Politika cover’s “Valentine’s Day”

In what has become an annual tradition for this blog, I am featuring a cover of Bowie’s “Valentine’s Day” on, you guessed it, Valentine’s Day. And before you start writing a reply, yes, I know the song is not about the holiday.

The embedded video is from an English musician who goes by Politika. The video is several years old and predates this blog’s “Cover of the Week” feature, so it hasn’t appeared here before. Politika is an independent musician who creates both original music and cover songs. On YouTube, under the handle “politikamusic,” he has shared original tracks such as “Waiting” and “Zero,” as well as covers of songs by artists including Bowie.

Politika’s music is also available on platforms like SoundCloud, where he has shared covers of songs such as Radiohead’s “Burn The Witch” and Thom Yorke’s “Dawn Chorus.”

Bowie’s “Valentine’s Day” is a track from his 2013 album The Next Day. The song stands out with its bright, melodic sound, featuring a jangly guitar-driven arrangement. Beneath its seemingly upbeat exterior and misleading name lies a dark and unsettling theme.

Lyrically, “Valentine’s Day” is a commentary on gun violence, particularly mass shootings. The lyrics describe a character named Valentine, who appears to be a troubled individual contemplating or carrying out a violent act. If you are familiar with the song, the lyrics are less explicit than you might remember, but Bowie pretty clearly takes one of his regular themes of social isolation and the individual’s conflict with larger society to its violent extreme in the form of what appears to be a Columbine-style school shooting (though, to be clear, he is not advocating or glorifying violence).

Despite not being released as a major single, “Valentine’s Day” became one of the more discussed tracks from The Next Day due to its poignant subject matter and strong melodic appeal.

Bowie was never really comfortable with sappy love songs, anyway, so this blog will continue to acknowledge Valentine’s Day not with chocolates and roses, but with covers of “Valentine’s Day.”