“Normally, I don’t like to do this, but….
…Keep the party going.”
-Jesus
Here at IP our conditioning has been conditioned, so we wait until February to write about love. We claim to be progressive folk, but really we’s sheep.
I don’t participate in Valentine’s Day. I don’t wear red, buy flowers or expect pussy.
Fortunately, my girl agrees with me. But sometimes I feel like it cheats her out of feeling extra loved when everybody else is feeling extra loved.
So I dedicate my Valentine’s Day mix to my sweetheart…
…and future wife…
Tiffany.
You heard it here first, we’re getting married this June in my hometown of Chicago.
I present, in her honor…
OpenMike’s Will You Marry Me Mix
George Harrison – I’d Have you Anytime
“Let me stay here/ Let me play here/ Let me lay on you…”
The first time you heard it you said it was soulful.
The lyrics speak directly to the feeling that I have when you’re not around. This is the song that plays in my mind every morning. When I’m half-awake and squeeze you tighter.
Diamond D – This one
“I love the way your hair blows in the breeze/ the way your fingers move when you roll your trees”
Surprisingly (to everyone except you) there won’t be a whole helluva lot of hip-hop in this mix.
Why?
Because most rap love songs are primitive and corny. This is no exception. It’s so corny in fact that it’s dead on. Peep Busta Rhymes’ romantic outburst at the end…
“It is you I’m gone definitely have understand how much I solidify the firm focus on you being the female…”
That’s the realest shit they ever wrote.
YNQ – Thinking of You
This one is all vibe. Its Madlib’s interpretation of a jazz classic, and its all about the texture. It’s a euphoric moment that ends too fast because I let it take me away from myself in the blink of an eye.
I won’t call it a metaphor.
XTC – When You’re Near Me I have difficulties
“You got me feeling like a jellyfish, like a spineless walking jellyfish…”
Remember this one?
This was the first song that I ever presented to you as an explanation for how I felt about you. The post-punk progression of the music might be a bit much for you to cut through, but my heart is half rock and roll so this is how things sound to me.
A year and some change later, you still make me nervous.
I ain’t as cool as you think.
D’Angelo- The Root
“She done worked the root/ My blood is cold and I can’t feel my legs…”
You have the power to turn a hoe into a house husband (…washing mad dishes…).
One possible explanation is that you looked deep inside your Creole lineage and found some special herbs to open my nose with.
We will dance to this on our wedding day.
The Beatles – Michelle
“I will say the only words I know that you’ll understand…”
We come from two very different words. Luckily we both know what “I love you” means.
Sometimes it means a whole lot of mixed up words that sound like pig latin backwards.
I’m just glad I don’t have to wear a rubber on my soul.
LA Symphony – Little Shirts
“You’re lookin’ splendid, with your little shirt on/ Girl looky here, little shirt on…”
Far be it from me to choose a Christian rap love song to represent our thing. But I love laughing with you.
And this shit is funny. It’s dope to be able to make you smile when I’m not around.
Lets make a toast to the fact that you left your little shirts in Virginia.
Kamal – Caring
“This song is for you/ If you feel blue/ Know someone is caring for you…”
Q-tip made this song for us to give to each other when we forget one of the four agreements. Unfortunately we are each other’s last line of defense against false feelings like loneliness and fear.
Jungle Brothers – My Jimmy Weighs a Ton
“She always cries when I tell her that I’ll be going back on the road again/ Tears in her eyes let me know I’m the man someday she’ll marryin’…”
When I start touring and you’re trippin’ I’m gonna sing lyrics from this song to make you laugh at us.
Just disgregard the last verse. That shit ain’t cute at all.
Heatwave – Star of a Story
“You’re the star of a story I always tell…”
The life I have led makes it hard for people that know me to believe that I’m no longer down for the bust down.
When they find out that I’ve found someone, they HAVE to know everything about you.
Especially whether or not you’re black.
You’ve become the star of the story of my life.
Gil Scott Heron – A very precious time
“Was there a touch of Spring?/ Did she have a pink dress on?…”
Here, Gil-Scott reminisces on a school boy crush.
I feel like this at least twice a week.
Broadcast – Come On Let’s Go
“You can’t find it by yourself/ You’re gonna need some help and you’re okay with me around…”
One of our theme songs.
As two conscious beings in a broken world, we have a dutie to look out for each other when the world at large tries to fling poo in either of our directions.
Minnie Ripperton – completeness
“Cherish me, my love/ I belong to you…”
This says all of the cheesy shit that my ego can’t find the words for.
I do yoga so that I may be free enough to speak like this.
Here it is, simple and plain.
Weldon Irvine – I Love You
“Problems we may have but everybody does…”
If this were a cassette tape, I’d fill one side with this song over and over again.
It’s all the soul, sweat, and funk of a genuine relationship in a three minute recording.
You can tell sometimes when someone fakes a love song for the studio. You hear the richness of real feelings in this song. Check the breakdown.
Ohio Players – Ecstasy
“Lovin’ you is ecstasy to me, ha-ha-ha/ I’ll never leave her, no-no..”
You can’t do any better than freestyled love lyrics.
This song is arranged to emulate the last few seconds of sex before a thundering orgasm. It starts with a little smidgeon of a verse (the last few pumps), then explodes into a mountain-moving jam session.
Then I turn over and go to sleep.
Pixies – Here Comes Your Man
“I been away so long, I been away so looo-ong…”
You may not dig the music. But the sentiment is perfect.
Its as corny as the Diamond D song, and I can dig white folks being corny sometimes, they’re good at it.
Ramsey Lewis – Julia
If you’re tuned in to the right frequency, instruments can say things to you that words cannot. Ramsey Lewis spilled his guts to some lucky gal named Julia without speaking a sound.
Lucky for me, he recorded it and put in on an LP so that I could give it to you one day.
Slick Rick – 2 Way Street
“You wanna find a woman you can chill and grow old with/ and keeps no secret like who they creep with/ realize early it’s a two-way street kid…”
I was talking to somebody about relationships the other day. He said that you were a jewel. I agreed, but reminded him that I had to be at a certain place myself to receive this kind of blessing.
The main lesson that I had to learn is that I wasn’t going to be satisfied with anyone until I learned how to lay all my cards on the table instead of only presenting my “representative”.
You can’t build on a foundation of bullshit.
Luckily, I know better than Rick not to get this close to falling off the wagon.
And I’m prepared to stay on said wagon til we both get all crustified and old.
I love you, sweetie.
Mike
