It's been said once but it's worth saying again: we here at the Live Buzz, for all of our music smarts and witty articles, are really nothing more than a bunch of helpless, geeky romantics. We're glued to our music and see the light of day only when we stumble outside in need of coffee or liquor. This means that when Valentine's Day comes rolling around, instead of eating a nice dinner or buying flowers for our lovers, we're still sitting in front of iTunes and Spotify trying to drown out the happy couples through sheer scale of decibel. Maybe it's not the ideal way to spend the day, but it's the best we can do. We've gotten pretty handy at it, too. Even went to the trouble to make you a playlist. So, without further ado, here are the Live Buzz top love song picks of 2013!
"O Mio Babbino Caro"
Anna Netrebko, from Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi"
Brandon Cook
Yes--this is very pretentious, but it's also very sincere. For one thing, who could possibly deny that the melody to this aria to Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi is anything but gorgeous? Sopranos use it for encores. Pianists and violinists play it for solos. Singers use it for audition recitals. Anyone who loves music has heard it. What's more is that the lyrics forego cheap, sentimental love, and rather aim at a real appeal for the emotion. Just look at the opening lines (in English): "Oh my dear papa/\0x2028I love him, he is handsome, handsome!" Love isn't a rebellious bird that nobody can tame (Carmen); it's good looks. It sounds like vanity, but the aria develops; describes the lengths to which the singer would go for her feeling: "And if my love were in vain/\0x2028I would go to Ponte Vecchio/ And throw myself in the Arno!" before resolving all of the emotions into a poignant plea: "Papa, have pity, have pity!/\0x2028Papa, have pity, have pity!" Most love makes an appeal for the bedroom, and yet here we have something vaguely religious: the plea for papa's pity echoing Christianity's prayer to God for mercy (the Kyrie Eleison). The singer transcends vanity, describes the passion of her love, and then bundles it all tightly with--what?--not a cry for action or further statements of her love, but humility.
"Us Ones in Between"
Sunset Rubdown
Patrick Beane
If Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Swan Lake, Moonface) has proven one thing over the years, it's that he knows how to write fucking great metaphors. Love songs sink or swim on their figurative language, and "Us Ones In Between" takes to the surf like a watersnake. Krug's voice is held aloft only by a piano melody and razor-sharp slide guitar as he sings about the exhaustion of emotional vulnerability, about the loneliness of being in a relationship. Then the song reminds you what a lover's supposed to when you've got tired eyes: "I have never seen a sun/That did not bury its head in the side of the world/When the day is done." That's an understanding worth weathering the worst for.
"Cuckoo"
Benjamin Britten
So, yeah: the "Moonrise Kingdom" soundtrack. From a movie in love with first love, but even more mesmerized by growing up, "Cuckoo!" sent shivers down your spine when it chimed during the final frames. It threads a million ways of remembering into one somber yarn about looking ahead and evokes the sinking feeling of rediscovering an imaginary perfect love. On Valentine's Day, it's at least fun to pretend. If a heartbreaking song about getting older (as sung by a children's choir) sounds too saccharine for you, then you're not in the holiday spirit. Go watch the "Moonrise Kingdom" trailer again and let your steely resolve melt away.
"Stay With You"
John Legend
Ashli Hendricks
"Growing Up Beside You"
Paolo Nutini
Amber Hendricks
Blind Pilot
Rolling Stones
Kelsey Collisi
