Down with Love

Now that it's February, and Valentine's Day approaches, I thought it was time for a new playlist. I should start by saying that I don't hate Valentine's Day, and I don't call it Singles Awareness Day (SAD). In fact, I often celebrate it with chocolates, a romantic movie, and maybe even some red wine if I'm not living with the parentals. This year, I thinking of checking out a trashy romance novel from the library. I never did finish the one I was reading for Nancy Pearl's genre class. I guess I'll have to see what kind of selection the library of conservative Davis county offers. Anyway, back to the playlist. This is not a selection of love songs, nor is it an offering of breakup songs, or even a list of Single & Fabulous (exclamation point!) songs (even if I am often, though not always, happily single). Instead, these are fifteen "love songs" for the the lonely and lovelorn, the emotionally damaged and the J. Alfred Prufrocks.

“Hounds of Love” by Kate Bush
And I’m ashamed of running away / From nothing real— / I just can’t deal with this / I’m still afraid to be there / Among your hounds of love

“Fidelity” by Regina Spektor
I never loved nobody fully / Always one foot on the ground / Suppose I kept on singing love songs / Just to break my own fall

“One Man Guy” by Rufus Wainwright (Loudon Wainwright III cover)
This is a gorgeously solipsistic song.
I don’t know why I’m a one man guy / Or why I’m a one man show / But these three cubic feet of bone and blood and meat are all I love and know

“So Unsexy” by Alanis Morissette
I can feel so unsexy for someone so beautiful / So unloved for someone so fine / I can feel so boring for someone so interesting / So ignorant for someone of sound mind

“Untouchable Face” by Ani DiFranco
Fuck you / For existing in the first place / And who am I / That I should be vying for you touch / Who am I? / I bet you can’t even tell me that much

“Creep” by Radiohead
“You’re so fucking special / I wish I was special / But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo / What the hell am I doing here?

“Fear” by Sarah McLachlan
But I fear / I have nothing to give / I have so much to lose / Here in this lonely place

“Hallelujah” by Allison Crowe (Leonard Cohen cover)
I have several excellent covers of this song, but Crowe's is my favorite.
All I ever learned from love / Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you / Well it’s not a cry that you hear at night / It’s not somebody who’s seen the light / It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah

“Coin-Operated Boy” by The Dresden Dolls
The first offering from the punk cabaret Dolls, Amanda Palmer is sort of the patron saint of this playlist. I was also considering her song "Ampersand."
Made of plastic and elastic / He is rugged and long-lasting / Who could ever, ever ask for more? / Love without complications galore

“How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths
No one has Morrissey's melodramatic flair for turning teen angst and doomed relationships into catchy pop songs.
There’s a club if you’d like to go / You could meet somebody who really loves you / So you go and you stand on your own / And you leave on your own / And you go home and you cry / And you want to die

“Fuck and Run” by Liz Phair
I want a boyfriend / I want all that stupid old shit like letters and sodas / I can feel it in my bones / I’m gonna spend another year alone

“I Think I Need a New Heart” by The Magnetic Fields
But the words you want to hear / You will never hear from me / I’ll never say, “Happy Anniversary” / Never stay to say “Happy Anniversary” / So I think I need a new heart

“The Queen and the Soldier” by Suzanne Vega
In this haunting ballad, a soldier forces a queen to confront her innermost fears, and for that he is killed.
But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break / And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached / And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred / The battle continued on

“The Perfect Fit” by The Dresden Dolls
I’m not exceptionally shy, but I’ve never had a man / That I could look straight in the eye and tell my secret plans / I can take a vow and I can wear a ring / I can make you promises, but they won’t mean a thing

“Save Me” by Aimee Mann
Come on and save me / If you could save me / From the ranks of the freaks / Who suspect they could never love anyone