So happy in love, I wish I was (but not really).

[V-Day]

5 Songs to Make You Wish You Were in Love

"Sometimes I think I want a girlfriend, but really I just want to cum." I read that on a random myspace profile some time ago, and though I laughed when I read it, it's damn true some of the time. It pretty much sums up my thoughts this fake holiday. You know, sometimes having a significant other is nice, but right now, I love myself more. I'll leave V-Day to all the believers this year. But here are a selection of songs that get my heart thumpin.'

Lou Reed - This Magic Moment (The Drifters cover)

Lou Reed's twist on this sweet ditty from the 60's appears in the film Lost Highway, as well as on the soundtrack. The track creeps into action with a distortion hum that is layered by clean, rhythmic guitar and Reed's deep, low, vocals that go in through your ears and end up vibrating somewhere near your pelvic region. "Everything I want I have, whenever I hold you tight," he sings with conviction, "So please, save the last dance for me."

Wolf Parade - This Heart's On Fire

The last track off Apologies to the Queen Mary is a sort of rock n' roll tribute to being in love. It's as high-energy as any Wolf Parade song, driven by the floor tom, the snare drum, and Dan Boeckner's excitable voice, the song builds to a climax with the words "This hearts on fire," repeated over and over, although my favorite line is, hands down, "YOU'RE MY FAVORITE THING. I TELL IT EVERYWHERE I GO." Alright fine, yes, this song makes me want to say FUCK FUCK FUCK YES, I'M IN LOVE.

Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

So many of the Arcade Fire's songs typically peak in a cacophony of percussive and vocal explosiveness, that in essence many of them feel as though they could be love songs. They get your heart pumpin', and your foot tapping. I can't sit still when I hear this song and it reminds me of being 13 and laying in bed on the phone with the boy I wanted to marry wishing I could dig a tunnel from my window to his. Sometimes I wish I could still have wishes like that. "You change all the lead sleeping in my head to gold." Ah, yes, someone please, do that for me. And while you're at it, purify the colors, purify my mind.

Bright Eyes - A Perfect Sonnet

The song that sums it up for us all, before it all went wrong. If you've never heard it, quick, try and write down your perfect idea of love before you do. Because after you hear it, you'll realize that it's been written, and A Perfect Sonnet is it. This song builds in such rich vocal desperation on Conor's part; what begins with a soft and subtle guitar strum and simple melody, maxes out with pounding drums and rough thrashing and scratching screams. Fuck that. no, fuck that. love will not end.

Van Morrison - Sweet Thing

Only a handful of songs paralyze me the way this one does. It's Van's voice, its the way I find my body rocking to the rhythm, the plucking of whatever instrument that is... the accented high-hats, and those violins. Secondary, although ever so important, is the image that is painted in the mind of a land where we are forever youthful in love. "And I will raise my hands up into the nighttime sky/and count the stars that's shining in your eye." It's dynamite. I swear to it, I feel oceans rip through me when I hear this song. My, my, my, my, you sweet thing. I'll be satisfied not to read in between the lines. Ah, it is picture perfect.