Despite our hard-boiled exteriors, we here at Shore Fire are unabashed romantics all. So with Valentine’s Day coming, I thought I’d round up some of my favorite songs to celebrate the occasion. These aren’t just love songs; that would be way too generic (and impossible). These songs so directly about February 14th, they include “Valentine” or “Valentine’s Day” right there in the title.

Outkast – Happy Valentine’s Day

While Big Boi was celebrating ghettomusick on Speakerboxxx, André 3000 delivered the sexy funk jams on The Love Below. This one even helps remind absent-minded boyfriends not forget the date: “Every day the 14th!”

Kina Grannis – Valentine

A poppy, cutesy love song made extra adorable by the flipbook animation.

Bruce Springsteen – Valentine’s Day

Much like his “Independence Day” a few years earlier, Springsteen’s “Valentine’s Day” doesn’t actually have much to do with the holiday that inspired the name. Not directly at least.

The Cocktail Slippers – St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

This one too has a Springsteen connection: it was produced by Steve Van Zandt. He nails his beloved Nuggets aesthetic on this barn-burner, with a slighted-girl-bites-back plot that could come from a Tarantino movie.

Tom Waits – Blue Valentines

There’s a huge sub-genre around this time of year: depressing Valentine’s Day songs. No one does maudlin better than Tom Waits, so what better to accompany a lonely Valentine’s Day than a healthy dose of self-pity?