Mix Tape Thursday: Love + Happiness

It’s Valentine’s Day — the one day of the year you’re allowed to indulge in your crushes and flirt with abandon. (Okay, some of us live that way every day — but this is the day for you shy kids.)

Today’s mix tape has two sides (you’re welcome, Anandamide). Side A is the Love side — those songs that make you swoon over romantic lyrics, make you want to fall madly in love, leave you aching for long, deep kisses. Side B is the Happiness side — because what makes us happier than the sexy side of love? These are the songs that make me wanna … well, you know ... the songs that send those delicious shivers between my shoulder blades.

Disclaimer: You may scratch your head over some selections — but there are personal reasons behind them, so quit scratching and start enjoying.

Some sleazebag bloggers have been stealing my MP3 URLs and publishing them on other sites without permission — which is eating up the download bandwidth for you — so this week I’m linking just A-side and B-side zip files. Don’t you hate slimy weenies who ruin it for the rest of us?

Spending a week listening to songs about love has left me in a romantic tizzy. I’ve been swooning and swaying all week, my hand dramatically pressed against my forehead as if I’m in a Douglas Sirk flick — in Technicolor, of course. Listening to Side B has left me in a whole different type of tizzy.

Side A: LOVE

Al Green :: Love and Happiness

Aretha Franklin :: I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)

Sinéad O'Connor :: Nothing Compares 2 U

Bruce Springsteen :: She’s the One

Grant Lee Buffalo :: Truly, Truly

Joss Stone :: Fell in Love with a Boy

Edwyn Collins :: A Girl Like You

Matthew Sweet :: Looking at the Sun

R.E.M. :: Be Mine

Pearl Jam :: Love Reign O'er Me

Oasis :: Wonderwall

Elvis Costello :: She

Petra Haden + Bill Frisell :: I've Got a Crush on You

Shane MacGowan + Sinéad O'Connor :: Haunted

John Lennon :: Oh My Love

Bruce Cockburn :: Last Night of the World

Nick Drake :: Northern Sky

Iron & Wine :: Love and Some Verses

Glen Hansard + Marketa Irglová :: Falling Slowly

k.d. lang :: So in Love

Big Star :: Thirteen

Landon Pigg :: Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

Shelby Lynne :: Dreamsome

Van Morrison :: Someone Like You

Etta James :: A Sunday Kind of Love

Neil Young :: Harvest Moon

The Beatles :: I Will

The Rolling Stones :: Wild Horses

The National :: Wasp Nest

Sam Phillips :: When I Fall

David Bowie :: Without You

Anita Baker :: Caught up in the Rapture

John Hiatt :: Learning How to Love You

Warren Zevon :: Keep Me in Your Heart

Otis Redding :: Try a Little Tenderness


Side B: HAPPINESS

Al Green :: Here I Am (Come and Take Me)

Marvin Gaye :: Let’s Get It On

Bob Dylan :: Lay, Lady, Lay

Chris Isaak :: Wicked Game

Lucinda Williams :: Hot Blood

Rufus feat. Chaka Khan :: Tell Me Something Good

Dave Matthews Band :: Crash into Me

R.E.M. :: Perfect Circle

The Patti Smith Group :: Because the Night

Marcy Playground :: Sex and Candy

Psychedelic Furs :: Love My Way

Ryan Adams :: Wonderwall

The Beatles :: Love You To

U2 :: With or Without You

Joe Cocker :: You Can Leave Your Hat On

Lisa Stansfield :: Never, Never Gonna Give You Up

King Floyd :: Groove Me

Nina Simone :: Feeling Good

Stevie Wonder :: Boogie on Reggae Woman

The Brothers Johnson :: Strawberry Letter #23

Luka Bloom :: I Need Love

Joan Armatrading :: Turn out the Light

Major Harris :: Love Won’t Let Me Wait

Teddy Pendergrass :: Turn off the Lights

Luther Ingram :: (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right

Peggy Lee :: Fever

Iggy Pop & The Stooges :: I Wanna Be Your Dog

Jeff Buckley :: So Real

R.E.M. :: Turn You Inside-out

Bruce Springsteen :: Tunnel of Love

Bill Withers :: Use Me

Joan Osborne :: Right Hand Man

Barry White :: I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby

Serge Gainsbourg feat. Jane Birkin :: Je T'aime Moi Non Plus

Touch and Go :: Would You …?

I could pontificate for paragraphs about these seventy songs — but it’s Valentine’s Day. Do you really want to read? No, you don’t. You want to download these tasty little tunes and get on with your seductions. Go. Have fun. Wear sexy panties. Make me proud.

And come back tomorrow to let me know if the mix tape helped you score.

Thanks to HollyC and RCofCHS, Filegod and The Bastard, Renae and Simeon, The Northwest Doppelganger and the Sister, Scrivener and The Occasionally Beloved Engineer for their lovely suggestions.

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It Was

Quite simply, the best date I’ve had in years.

He said I looked “devastatingly beautiful.” I flirted and charmed. He wooed and teased and treated me like a queen.

I’m still swooning.

And that’s all I have to say about it.

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Guilty Pleasures Week: Movies

To me, the definition of a guilty pleasure movie is different than that of a guilty pleasure song. The song must have some cheese factor to it, to the point where you’ll St. Peter it in a crowd, denying your love for its beat. A guilty pleasure movie is one you can watch over and over and over, without ever growing tired of it. You can recite large chunks of dialog, often mimicking the actor’s actual movements. You watch at least part of it — but always to the credits — at least four times a year. You can’t move on if you stumble across it while channel surfing. And you’re rarely embarrassed to admit how much you love the film (well, unless two of your dearest friends are film professors; they might sneer if you rave about Rushmore, so you tell them Jules et Jim is your guilty pleasure). A guilty pleasure movie isn’t necessarily on your list of favorite movies of all time (check the profile for that partial list); it’s just the most fun to watch.

The Haahnster no doubt trumped me with his movie list, so be sure to check his site today.

And so, I’m proud to list my guilty pleasure movies. I broke the list into three categories. We're starting off with the great romances. You’ll notice pretty quickly that I’m a sucker for celluloid romance. It can’t be helped; I was raised that way.


An Affair to Remember (1957)
Probably my favorite movie of all time. It has everything a girl wants in her guilty pleasures. A smart, independent woman in love with Cary Grant, a woman whose love makes him a better man. European and Manhattan (fake) locales. High drama on the high seas. Fabulous fifties fashion (one day, I will wear an evening gown just like Deborah Kerr’s white-with-red dress). The swooniest ending of all time. I was in junior high the first time I saw An Affair to Remember. It was running during romance week on “Dialing for Dollars” — five days of the best in 1950s romance. Unfortunately, each afternoon movie started before we got out of school — but Mama always had her priorities in place and got us out early each day so that we could see every minute of those classics. And that week I fell in love with Cary Grant. Love at first sight, love him to this day. Elegance, beauty, and self-deprecation are hard to beat.


The Way We Were (1973)
Mama (her again; I guess that’s where I get my love for romance) took Holly and me to see The Way We Were when it first came out. I’d had a thing for Robert Redford since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting (which I also saw with Holly; she preferred Paul Newman), so this was a swoonfest for me. Again, my favorite romantic setup: strong, independent woman making a beautiful man a better man through her fierce love. Unfortunately, this one ends in heartache and bittersweet reflection (“Your girl is lovely, Hubbell”; I use that line with guys all the time, but they never get it.) — but we need a good sob once in a while, don’t we, ladies? And has there been a more beautiful moment on film than Robert Redford as Hubbell Gardner in his dress whites, dozing at the bar? Just damn.


Truly Madly Deeply (1991)
Anthony Minghella’s first movie is one of my favorite romances and the most romantic ghost story ever. I never imagined Alan Rickman as a romantic lead until Truly Madly Deeply, but he completely won me over (completing that win-over with his role in Dogma). The five-second plot: Nina is still grieving after the sudden death of her longtime love, Jamie. She hasn’t moved on, so his ghost returns to help her through it. The last 15 minutes rip my heart and bring me to sobs (not tears, but full-out sobs) every time I see it. What beautiful, selfless love.

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Tonight’s Top 10: Beth's Sexiest Songs

It’s spring, and I’m giddy and distracted and excited … so what better time for my list of sexiest songs?

10. Stevie Wonder: Boogie on, Reggae Woman. Stevie almost has a growl in this song, one that really gets my blood racing. And what's sexier than lyrics such as "I'd like to do it to you/Till you holla for more" or "I'd like to see you naked/Under the stars above"? [Edited after receiving some great comments today.]

9. Gregg Allman: I’m No Angel. I’m no fan of ink, but when Gregg growls “Come and let me show you my tattoo,” damn, I want to look. He’s the bad boy we couldn’t stay away from in high school.

8. R.E.M.: Turn You Inside-out. What a sexy rock song! Peter's grinding guitar gives me goosebumps and makes my mind wander, and Michael's lyrics make me feel bad and naughty — in a good way. Because, believe me, "I could turn you inside-out." [Edited after receiving some great comments today.]

7. Big Star: Thirteen. In two and a half minutes, Alex Chilton takes me back to that feeling of first love, that thrill of knowing I was liked back. Wilco did an amazing cover for an Alex Chilton tribute album that never saw the light of day; it’s worth looking for (or checking with me for a copy).

6. Bruce Springsteen: Tunnel of Love. “Gotta ride down, baby, into this tunnel of love.” ‘Nuff said.

5. R.E.M.: Perfect Circle. “Pull your dress on and stay real close.” The lyrics ... his voice ... the music … mmmmmm. That line and the near-striptease didn’t work the way Renae and I hoped one Athens New Year’s Eve … but I was wearing the party dress with the naughty rose, so the night was still good and fun and free.

4. Al Green: Love and Happiness. “Something that can make you do wrong, make you do right.” Ain’t that the truth. This is arguably Al’s best, most soulful, sexiest song — and that’s saying a lot.

3. Nina Simone: Feeling Good. That voice. That’s sex, baby. Makes me want to slip on black silk stockings and heels, and strut slow and sexy across the room.

2. Jeff Buckley: So Real. Damn, this song is full of passion. And it even has a kick-ass guitar solo, one that conveys longing and passion and frustration. I go weak in the knees when he whispers, “I love you … but I’m afraid to love you.” I play this song over and over and over when I’m getting ready for a date.

And Beth’s sexiest song is (drum roll, Anton):

1. Dave Matthews Band: Crash into Me. I’m not a DM fan at all — most of his songs kind of bore me — but not this one. I cannot listen to this song and focus on anything else. I love how Dave’s voice drops into that sexy, horny-boy octave when he sings “Hike up your skirt a little more and show your world to me.”

OK, list some of the songs that tingle your spine in the Comments section, and we'll debate their sexiness.

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