Happy Valentine's Day

The vast majority of pop songs are about love and romance, or some aspect of those: unrequited love, requited love, lost love, found love, forbidden love, good love, bad love, adulterous love, pure love, platonic love, erotic love, and good old fashioned sex.

Well, given that it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought that I’d be totally perverse, and come up with a small list of songs that are about other things. So here are some random not-love songs. I did not bother to come up with the ten best or anything, this is just basically the first 10 I thought of.

· Abraham Martin & John – Dion
Given the proximity to some obscure American ritual called President’s Day, I figure I’d throw this in right off the top. And don’t forget Lincoln’s birthday. The pundits will tell you that this is hokey. And the pundits are right, but they miss the point, as usual. The hokiness works here, and I love the harp…

· Daniel – Elton John

I don’t really know what this song is about, but it’s one where the electric piano works like magic, and highlight the obscurity of the lyrics

· Signs – The Five Man Electrical Band

Great Canadian talent. A great parable. Great music

· He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – The Hollies

Ok we’re hokey again. A song about brotherhood. Still, I love Alan Clarke’s voice, and anything he sings is okay with me…

· The Boxer – Simon

Possibly the best song about loneliness and alienation to reach the top 10.

· Spaceman – Harry Nilsson

Elton John did Rocket Man; that was the same idea. But Rocket Man wasn’t funny and this was, and Elton John wasn’t Nilsson.

· Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver

This is a song about reality. It’s about breathing, it’s about pure mountain springs, it’s about finding peace in the world you live in…

· Mack The Knife – Bobby Darin

A song about murder. Thanks to J for this one.

· Money (That’s What I Want) – Barrett Strong

This is as unromantic as you can get. It’s no small coincidence that this was Motown’s very first top 40 hit, way back in 1960. The Beatles covered this, and so did The Kingsmen, and so did Jr. Walker & The All Stars, and so did The Flying Lizards, and so did…

· Dead Skunk – Loudon Wainright III

I take it back. This is as unromantic as you can get: