A Valentine’s Day Mixtape: From The First Date to The Last One

This Valentine’s Day Mixtape is inspired by Joe Dunthorne’s Submarine. In the fantastic film adaptation of the book, Oliver’s dad, Lloyd, hears that his son has a new girlfriend and presents him with a cassette from his ‘formative’ relationships:

So, from the first date to the last one – whatever the context of that – this Valentine’s playlist features some popular and some alternative love songs to make things seem a bit more real, with a few break-up songs towards the end. Passion rarely lasts, I’m afraid…

blink-182, ‘First Date’

‘In the car, I just can’t wait
To pick you up on our very first date
Is it cool if I hold your hand?’

The Internet, ‘Girl’

‘Passion burning, causing rapture of laughter
Pressure building, falling faster and faster
If I told you that you rock my world, I want you around me
Would you let me call you my girl, my girlfriend, my girlfriend?’

Wolfman ft. Peter Doherty, ‘For Lovers’

‘Meet me at the Railroad Bar
About seven o’clock
We talk til the sun goes down
Watch the lovers
Leaving town’

The Only Ones, ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’

‘You get under my skin
I don’t find it irritating
You always play to win
But I won’t need rehabilitating, oh no
I think I’m on another world with you, with you’

Seal ‘Kiss From a Rose’

‘Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey’

50 Cent, ‘21 Questions’

‘We only humans girl we make mistakes,
To make it up I do whatever it take
I love you like a fat kid love cake
You know my style I say anything to make you smile
Girl, It’s easy to love me now
Would you love me if I was down and out?
Would you still have love for me?’

George Michael, ‘Careless Whisper’

‘I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool’

Fleetwood Mac, ‘The Chain’

‘And if you don’t love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
(Never break the chain)’

Joy Division, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’

‘Love, love will tear us apart again
Why is the bedroom so cold?
Turned away on your side
Is my timing that flawed?
Our respect run so dry?
Yet there’s still this appeal
That we’ve kept through our lives
But love, love will tear us apart again’