FAWM: "On St. Valentine's Day"

On St. Valentine's Day

2025 by @jeff9

Liner Notes

#acousticonetake #singersongwriter #valentine Came up with this yesterday for @unknownbecky 's Friday song circle today where our prompt was to write with inspiration from something visual like a painting, photo, etc. Couldn't resist V-Day worming its way into things when I thought about a picture of my wife from back in our high school days. The rest is just made up, including her being gone.

Lyrics

On St. Valentine’s Day

V1 My family sharing photos ‘round a table at a bar And me, well I’ve been out of touch a while They picked today for us to get together and do this
I’ll listen to the stories everybody misremembers And then add one picture to the pile

V2 It’s one your mother gave me at a wake not long ago You were sixteen in your drill team uniform Five years before we married, two before we fell in love And fifty one before you slipped away to be with God Still feels like I’m sailing through a storm

CH1 Then when I lay it down they all get quiet I can tell they’re looking at me for a clue for what to say There’s just something in my eye, no I’m not crying I always just get misty anyway… On St. Valentine’s Day

V3 All of us are at an age when this is how it goes So we raise our glasses high to absent friends May happiness be with you now and bless you evermore We toast like we’re half Irish and let the whiskey burn A brotherly communion for our sins

CH2 We put our glasses down and all get quiet Thinking next time which of us will be the one who’s slipped away If you were here you wouldn’t let us be like this Or let it hurt as much anyway… On St. Valentine’s Day

BR You were tough as nails But with a soft spot in your heart You saved every one of my sappy Hallmark cards Just to remind us To keep alive our our spark With you, believe me, that wasn’t hard

CH3 Driving home I marvel at the quiet That photo’s in my wallet now where it’s gonna stay Cupid used an arrow that’s why love hurts so much I think that once a year anyway On St. Valentine’s Day

Comments

@audrey 2025

Lovely, sweet, nostalgic and so beautifully sad. My mother's birthday was Valentines day, so I've never been able to celebrate it since her death years ago, but our wedding anniversary is in January, so we just celebrate that all the more instead. This song of yours has a wonderful melody and you've performed it well. Lovely song. I enjoyed it a lot.

@mace66 2025

Really interesting spin that you've put on this - not an archetypal Valentines Day love song.

My mum's birthday was the 14th Feb (she died a couple of years back at the age of 91), so I can sort of identify with the sense of loss on a day when others are celebrating their love for one another.

Lovely tender story (AI certainly couldn't come up with anything like this).

@jerrypettit 2025

How did I almost miss this one--Jeff singing about VALENTINES!! Love it! ❤️

@jeffdesantis 2025

Your lyrics are just great. Heartbreaking, and amazing.

@nancycunning 2025

Jeff - this one hits just as hard the second time. I’m so glad to hear your wife is alive and well. I love it that the picture is from the real world and that the loss is imagined. Using Saint Valentine’s day is a beautiful touch. Makes me think of the song On St. Crispin’s Day - I think Billy Bragg. Love how the family meets in a bar and also the way you explicitly identify that Irish blessing feel.

@billwhite51 2025

When you sing "We toast like we’re half Irish and let the whiskey burn" I imagine you singing this in a pub filled with drunks who cry in their whiskey jars and sing long withthe chorus. You sing the song as if about to fall of the very edge of sorry, and although you are lucky to still have your wife, I feel a dramatic sense of loss throughout the song. Im sure you have, as have I, lost many a friend down these hard traveled roads. I love this song and raise my glass to it and to those left behind.