For the most part Valentine’s Day kind of sucks, no matter your romantic situation. For those without a sweetheart, it can be a day of exhausted resentment as one watches those lucky souls in love make plans to celebrate their relationship. For those lucky souls in love, it means extra pressure to arbitrarily prove one’s devotion to the other, too often by means of store bought cliches or crowded restaurant reservations. Of course, the true romantics find creative ways to communicate their love and are wise enough to steer clear of cocoa-lactose confections, dye-injected rose petals, or stuffed animals made by nine-year-old sweatshop laborers in China. We can thank the wealth of great songwriters for giving us ways to express love, shared joy, and intimacy in clever, unexpected ways. Here are a few for you to enjoy or get you started on crafting that mix CD for your sweetie.

John Prine & Iris Dement – “In Spite of Ourselves”

This song holds a special place in my heart because two of my favorite people in the world sang this to one another during their wedding ceremony.  Made a beautiful day even more so.
  
Well, he ain’t got laid in a month of Sundays
I caught him once, and he was sniffin’ my undies
He ain’t real sharp, but he gets things done
Drinks his beer like it’s oxygen
But he’s my honey, and I’m his baby
Never gone let him go

__________

 Levon Helm – “Got Me a Woman”

Nothin’ in the world make me treat that woman mean
She shaves my beard and keeps my tractor clean
She burns my bread, makes me eat turnip greens
But I don’t care, she’s the best little woman I’ve seen

__________

Hayes Carll (w/Bonnie Whitmore) – “Another Like You”

(With respect to Ms. Whitmore, the album version with the saucy Cary Ann Hearst is an unbeatable version but, alas, no video.)


Well, you’re probably a Democrat
Well, what the hell is wrong the that?
Nothing if you’re Taliban
I bet you slept with half the south
Don’t you ever shut your mouth?
How much did you pay for that tan?
More than you paid for those boots
…
I’m havin’ trouble breathin’
Well, I should probably be leavin’
You know I’m up in room 402
I gotta hand it to ya’, there’s a chance I’m gonna screw ya’
I have never seen another like you

__________

John Hartford – “Get No Better”

One of my favorite songs of all time.  Captures the feeling of early love beautifully (especially that of pot-smokin’ hippies in the 7o’s.)

She taught school and he played the five-string banjo
She lived here in town, and he traveled the whole world wide
She packed the lunch, he drove the car and scored a lid
Just when they thought it couldn’t get no better, then it did

Just when you think it can’t get no better, then it does
Well, it’s always so much better than it ever was
Seems like all the good things come at once
Just when you think it can’t get no better, then it does

__________

The Avett Brothers – “Love Like the Movies”

So you want to be in love like the movies
But in the movies they’re not in love at all
And with a twinkle in their eyes
They’re just saying their lines
So we can’t be in love like the movies

__________

Todd Snider – “Barefoot Champagne”

Barefoot champagne all morning
Big House red wine all night
Girl, you never did learn to do nothing
But lay around and do nothing right

Oh baby, the things you put me through
I don’t think anybody ever loved anybody
As much as I love you

__________

Carolina Chocolate Drops – “Cornbread and Butterbeans”

Because nothing prepares lovers for an evening of intimacy like sharing a pot of beans.

Cornbread and butter beans and you across the table,
Eating them beans and making love as long as I am able,
Hoeing corn and cotton, too, and when the day is over,
Ride a mule, a crazy fool, and love again all over.

__________


Ray Wylie Hubbard – “Drunken Poet’s Dream”

I got a woman she’s wild as Rome
She likes to lay naked and be gazed upon
She crosses a bridge and then sets it on fire
Lands like a bird on a telephone wire

Wine bottles scattered like last nights clothes
Cigarettes, papers, and dominoes
She laughs for a minute about the shape I’m in
Says, “You be the sinner honey, I’ll be the sin.”

__________

Old Crow Medicine Show – “Down Home Girl”

Well, I swear your, perfume babe

Made out of turnip greens

Well, everytime I kiss you girl

It tastes like pork and beans

Even though you’re wearin’ them

Uptown high heels

I can tell by your giant step

You been walkin’ through the cotton fields

Oh, you’re so down home girl

__________

Chubby Parker –  “King Kong Kitchie Ki-Me-O (Frog Went A-Courtin’)”

There is no sweeter love song.  Period. 

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Dustin Ogdin is a freelance writer and journalist based in Nashville, TN. His work has been featured by MTV News, the Associated Press, and various other stops in the vast environs of the world wide web. His personal blog and home base is Ear•Tyme Music. Click below to read more and network with Dustin.

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