I’m frankly a little hesitant to do a Valentine’s Day post since my Christmas post was one of the least popular I’ve done. But then the Cole Porter post has been way more popular than I anticipated, so what do I know?

Sonic Youth “Superstar” (The Carpenters)
The lyrics of Karen Carpenter’s songs are generally pretty disturbing if you actually listen to them. Thurston Moore sings this one like a creepy diaper-wearing astronaut stalker. Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!

Hole “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)” (The Crystals)
Speaking of disturbing lyrics. Wikipedia has this to say about the song:

Goffin and King wrote the song after discovering that singer Little Eva was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied with complete sincerity that her boyfriend’s actions were motivated by his love for her.

The song was written and intended as a sort of protest song from the point of view of an abused woman.

Courtney Love was born to sing this song.

Fastball “This Guy’s In Love With You” (Herb Alpert)
Howzabout a little schmaltz to clear the palette after that last song? “The Way” has always been something of a guilty pleasure for me. So has Burt Bacharach for that matter. The combination of Fastball and Bacharach is too much for me to resist.

Joan Osborne “How Sweet It Is” (Marvin Gaye)
A few years ago Ms. Osborne did a wonderful (and commercially ignored, as far as I can tell) covers CD called How Sweet It Is. It’s really great stuff, all very old school soul and R&B.

Petty Booka “Teacher’s Pet” (Doris Day)
Petty Booka is two absolutely adorable Japanese women who play ukuleles and charm the socks off all who stand in their way. They didn’t perform this song when I saw them play live but they did lead the audience in a singalong of “Que Sera Sera.”