The Card Of The County

I don’t have so many outstanding memories of Valentine’s Day. As a teenager, it was all peer pressure, disappointment and missives from the occasional stalker. That’s why I always shiver during the Janis Ian song, ‘At 17’. You know the lines: “To those of us who know the pain / of Valentines that never came”. On your side, Janis.

In my 20s, it was Chet Baker and ‘My Funny Valentine’. Some pleasure, intimacy and good times. In later years a Steve Earle song has hovered into the equation. 'Valentine's Day' is about the stresses of adult life and the struggle to sustain special moments in the face of compromise, commerce and self interest. Steve sounds magnificently bedraggled. He’s forgotten the card and the shops are sold out of roses. And so he moans:

If I could I would deliver to you

Diamonds and gold; it's the least I can do

So if you'll take my IOU

I could make it up to you

Until then I hope my heart will do

For Valentine's Day

This year I made the missus a card. Concept by myself and photo by my eldest girl. Ain’t it fancy?

Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.