Today sees the world descend into commercial chaos as we dedicate ourselves to the ones that we love – romantic love. But in all things in life, “the course of true love never did run smooth”; so your romantic love could be reserved for your partner, the one that got away or the one you sneak around talking to late at night whilst your wife is sleeping upstairs… (not my story)! So rather than write a borderline embittered piece about what I see as true love, I decided to make a list of 12 songs (instead of my 12 roses) dedicated to Love. Contrary to popular belief, I’m a fan of love – like, I really love, LOVE! So whether I experience it, or see it celebrated by others… I’m here for it. For the purposes of the JoyKillers out there, my non-legal disclaimer is that “this blog is purely for entertainment purposes and is only a reflection of Tricia’s mind at the time of writing. Any similarities to persons living or dead or actual events is purely coincidental and presented in any order for storyline purposes”. In other words, don’t sue me for my choices!

12. Brown Sugar – D’Angelo: D’Angelo was THAT GUY! When he stepped onto the mainstream scene, he represented a new breed of music – Neo-Soul. When we grooved to this song, we believed him. Not hearing many songs about Black Women, this was a celebration of us… except it wasn’t. It was many years later that I got to find out that Brown Sugar was his ode to weed! And yet I still believe he was singing this song about me!!

11. Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and The Pips: When a woman sings, “I’d rather live in his world, than live without him in mine,” is a serious testament to how being dickmatised could make a woman up sticks and travel halfway across the states to be with her man.

10. If I Ain’t Got You – Alicia Keys: Now I don’t know if this is life imitating art or vice versa but when Ms Keys sang ” Some people want it all. But I don’t want nothing at all […] Some just want everything. But everything means nothing, if I ain’t got you” Yes ladies, don’t let a little thing like a wife stop you from getting your husband.

9. I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Meat Loaf: Big Hair. Big video. Big man. Big choon!! I heard this song the other day and realised how big this song was. It was everywhere! But what made the song different was the hills and valleys this song took us through. But the clincher was the twist at the end… the thing he wouldn’t do to her. It was a time.

8. If You Were Here Tonight – Alexander O’Neal: Again, this song could be about drugs, love, drug love – who knows? But what I do know is that this song is from what we now call The Thousands, aka any year that starts with 19__! To this day, this song can still hold its own despite being nearly 40 years old!

7. Big Thing/ Love is a Thing – Bluezone:  The time was 1988. We all knew about Blue-Eyed Soul; and usually, as Black people, we generally know if the soul is blue-eyed or not. This track, however, had me fooled. This track also had me in a chokehold and is one of those songs that I’d add to my soundtrack of a lifetime. But I need to celebrate the vocal talent that is Lisa Stanfield for this underrated banger!

6. You To Me Are Everything – Cleveland Watkiss: OK so my UK people will know this song as a funky club ditty sung by The Real Thing but my boy Cleveland Watkiss did a treatment on this that gave it a fresh l, stripped back and altogether unique treatment on a song that made a man say that he “would take the stars out of the sky for you. [That he’d] stop the rain from falling if you asked me to” JEEEEEEZZZZ!! I know it takes a lot to mentslly shift from a classic but I really like what he did

5. To Love You More – Celine Dion: Now, which self-respecting list of a Jamaican would not have Celine Dion track on it? From the opening violin, you just know a Big Ballad is about to take you somewhere. That somewhere is a woman begging him not yo leave for his outside woman. I know, I know… let him go to that Sketty Betty; but that violin and her vocals just highlight that homemade apple pie is best baked at home…

4. Distance – Emily King: Probably the newest song on my list and even this song is over a decade old. It is a beautiful song about the importance of space in a relationship. Distance makes the heart grow. Mixed emotions on this aspect of relationships because actual physical distance is a marker of how much someone wants to make a thing work… but that’s another blog.

3. Love and Happiness – Al Green:  “Something that can make you do wrong
Make you do right” is a testimony to the power of love. Now, one thing I’m not good at is memorising lyrics. I’m even worse at processing what an actual lyric means. So why did my eyebrows raise when I realised that this song was the original Booty Call track – yes, we’ve all had that 3 o’clock in the morning call… haven’t we?

2. Just The Way You Are: Now I don’t know what exactly it is about this song; but whether it’s the version by Billy Joel or Barry White I LOVE THIS SONG! The lyric “I don’t want clever conversation, I never want to work that hard” could be laziness or could be an all-out celebration of how simple love can be! And whether it’s that saxophone break on Billy’s version or the full orchestral moment that Barry served up, this is my jam!

1. Always and Forever – Heatwave: EVERY DAMN TIME! This track is a classic made even more legendary by the vocals of Johnnie Wilder Jr. The melody, the vocals, the harmonies just kill me each time I hear this song. This group gives me all the feels. Like a bunch of folks that fit at the right time and gifted us with this track. And you’d have to be a fantastic singer to cover this. It lilts and rocks and just so mellow… If you aren’t singing lyrics like this, do you really deserve them?

Everyday love me your own special way
Melt all my heart away with a smile
Take time to tell me you really care
And we’ll share tomorrow together
(Always forever love you)

I would’ve done more than a dozen but the rabbit hole of decision-making like do I include Shabba Ranks Bedroom Bully? Do I stick to 90s R n B? Should I go across all genres? These questions had me stuck!! So please feel free to add any songs that fit your Valentine’s playlist… and whatever you’re doing today have a good one!

Thank you for reading. Tricia xx