Tag: Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is Ash Wednesday

Being selfless can be a self-centered act.

Without looking, I knew I would find this sentence in some news source: “Parishioners… think Valentine’s Day is actually a great day to start Lent.” Romantic love, Jesus’ love, and all that.

This resonates, even though Lent is intended for sacrifice and February 14 is usually keyed to indulging in candy, more in line with Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras, which immediately precedes Lent.

But I’ve heard enough Ash Wednesday and other Lenten sermons to make the case that indulging and sacrificing do not have to be that far apart. Traditionally, Christian believers tend to put aside a particular vice such as the chocolate that is a favored treat.

Perhaps you can make a sacrifice of your time to indulge the human need of personal connection. Maybe it’d be a visit to someone you hadn’t seen in a while. Or a handwritten letter, rather than email. Or an honest-to-goodness phone call, not merely a text.

Maybe you can do something for someone else. Random Acts Of Kindness Raise Dopamine Levels And Boost Your Mood. Being selfless can be a self-centered act.

And it does not need to be a large gesture. Opening a door… and giving advice are wonderful ways to give. “Anytime we step outside of ourselves long enough to help someone else, something wonderful is waiting for us when we return: the Happiness Trifecta neurochemicals are all boosted!”

When I was a kid, you could always tell which of your classmates were Catholic by their “dirty foreheads” on Ash Wednesday. But somewhere along the line, the mainline Protestant churches “gave up” on the rejection of this ritual and embraced it instead.

Here is vlogbrothers: “Two Love Stories”

Finally, here again is my favorite Valentine’s Day song, by Steve Earle.

If I could I would deliver to you
Diamonds and gold; it’s the least I can do
So if you’ll take my IOU
I could make it up to you
Until then I hope my heart will do
For Valentine’s Day

A tree-killing Valentine’s Day

No, I’m not sending The Wife an electronic card.

heart-in-handsLast year at this time, New Republic published an article called Valentine’s Day Is an Environmental Travesty. It noted:

Sure, you could criticize on environmental grounds all manner of small pleasures, such as eating burgers, or driving gasoline-powered cars, or drinking frostily refrigerated beer… Yet sending a greeting card is worse as an example of personal carelessness, because its greener alternative is so painless and, indeed, so much more convenient. I don’t like veggie burgers, I can’t afford a Tesla, and I hate warm beer. But forsaking a paper greeting card for an emailed Valentine? I’m pretty sure I— as well as my family and you— could live with that.

Reason is no match for emotion, of course, so it’s no surprise that the dead-tree greeting-card industry continues to thrive.

Sentimental sap am I – guilty as charged. No, I’m not sending The Wife an electronic card. It feels too ephemeral. And if you’ve ever seen The Wife’s e-mail inbox – it had been over 1000 unread messages for a time, and is still over 800 – you might conclude that she might not even SEE my e-card.

So it’s the dead tree, carbon footprint Valentine. At least I walk to the store.

And NOT this.

Oh, I was reading the magazine Redbook in a waiting room. There’s an article in the December 2014 issue, “Things that (mostly) happy couples know” by Lisa Miller. LESSON #1: “Go looking for signs of relationship trouble in a self-help book and you’ll find them.” Makes sense to me.

Here are Top 50 ‘Love’ Songs of All Time, from Billboard magazine.

Here’s a 12-minute film Encore un Hiver.

 

I Feel Alright

Steve-Earle-I-Feel-Alright-471005As previously noted, one of my favorite songs for this holiday is Valentine’s Day [LISTEN] by Steve Earle. I could not find a music link to it before, but now I have one. Here are the lyrics:

I come to you with empty hands
I guess I just forgot again
I only got my love to send
On Valentine’s Day

I ain’t got a card to sign
Roses have been hard to find
I only hope that you’ll be mine
On Valentine’s Day …

Also on that fine album, I Feel Alright, is the very Beatlesque More Than I Can Do [LISTEN], with lyrics.

Oh, just get ALL the lyrics to the album.
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For a more traditional piece, here’s newly-elected Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Linda Ronstadt singing My Funny Valentine, with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

Love, Actually

When I deigned to come up with Songs That Move Me a few years back, God Only Knows was #1.

Yeah, yeah, we should always tell people we love them, and we shouldn’t need to a day to do so. Blah, blah, blah. Just like Thanksgiving should be the only day we should give thanks. Except we DON’T always give thanks or show love. We get too busy or take each other for granted.

I have a very small family. My parents are deceased. My wife and each of my two sisters have but one daughter each. I feel as though it is necessary to tell them all, as well as my friends, how much I care for them.

I don’t know if I mentioned how much I like the website Pantheon Songs, which is attempting to create “a fictional Pantheon in which only the best songs will be included.” And only one song per band! Sometimes I agree, sometimes not.

His choice for the Beach Boys was spot on: God Only Knows. When I deigned to come up with Songs That Move Me a few years back, God Only Knows was #1. Of course, it’s my favorite Beach Boys song.

Those of you who have seen the movie Love Actually – here’s the trailer – will recall that God Only Knows plays at a pivotal late scene. The quality of this video is not great, but I still find it quite moving, still.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Parade magazine had a list of Americans’ All-Time Favorite Love Songs:
1. “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston
2. “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers
3. “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge
4. “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker
5. “How Deep Is Your Love” by The Bee Gees
6. “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith
7. “Crazy” by Patsy Cline
8. “I Want To Know What Love Is” by Foreigner
9. “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” by Bryan Adams
10. “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
For the most part, meh.

Some local column asked about the Valentine’s Day proposal – romantic or cliche? I voted “nay – diminishes every subsequent v-day and if it doesn’t work out, sucks the joy out of the day altogether.” What dost thou think?
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Bought Valentine’s Day cards a couple of days ago for my daughter’s class. It’s been a while since I shopped for these, but I was surprised that SO many of the items were licensed products, representing, e.g., the Disney princesses, Pixar’s Cars, and the animated Madagascar movies; disappointing.

Two songs for Valentine’s Day

It’s Love by the Rascals, back when they were still Young, features the flute by Hubert Laws. It’s the B-side of the single A Girl Like You, and is the last song on the Groovin’ album from 1967.

I know you romantics might have a difficult time believing this, but not everyone LOVES Valentine’s Day. The idea of romantic love is anathema to them. And I know, ’cause I’ve been there.

For you who hate the day, LISTEN to a song by Beck. This is the 1990s singer, not the 1960s guitarist. Oh, what’s the title? It starts with A, ends with HOLE, and has seven letters. I first came across it when it was covered by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers for the soundtrack to the movie She’s The One. Petty’s version borrows heavily from the original. I love the juxtaposition of the pleasant harmonized melody with the depressing text:
She dangles carrots, makes you feel embarrassed
To be the fool you know you are
She’ll do anything
She’ll do anything
She’ll do anything to make you feel like an…

On the other side of the mood fence, LISTEN to It’s Love by the Rascals, back when they were still Young, featuring flute by Hubert Laws. It’s the B-side of the single A Girl Like You and is the last song on the Groovin’ album from 1967.

I actually bought the CD version of this album specifically for this song. I had it on vinyl – still do, actually – but the fancy new stereo record player that I bought in the late 1980s would automatically eject the side before the song was over. There was very little room between those outro grooves and the record label in the center on Side 2 of the album, and I could get only 3/4s of the way through It’s Love. Maddening. BTW, my OLD record player, which I had to junk, never gave me such problems.

Here’s another video of It’s Love, this one with the trippy lyrics:
“Oh, what a wild sensation
Multiple revelations”
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I was always partial to the Whitney Houston song How Will I Know. You’ll find it at this link, along with two dozen more of her songs. Dead at 48. Yikes.

Ramblin' with Roger
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