Valentine's Day Alone

Love gone bad, love gone wrong, love gone out the door while you were passed out on the couch . . . For whatever reason, if this Valentine's Day finds you alone, dragging your feet down love's chilly back alleys, we're with you every step of the way. Better yet, so are Frank Sinatra, George Jones, and the other members of our Valentine's Day Alone blues crew. If you think you've got it bad, drink in the haunted-dreams falsetto of Roy Orbison ("Only the Lonely") and get acquainted with the true meaning of loneliness, courtesy of Willie Nelson's "Hello Walls."

They say that great art comes from great suffering. If these songs don't prove that saying beyond a shadow of a doubt, we don't know what does. Consider Smokey & The Miracles' "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage": "Just like the desert shows a thirsty man/ A green oasis where there's only sand/ You lured me into something I should have dodged/ The love I saw in you was just a mirage." Whoa. And let's not forget our very own pain-in-the-rain trilogy: the Temptations' "I Wish It Would Rain," the Dramatics' "In the Rain," and Rockpile's "Crying in the Rain." Hurtin' so bad never sounded so good.

Know one thing: This Valentine's Day, we feel your pain. Just like you, instead of spending time with that special someone, we've cozied-up to that special something: a music collection that knows damn well where we're coming from. Here in our Deep Cuts section, we've put our collection to the test, selecting those songs that cut the deepest. Songs like Chris Isaak's sad-bastard serenade "Forever Blue"; Neil Diamond's outstretched hand to love-defeated fellas the world over, "Solitary Man"; the Afghan Whigs' clenched fist of a bad-love song, "Be Sweet." Hey, cheer up. Remember, the darkest hour is just before dawn.

Ah, sweet, sweet Valentine's Day. Those blessed 24 hours when Cupid smiles upon loving twos. Hearts, flowers, long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners spent lost in each other's eyes. And then there's you — he or she whom that fat, little, bow-and-arrowed bastard forgot . . . Yes, we, too, have endured Valentine's Day out in the cold, looking in on the warm glow of love, wondering if it'll ever again happen for us. Which is why we created our very own special companion with which to pass the day: the Valentine's Day Alone Essentials — dozens of evergreens pried from the coldest, darkest, most defeated corners of the human heart. Our advice: Pour a tall glass of something strong . . . better yet, grab the bottle…and press play. It's gonna be a long one.