The Rolling Stones photo by Raul Pazos
There are songs that center or dwell on love and explore all the feelings, good or bad, associated with it… that fact alone leaves an endless array of songs to choose from when it comes to that subject matter. And with Valentine’s Day, what a better way to express how we feel than through songs we can make our significant other listen to?
Yet, I will not go down the predictable route by choosing the typical kind of love songs. I have and will always follow my own method of selecting songs and that is no different when it comes to my latest installment of My Top 3 Songs. The three songs I list below represent the often times complex emotions one feels when you love someone or you long to be with that person. Or whether you are searching for that special someone, reliving the times you had with each other, or savoring every precious moment you have left with her.
My list of favorite songs does not include the cheesy, corny, or overly familiar kind of love songs that everyone has already heard. But I believe the 3 songs I have chosen below are that everyone should get the chance to listen to with their significant other.
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1) “Anybody Seen My Baby” by The Rolling Stones – This song from The Rolling Stones is the first single from their album entitled ‘Bridges To Babylon’ album released in 1997. This was probably one of the first songs I got to hear from The Rolling Stones in its entirety when I was in my early teens. It helped a lot that Channel V Asia, the other music channel at the time, put the music video on rotation for a short time for everyone to get a better grasp of the song and appreciate it more.
Guitarist Keith Richards with his dreamy and wavy-like chord progressions which can be heard throughout “Anybody Seen My Baby” are one of the strongest musical impressions that “Anybody Seen My Baby” has left on me after all these years. I still listen to this song because of Keith Richards’ magnificent guitar work here. Just to hear those series of sequences from him playing his guitar takes me back to a different time–the time I discovered on my own this masterpiece of a song by The Rolling Stones. This is one of the best moments for me in the year 1997 when it comes to the continuing development of my musical tastes.
Mick Jagger, with his signature style of singing, is incomparable. His persona, his stage presence, and his longevity in the music industry are the stuff of legend.
Mick Jagger singing his original composition “Anybody Seen My Baby” makes me wonder if it was about a short-lived romance or a serious relationship that ended abruptly for no clear apparent reason and one that he regretfully still wishes did not end the way it did? Did it lead him to continue to search for her anywhere he went, the memory of her never leaving his mind and in his confusion, Mick Jagger wondering if she was even real in the first place or was she just a figment of his imagination?
Again, this was the song that introduced me to the music of The Rolling Stones proving that their music has spanned generations and will continue to do so forever. As I write, there are teens now and even kids who are coming across the songs of The Rolling Stones, and even adults rediscovering their songs they were first exposed to growing up decades ago. That evident and unmanned self-perpetuating cycle of keeping their legacy alive will never end. The Rolling Stones are certified music legends, indeed.
2) “Just Another Day” by Jon Secada – The year 1992 was the breakout year for Jon Secada who was the former backup vocalist and the primary songwriter for Gloria Estefan until he decided to pursue his own solo career as an artist. The career move he made was not only timely but the right one on his part. After all, Jon Secada was, in fact, responsible for a number of the greatest hits of Gloria Estefan before he came to the self-realization that he should be the one instead singing his own original compositions that have the potential to become chart-topping hits.
“Just Another Day” with its mid-to-fast tempo setting, strong Latin-American vibe, and bouncy beat resembled more like a dance floor anthem. But don’t get fooled by the immediate and obvious musical traits of this song because “Just Another Day” packs a punch lyrically especially for the broken-hearted and lonely with its melodramatic lyrics by Jon Secada singing his heart out for the woman he loves. But apparently, the woman could not care less for reasons she alone knows leaving him feeling “lost” and without any direction as to what do next without her love.
I don’t know what is a more saddening thought–whether this song by Jon Secada was based on a real event in his life or the fact that “Just Another Day” was to be the only chart-topping hit from him? Whichever it is, one thing is sure. If you listen to this song you will feel a tug in your heart and that feeling alone that you get as you listen to “Just Another Day” is a victory on its own for Jon Secada because, although and sadly, his career as an artist did not last years after this song was first released… the raw emotion it carries with it for the listener still holds 20 plus years later.
3) “Brick” by Ben Folds Five – Singer-songwriter Ben Folds, formerly of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five, is one of the most underrated singer-songwriters in my book during his heyday in the mid 90’s to early 2000’s. The guy had some moments of true musical genius throughout his music career and his best-known song “Brick” is one of them. This song holds a special place in my heart and for many others who are familiar with “Brick”.
My initial impression of “Brick” even after hearing the song played a few times under the original format of NU107 in the late 90’s was that lead vocalist Ben Folds was singing about his terminally ill girlfriend, trying to savor every remaining moment he may have left to be with her whether her parents approve of him or not. And many years later, I still get the same gloomy depressing impression of “Brick” because of its overall tone, lyrical meaning, and piano-centered structure of the song. For me, the song is beautiful because the message it conveys to the listener is to keep on fighting despite the hardest of trials that might come in your relationship.
Lastly, there is a specific section of the song that still gets my interest and that is the last verse which has always stuck with me more than anything else to this day because it leaves me to ponder what Ben Folds really meant by it?
Listen to “Brick” and you can draw your own conclusion what the song is really about.
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Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!