talk all the time how this is the first relationship we’ve both been in where we’ve been able to truly just be who we are. For me, that’s what being in love is – the most pure expression of yourself shared with someone else.
7) My List – 7 Seconds “Breathe as two and think as one”. 7 Seconds is one of my all time favorite bands, sadly it’s just about impossible to find this song online that is the original version, and not the cover by onelinedrawing. But, if you take the time to download it, it’s worth it. I promise!
8 ) Rapture – Pedro The Lion Pedro The Lion is a case of “I really hate music with obvious religious overtones, but I love all his songs anyhow, so just ignore it”. The first line of the song is, “This is how we multiply, pity that it’s not my wife”. Which, I realize most likely is talking about sex without marriage, but given our own personal history, it means a little something else. I just love this song, and religious or not, I find it to be incredibly sexy.
9) Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez My annoyingly pretentious boyfriend informed me that this cover was a HUGE hit in the indie scene a while ago. Well, fuck him, I just discovered it and I love it and that’s all that matters. This is one of the few covers, imo, that is much better than the original, but I also am not a fan of The Knife, so I could be completely biased on that. It’s just a beautiful song. “Ten days of perfect tunes, the colors red and blue. We had a promise made, we were in love.”
10) Golden – My Morning Jacket Cliche and overused in my mixes? Yes, I’m sure. But “Millions of dreams come real, A feeling in my soul I’d never felt before” says it all.
11) I Love How You Love Me – Camera Obscura This is NOT another case where the cover is better than the original, but it’s still a wonderful version of a well know song.
12) At My Most Beautiful – REM This was not a song I was going to put on the mix. But one night I was laying in bed, close to 3 am, and he was sleeping next to me. The song popped up on my ipod, and for some unknown reason, the line “I count your eyelashes, secretly With every one, whisper I love you” made me cry, and I couldn’t stop tearing up. On to the mix it went.
13) Gentle Hour – Yo La Tengo I admit, I’m not the biggest Yo La Tengo fan ever, but this song gets me every time. It’s just a beautiful, romantic song. “You’re in my world all the time”
14) You Are The Moon – The Hush Sound I almost didn’t put this on here, I feel like it’s a bit too girly/cutesy to give to my boyfriend. But lyrics like “You will see your beauty every moment that you rise” changed my mind. It’s especially great if you have an amazing and wonderful partner who just doesn’t get that they are those things. *COUGH COUGH*
15) Everything With You – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart Mostly this is on here because I SWORE I had put Pains on my first mix to him, but I apparently did not. “I want everything with you”
16) Ballad For My One True Love – Mason Jennings There is something so sexy and inviting about Mason Jenning’s voice. Not only that, but all of his songs are just right there. “Sweetheart, this is my dream come true”
17) Strangled By The Thought – The New Amsterdams (ignore the video) This is one of the few times I put a song on a mix based purely on one line. I love the New Amsterdams – Hell, I have loved everything Matt Pryor has done. But, this isn’t exactly the best I love you so much song, unless you’re gone a lot, or in a long distance relationship. We live together, however its a beautiful song, and the line at the end, “Because all I want is you” is aces.
18) Follow You, Follow Me – Red House Painters Seriously underrated band, in my opinion. One of those should have been a lot bigger than they were bands. I believe they have reformed under a different name. “Everyday is such a perfect day to spend alone with you. I will follow you, will you follow me?”
19) My Love For you is Real – Ryan Adams Ryan Adams is a cocky mother fucker, but he can write love songs like no one’s business. “My love for you is strong, lord it brings me to my knees”
20) Breathless – Adorable The perfect way to end a valentine’s mix. “I love you” just sung over and over again at the end. So pure and honest.
And there you have it. My mix to the boy I love. I hope you enjoyed listening to these tracks. What would you put on your valentine’s mix?
Happy Valentine’s Day, Chumpy. I love you ❤
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