14 February 2008 (Valentine's Day)

Valentine's Day -- 13 students showed up to share their favorite songs about love and/or heartbreak!

Minnie and Marianna supplied chocolate and I contributed the classic Sweethearts candy hearts.

The first song of the day was "I don't wanna be in love" (video, lyrics) by Good Charlotte (bio). I asked the student why she chose this one and she said it's mostly because she likes to dance to it, but also because it is appropriate for the day.

One student asked me what I think of the concept of "not wanting to be in love." I said my philosophy is that you cannot choose love, love chooses you. In other words, you can't decide to not be in love (though one can certainly make it hard to be in love or to be loved!).

We talked about arranged marriages for a while; about whether people in arranged marriages are happy in those relationships. We talked about how marriages fulfill different desires and needs for different people and in different cultures. For example, people may want to be in a relationship or marriage for security or for companionship. Or their family might require them to be in a marriage. There are many variations for why people get married, sometimes for love, sometimes for other reasons. But only each individual can say whether he or she is happy in that situation: no one from the outside can decide whether someone is happy in a relationship because only each person individually knows why he or she is in that relationship and what he or she is getting out of it.

Back to music!

Next song was "And I love her" (video, lyrics) by the Beatles (bio). A very idealistic song about love!

I asked the class if some of them have made compilation cds of music for a boyfriend or a girlfriend. 2 girls said they had made cds for boys. One guy said he has made a cd for a girl.

I asked the guy to tell us one of the songs he put on the compilation for the girl. He cited "Love, love, love" (video with lyrics), a rap song sung in Korean by Epik High (bio).

The next song was "November Rain" (video, lyrics) by Guns N Roses (bio). (This video has a whole big story to it!) The student who chose it thought of it as a song about love because the video shows a wedding, but as we looked at the lyrics we decided it is more a song of heartbreak. The student said she likes this song especially because of the lyrics and the melody. But she also like the video a lot. We talked about the melodic guitar playing and I had to show one of my favorite guitar solos: The end solos in "Sweet Child O Mine" (video, lyrics). And that's another good Valentine's song!

Next song was "Hitomi wo tojite" (video) by Ken Hirai (bio) (who we have heard in this class before). Actually *two* students chose this same song. So I taught the class the phrase "to kill two birds with one stone" (which means "to take care of two things at one time"). I've always felt this is quite a violent image. In German you say "kill two flies with one swatter" which is still kind of violent, but only against flies. So I asked the students how this concept is presented in their languages. Apparently birds are the most common victims around the world!

Next song chosen was "I'll Make Love To You" (video, lyrics) by Boys II Men (bio). The student said he chose this song because it's a standard Valentines Day song and because he likes how the voices all sound together.

We now got to the more "rock" fans in the class. "I remember you" (video, lyrics) by Skid Row (bio) was chosen. (The term "skid row" actually means a run-down part of town and it started in Seattle! It was the road which they slid logs down the hill to the port.)

Skid Row inspired the next student to choose "Someday" (video, lyrics) by Nickelback (bio). I was trying to figure out if this is a love song or a heartbreak song. One of the students in the class is familiar with the story of the video. To summarize it goes like this: girl reads about boy's death (boy is in the video, but doesn't realize he is dead), girl is distraught, girl dies, they meet in the afterlife. But I am still wondering if that's a love story or not...

I asked the class for another heartbreak song. I got "Crazy In Love" (video, lyrics) by Beyonce (bio). It was chosen because "love is crazy". But I actually think this is a love song, or at least about the joys of love, so I was still looking for a heartbreak song.

Minnie chose a song by Kelly Clarkson (bio), but she chose a version by Lyn (bio), a famous singer in Korea. She chose the song "Never Again" (video, lyrics). Minnie said that Lyn is the best singer in Korea. Lyn usually sings ballads and Minnie went to a concert by her and it was boring, but Minnie likes this version of the song because Lyn sings it "hard" not "soft."

Somehow we got onto the subject of YouTube in Korea. Apparently YouTube just launched in Korea last month, but Korea already has so many user created content (UGC) sites that YouTube is blasé there.

The next song chosen was "Every Way I Can" (video) by a Turkish singer called Sertab Erener (bio). This song won the Eurovision contest in 2003. I asked why this Turkish singer sings in English and the student told me that in order to win Eurovision you *must* sing in English. I wonder how many non-English songs have won the Eurovision contest in its history?

I picked the next song: "Every Breath You Take" (video, lyrics) by The Police (bio). I explained to the class that a lot of people chose this song for their wedding thinking it's so sweet to think about being together all the time, but if you look closely at the lyrics, the song is actually about surveillance and control -- it's not at all a love song!!

Pinar shared with us the songs that was her first dance with her husband at their wedding: "From This Moment On" (video, lyrics) by Shania Twain (bio).

Lastly we watched "Shoulda Coulda, Woulda" (video, lyrics) by Brian McKnight (bio). The students were all commenting on how American youth speak so strangely ("coulda" rather than "could have") that it's often hard to understand them.

With that everyone had chosen at least one song and it was time to let everyone go celebrate Valentine's Day. Or not celebrate the day, as the case may be :-( .