Relationships don't work they way they do on television and in the movies. Will they? Won't they? And then they finally do, and they're happy forever. Gimme a break. Nine out of ten of them end because they weren't right for each other to begin with, and half of the ones who get married get divorced anyway, and I'm telling you right now, through all this stuff I have not become a cynic. I haven't. Yes, I do happen to believe that love is mainly about pushing chocolate covered candies and, y'know, in some cultures, a chicken. You can call me a sucker, I don't care, because I do believe in it.
Last year, I basically showed you my cynical side, and don't be afraid it is still there. I still fully believe Valentine's Day is a holiday which is only good for women in relationships. The men hate spending money, single people hate those attached, and some clever women realize this is the only day that they feel fully appreciated. I still believe that men and women should be more willing to express themselves romantically on days which are not predetermined. However, this year I'll do something different. Here's some duets for the day, since nothing says "I love you" better than a song (or lots of money in our culture).
Today's scene: Love and Duets aka Awkward Karaoke Songs that Make Single People Hate You
Let's start with a simple question: who had the greatest duets of all time?
Now this isn't the song I wanted, but it's necessary to convey the idea of their duets being the best
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You"
As a man, always think of this song from Marvin's perspective. It's short for sure, but the three verses are nothing short of amazing. Their voices are very much in love, whether this extended further, I'm not one to say. It's very clear that Marvin hit a personal down time when Tammi died of a brain tumor at 25. I think that she was his muse for these songs, and with her gone, he went another direction: first, social commentary and later romantic soul numbers which created the "quiet storm" genre. Two extremely tragic stories wasn't quite fair for these two, each who brought us so much happiness with their music.
Watch their faces on that first performance, and then watch this next one and you'll see where I'm going.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - "Home"
This is far cuter and sappier than even Marvin and Tammi achieved, and Motown was built on cute and sappy. Albeit, these two may look more like they went tripping together or live with Charles Manson, but it doesn't stop this from being a great love song. Simple lines say more than eloquent soliloquies sometimes.
"Home is wherever there is you."
Weezer ft. Sara Bareilles- "I Want You To"
This wasn't originally a duet, and it sucks in a "Weezer nerd-rock doesn't age well" sort of way (The video did have Megan Fox, who is probably the hottest woman to ever necessitate a hand double.). Now, if they would have done it originally this way, they would certainly have hit on something. I also won't complain anytime you decide to include Sara Bareilles on your album. The idea should probably be credited to some other nerd rocker for this happening though, but Weezer perfected it by actually letting her sing. Listen to the one Rivers sings by himself, and it's pretty strange even if you hear the duet first to illustrate that he's singing a conversation between two people.
Sappiest part:
Rivers:"Your mom cooked meatloaf, even though I don't eat meat."
Sara:"You love me so much, you took one for the team."
Swell Season (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)-"Falling Slowly"
I accidentally left this out of my first draft and it was the whole reason I thought about this. The whole movie "Once" is based around this duet, and the romance between these two vastly different people. This song won an Oscar for original song, and stopped the deepening trend of our film's music being rap songs. The movie itself is basically a long music video for Swell Season. A song more about just finding love than having it, as opposed to the previous ones. The way they situate it in the movie is perfect. You could include more songs from movies, but just go see Moulin Rouge as opposed to me explaining the "Elephant Love Medley" to you.
Note and Movie Spoiler Alert: One of the best scenes in films I've ever seen is in this movie. The two are standing on a cliff over the ocean and Glen asks Marketa how to say in Czech "Do you love him?" He says it, then she replies in Czech without the audience understanding what she said. She smiles and walks past him. To ruin it, yet explain my point, she's say "No, I love you." As the movie plays out with both getting back with their significant others, that moment is stand alone the best in the movie. It is probably the only romantic movie you'll ever see without a kiss exchanged, but this was something much more intimate, and explains something about music to serious musicians
Brandi Carlile ft. Elton John- "Caroline"
Take all of the possible sexual tensions of the previous duets and toss that out the window as both are openly gay. Now, take two artists worlds more musically talented than the previous acts (If I said vocally, Marvin could probably win alone, but with Tammi, no contest). When I saw Brandi in concert, she talked about this duet and the best part for her was when Elton showed up in hot pink sunglasses took off his sunglasses. He replaced them with an identical pair of hot pink reading glasses. This is more a song about longing than the others, but no less poignant. Especially true to those who experience long-distance love, which as much as Nicholas Sparks makes you think it's romantic, it's not.
Sappy Verse:
Now I have seen things in the sky
Stars and lights and birds and I
I've been rocky mountain high
Told them all about you because
You are still the only thing
That constantly amazes me
I love the road and I've been blessed
I love you best
Snow Patrol - Set Fire to the Third Bar
Honestly, I didn't realize how perfect this transition would be. Apparently, they used this song for the "Dear John " trailer, and it's apt. It's not all roses and chocolate covered candies; sometimes life sucks and you don't get what you want. This song is about still wanting it, but there isn't much hope here. Funny thing about the video is the distance being eliminated, where the distance is far more figurative in this sense. I figured that since I was incredibly sappy for this, and this better reflects the tone of my play-lists, this was a good place to end.
But no...I have an awful example, which isn't even a true duet
Louis XIV-"Paper Doll"
This is a song completely about using people, but is incredibly awesome nonetheless. The duet is sung by one guy, and it does a fine job of illustrating the fears of people using each and being used...that is from a chauvinist point of view. Politics are so much better when there is sex. They were actually banned from playing in Alabama, and they're all white.
Lyrics | Louis Xiv Lyrics | Paper Doll Lyrics
Now, if you think these guys are lewd and uncouth, here's a video of them covering my favorite Beatles song.
Bonus: Damien Rice - "The Blower's Daughter"
Sure, it's a little creepy, and probably doesn't qualify as a duet since Damien sings for the whole time, but really I couldn't include "9 Crimes" because it's about lost love and creepier.
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