Eyewear's Top 14 Songs For Valentine's Day

she is in love

As poets and lovers know, music and and love go together like a tenor and vehicle. Here are Eyewear's top 14 love songs, or songs about 'love', in no order - and, I should add, some classic break-up songs like 'Wicked Game' or 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' are not included, though they too are about love's wounding force - however, in the spirit of the occasion, I am erring on the side of romance and eros.

1. Bob Dylan - 'Lay, Lady, Lay' - the most improbably delightful Dylan song, for me, this rich cowpoke tune is also seriously sexy.

2. Ella Fitzgerald - 'My Funny Valentine' - well, this is the classic, really, the heart of the matter, and pure wit at that.

3. Bob Marley & The Wailers - 'Could You Be Loved' - the answer is, with this going on, yes.

4. Madonna - 'Dress You Up' - one of the great cross-dressing songs, and exuberantly wackily boy-crazy pop.

5. Simple Minds - 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' - memorable 80s nostalgia trip and indie pop love gem.

6. Bow Wow Wow - 'Aphrodisiac' - this lusty song is nearly insane, and suits the madness of love potions.

7. Depeche Mode - 'I Feel You' - the most stridently romantic of all DM's tunes, and one closest to being a rocker, with sleazy synth thrust they have.

8. Mazzy Star - 'Fade Into You' - possibly the greatest unrequited love song - certainly the best dream pop version.

9. The Romantics - 'One In A Million' - the power pop classic. Its joyous simplicity never stales.

10. Rihanna, Jay-Z - 'Umbrella' - such a moving, sweet song, with an image as old as Herman's Hermits, and timeless.

11. Massive Attack - 'Girl I Love You' - a throbbing, sinister and deeply powerful expression of passion.

12. Minnie Driver - 'Everything I've Got In My Pocket' - this attempt to cheer up an apparently depressed friend or lover is very moving.

13. The Kinks - 'All Day and All Of The Night' - more primal, more pure, than The Beatles, this is the greatest Sixties expression of utter desire. "I believe you and me last forever" - what is more poetic than that?

14. Whitney Houston - 'I Will Always Love You' - is there a more beautifully sung pop song? A more poignant one on this date in time?

Honourable Mentions: 'A Girl Like You', The Smithereens; 'Heart Shaped Box', Nirvana; 'Today', Smashing Pumpkins, and 'There She Goes' by the La's.

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

THE SWIFT REPORT 2023

I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise...

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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