Valentine’s Day (2013) – David Bowie

If there was any one artist whose music catalogue I wish I had explored more deeply, it would be David Bowie. I was a latecomer to appreciating his music and recognising him as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He still features here quite prominently, and that continues today with this cool song – Valentine’s Day. This 2013 track comes from his penultimate album The Next Day (image inset), released just a few years before his death from liver cancer in 2016 at the age of 69.

I mentioned “cool,” but it surprised me to read (according to Wikipedia) that the lyrics are written from the perspective of someone with the mindset of a school shooter. Reading it again with that in mind, I can see it more clearly. Even so, the music still sounds “cool.” Bowie manages to approach the theme of gun violence without describing violence directly – instead focusing on uneasy, human emotions. That’s pretty clever. I also like how the music offsets the dark subject matter, with a boppy, almost Traveling Wilburys-like “Sha la la, Sha la la” thrown in for contrast.

I like the video too. Bowie plays that little guitar thing you’d expect to see in ‘Toys “R” Us’ – but, of course, it still sounds great. You could almost apply that John Lennon quote to Bowie as well: “I’m an artist. You give me a f***ing tuba, I’ll get you something out of it.” The instrument he uses is a Hohner G2T guitar, a compact headless model originally produced in the mid-to-late 1980s, mainly for international markets.

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Wikipedia:

The Next Day is the twenty-fifth studio album by the English musician and was his first studio release in ten years, as he had retreated from public view after undergoing a procedure to treat a blocked heart artery in 2004.

The lead single Where Are We Now? and announcement of the album were posted online on 8 January 2013, Bowie’s 66th birthday, surprising fans and media who had assumed he had retired from music. 

The Next Day topped charts worldwide and debuted at number one and two on the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200, respectively.

[Verse 1]
Valentine told me who’s to go
Feelings he’s treasured most of all
The teachers and the football star

[Chorus]
It’s in his tiny face
It’s in his scrawny hand
Valentine told me so
He’s got something to say, it’s Valentine’s Day
The rhythm of the crowd
Teddy and Judy down
Valentine sees it all
He’s got something to say, it’s Valentine’s Day

[Verse 2]
Valentine told me how it feels
If all the world were under his heels
Or stumbling through the mall

[Chorus]
It’s in his tiny face
It’s in his scrawny hand
Valentine knows it all
He’s got something to say, it’s Valentine’s Day

[Outro]
(Yeah)
Valentine Valentine
(Yeah) (Woo) (Woo)
Valentine Valentine
It’s in his scrawny hand
It’s in his icy heart
It’s happening today
Valentine Valentine
It’s in his scrawny hands
It’s in his icy heart
It’s happening today
Valentine Valentine

References:
1. Valentine’s Day (song) – Wikipedia