Tomorrow (14 February) is Valentine's Day. From Paris to New York, men will be giving their sweethearts candy and flowers. Some newly impecunious blokes will even be offering up a one or two carat diamond ring in pursuit of eternal marital bliss. Poor young lads, indeed..
In Japan, the holiday is the other way around. It is the women who will do the giving until one month later. On that day, 'White Day', the lucky male recipients of a month prior will be expected to reciprocate.
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Of course, Valentine's Day, similar to everything else, is contested terrain. In parts of the Islamic world, notably Iran and Saudi Arabia, the holiday is repressed by government authorities as being antithetical to God's plan. Florists in these countries however, who have made good money on Valentine's Day in the past, question that theology.
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Nevertheless, hundreds of millions of people around the world will feel a little lonelier tomorrow. Maybe they have never found love. Perhaps they once had someone to care for and be cared by but lost that someone to a break-up, divorce or death. If that describes you, you are not alone by any means. As a matter of fact, the struggle for romantic love and its loss is one of the defining elements of the human condition.
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Morrissey (b. 1959), one of the greatest lyricists and musical talents of our time, has made his success on expressing our collective restless - and often lonely - heart. Rather than being something to conceal or be ashamed of, the feelings of loneliness and disappointment are worth celebrating. Why? When a person lives their life according to the core human needs of friendship, companionship and romantic love, he or she is living a true life - not a life concerned with job titles, artificial intellectual distinctions and money - which is only a corruption of life.
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Hence, for the lonely sort this Valentine's Day - or for anyone with a world beyond their 'career', here are a few of Morrissey's best songs to celebrate another day in the struggle to be fully human.
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Four Great Songs By Morrissey (Click on links below)
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1. 'Tomorrow' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBY2mzkxLhs
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2. 'The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRDZqx0EP6E&feature=related
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3. 'You Should Have Been Nice To Me' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAVSlYFvd3s
4. 'I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS6B0GdCa9w
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(Picture: Morrissey)
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Happy Valentine's Day, J Roquen