Friday Five: best Valentines Day tunes

 

 Happy Valentine's Day!

 Were you swamped with cards and flowers this morning? Overwhelmed with chocolate hearts and surrounded by teddy bears and balloons? Or are you reading this while you wait for your starter to arrive at that lovely little restaurant in the expensive part of town? Good for you, if you are! It's nice to be loved and I like that we have a special day to push us into showing it.

 

But, even if you're not loved up, Valentine's Day is still fun. There are lots of pink things in the shops and bulk-buying chocolate is perfectly acceptable. And there are some great deals to be had on bouquets of roses the next day! (I love a bargain!)

 

This year, being single, I will be spending the most romantic night of the year enjoying the whopping box of Lush goodies my dogs bought me (thank you, boys) and the excuse to sing along in the bath to the slushiest songs ever sung!

Here's my special Valentine's Day playlist, just for you xxx

 

Friday Five: Five cover versions that are better than the original recordings.

Hello from sunny Sussex! I'm on my holibobs this week, and having a marvellous time so far. In fact, I've been so busy, I was panicking a little about finding inspiration (and time) to write my Friday Five. In stepped my Dad to the rescue, with some mood music that inspired this week's list (and a Mrs Merton-style heated debate, with lots of googling of songs and reminiscing- great fun!)

 

Cover versions evoke strong reactions- some love them, some hate them. Personally, I loathe unnecessary "do-overs" (Lenny Kravitz's cover of The Guess Who's "American Woman", anyone?) but a cover version that keeps the spirit and beauty of the original while doing something new with the melody is a joy to hear. Here are five of the best examples, in my opinion. Let me know if you agree! 

Friday Five- Five songs on my ultimate playlist

What's your favourite song? How I dread that question... I change my mind on a more than daily basis, depending on my mood, the weather, recent events or even something I've seen that's sparked off a random lyric recollection. Because of this, I was amazed and inspired by a series of tweets from @welshboy69 where he attempted to list his top 50 albums. Albums? I'd struggle to settle on my top 50 songs, let alone actual full albums with all their accumulated gems and the occasional filler. I could probably narrow it down to a top ten at best.

I tried compiling a top ten of my favourite songs and it changed six times over the course of four drafts. I gave up. These songs, however, were always up there somewhere on my Desert Island Disc list, and I will never get bored of them. Here they are, and here are the reasons why I adore them.