3 Heart-Themed Songs for Valentine’s Day

There are many songs about hearts.

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Billy Ray Cyrus scored a hit using the kind of babble one uses with an infant in “Achy Breaky Heart.” Also, Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and its epic refrain gave the world peak drama in the 1980s.

Blondie had a “Heart of Glass,” and Bruce Springsteen wrote how everybody’s got a “Hungry Heart.” And if you’re quiet enough, you might hear the thumping intro fade to “The Heart of Rock and Roll” by Huey Lewis & the News.

Even the prog-rock band Yes got in on the action with “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher continued his impressive run of anthems with “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” from Oasis’ fifth album Heathen Chemistry. Finally, Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” gave Titanic its iconic theme.

So to celebrate Valentine’s Day, here are three heart-themed songs.

Turn around, bright eyes.

“Heart-Shaped Box” by Nirvana from In Utero (1993)

Kurt Cobain snuck away to a large closet in the home he shared with Courtney Love to write a new song. She heard him working on the idea that became Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box.” Love told Rolling Stone it was the only time she asked him for a riff for one of her songs. She said, “Do you need that riff?” He answered, “F–k you!” and slammed the door.

Hey, wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice

“I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” by Wilco from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

Alison Stewart once asked Jeff Tweedy at a forum about the meaning of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Tweedy said it’s nonsense and hard to explain, but he feels it every time he sings the song. The opening lyric, regardless of its syntax and how defiantly it distorts grammar, remains Tweedy’s most memorable line. It’s like reading a great poem. Maybe you don’t know what it means, but, man, you know exactly how it feels.

I am an American aquarium drinker
I assassin down the avenue
I’m hiding out in the big city blinking
What was I thinking when I let go of you?

“Heart of Gold” by Neil Young from Harvest (1972)

According to Neil Young, “Heart of Gold” put him “in the middle of the road.” Soon, Young became bored traveling in the mainstream so he aimed for the “ditch.” The ditch included a series of musical reinventions and classic albums with Crazy Horse. But years later, it also led to a lawsuit from his record label for not sounding like Neil Young. In or out of the ditch, “Heart of Gold” remains his signature song.

I wanna live, I wanna give
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold
It’s these expressions I never give
That keep me searching for a heart of gold

Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns