Does anybody actually enjoy Valentine’s Day?

I mean, does anybody really enjoy it? If you’re single, it’s a reaffirmation of how deeply unlovable you are. If you’re new into a relationship, it’s an anxiety-fraught invitation to overcommit, an event designed to trick you into buying a near stranger expensive clothes in patterns they don’t really like. And if you’re in a long-term relationship, it’s a dull, passionless requirement; a mere job, as bland and soul-crushing as a six-hour shift at Macca’s.

In fact, the only good thing about Valentine’s Day is that it provides an excuse to blast the world’s sappiest love songs – tunes so sweet they’d give you diabetes at any other point in the year.

So we reached out to some of the Australian bands we love and asked them to talk about the love songs they love.

Gordi

The Song:Billy Joel, ‘Just The Way You Are’

Why I Love It:“[It’s] an old one, but a good one. I’m a long-time lover of Billy Joel and grew up listening to this song, and I’m a sucker for a ’70s piano ballad about an old, familiar kind of love. We used to have it on cassette tape and listen to it in the car as kids, and halfway through this song it would stop and we’d have to change to the B-side. Even now when I listen to it I still expect it to stop at that same point.”

These New South Whales

The Song:The Peep Tempel, ‘Carol’

Why We Love It:“This is a beautiful, raw and hard out Australian punk rock love song with a whole lot of heart on the sleeve, where it belongs. If someone’s been on your mind,fuck it, tell them how you feel because nobody wants to be afucking Christmas ham.”

Betty & Oswald

The Song:Ariel Pink, ‘Baby’

Why We Love It: “Oh boy, favourite love song would have to be ‘Baby’ by Ariel Pink because it’s so fine.Makes me feel smooth and sultry like aMondaymorning with your lover under the covers. Do not disturb.”

Flowertruck

The Song: Dick Diver, ‘Boys’

Why We Love It:“It’s the all too familiar tale of “more than just friends”. He loves me, he loves me not, he’s the centre-half forward and I’m caught in the ruck. Splashy cymbal work and a creeping bassline arouse a sickly noir; a seemly homage to the mysteries of love unrequited and woodwork class. Watch where you’re putting that bandsaw, RJ. I dunno, maybe I’m doing love wrong.”

Julia Why?

The Song:The Go-Betweens, ‘Love Goes On!’

Why We Love It: “The first time I heard this song I had to put it on repeat for about a week straight. It’s honest, desperate and full of lust – “There are times that I want you, I want you so bad I could bust”. It’s sweet and gentle – “I know a thing about lovers, lovers lie down in trust”. And the chorus feels inherently optimistic, like he knows that even if this love is doomed to fail, another love will emerge from the ashes inevitably. And another one after that. It’s a never-ending cycle of love. Love love love. And the guitar solo is boss.”

Royal Chant

The Song: Nick Drake,‘Time Has Told Me’

Why We Love It: “This is one of the few songs I can think of that can stand alone on its own as a poem, and a rather fine one at that. It aches in all the right ways, and despite its melancholy tone it has wisps of hope buried within. It’s a straight up romantic ode that isn’t afraid to come out and say it, using a some slightly archaic verbiage that sets it apart and gives it something of a spectral, fairie-like quality, as if haunted by beauty. A rare, rare find.”

Jess Ribeiro

The Song: Tommy Jane and The Shondells, ‘Crimson And Clover’

Why I Love It: “It’s a beautiful dreamy number.”

Mope City

The Song:Galaxie 500, ‘Sorry’

Why We Love It:“It was hard to pick a favourite but this is definitely up there. I always thought of this song as a kind of warped love song about two people that sometimes bicker and argue about trivial things, maybe because they want everything to be perfect for one another. Eventually they return home and are alone in a quiet moment, sitting there in an air of familiarity and trust as happy as they could ever want. During those moments all the mundane arguments from before become so unimportant in comparison they forget they ever happened. The fact that they are “sorry all the time” doesn’t matter because they know how the other ultimately feels.”

Alison Galloway (Smudge)

The Song: Afghan Whigs,‘My Curse’

Why I Love It: “The only song guaranteed to give me goosebumps every time I hear it. A dark and disturbing duet featuring the heart-wrenching vocals of Marcy Mays from Scrawl. Her voice is the perfect accompaniment to the brooding lustiness of Mr. Greg Dulli. Perfection.”

Adam Yee (Smudge)

The Song:Ricky Nelson, ‘Lonesome Town’

Why I Love It:“[My favourite love song?] ‘Lonesome Town.’ Easy.”

Tom Morgan (Smudge, Sneeze, Bambino Koresh)

The Song:Whitney Houston, ‘I Will Always Love You’

Why I Love It: “Being asked to nominate your favourite love song sounds easy, like being asked to nominate your favourite film with swearing. But on closer inspection most love songs I know and, well, love, are really about heartbreak. Heartbreak or obsession. Sex and death also feature heavily. So it’s with some surprise I find myself asking (like Howard Jones and Haddaway before me), ‘What is love?’

“I imagine my favourite Valentine’s song is all about the chorus. Not the verses. In verses doubt creeps in. Trains are caught, notes are left, phone calls go unanswered. People get hurt in verses. But if it’s good, the chorus is the part you remember. So I choose ‘I Will Always Love You’. The Whitney Houston version.”

Got a favourite love tune that went sadly unrepresented in this post? Share it in the comments below. Till next time, loverboys and gurls.

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