Kim Wilde Valentine’s Day Mixtape
12 songs to win over your unrequited love
Valentine’s Day comes every year on February 14, and those who have some love to confess could be worse off than to use Kim Wilde songs to convey their heartfelt message. Pick any one of these twelve songs, or compile a mixtape. We will tell you which ones, and why they matter.
On February 14, there are many ways to show your love. Besides roses, chocolate and expensive dinners, music has always been a way to express those feelings to The One. You can provide love in a mixtape if you so wish, but it is not so easy to be making the perfect mixtape. There are so many artists and lovesongs that you could easily get confused. So here’s my advice: stick to one artist and let that artist be Kim Wilde. She knows how to express almost every love story, so you can include all of these songs, or just some of them, to tell your story. Unless, of course, your loved one is into hiphop.
C’mon Love Me
Since I am presenting this list in alphabetical order (which I guess is as good as any presentation), it’s just a coincidence that this list starts off with the steamiest song of them all. Written by Kim with George McFarlane and taken from Kim’s 1995 album Now & Forever, this song invites the listener for a night of unbridled passion.
Ooh this is making love it feels so good
Oh baby don’t let go
Kim herself said of this song:
It is a sensual song and needs no explanation! I’d love to do a version in French with LOTS of heavy breathing. Look out Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin!!
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
Hey! You!
This song’s lyrics draw some parallels between the playground and adult life, inviting the listener to ’Come out and play’ (which, incidentally, is also the name of the 2010 album this song comes from). Kim wrote the song together with Fredrik Thomander and Anders Wikström in Stockholm, not necessarily having a love song in mind. This is why this song is one of the more daring ones in this list.
You want it, you need it
Your hunger let me feed its
I want it, I need it
Come and play, come and play with me
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
How Do You Want My Love
If you want to come on strong, or if your love is not really unrequited anymore, you might try the sultry approach. The sound of this song, written by Kim and Ricky Wilde, is positively steaming, with Kim employing her warmest vocals yet in 1986, when this song was released.
So come on over — I’ll make you coffee
No need to end the night
How do you want my love
How do you want my love tonight
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
Hypnotise
So what is Kim’s own favourite track for Valentine’s Day? You’d love to know, wouldn’t you? Well, here’s the answer:
The song was written by Kim on music composed by Ricky. And certainly, those lyrics read like a real declaration of love:
I can’t help it when you’re near me
I don’t think straight I get all confused
I just lose all my concentration
With no question at all I’d surrender to you
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
I Won’t Change The Way That I Feel
If I live a thousand years or more
You’ll still be the one I’m living for
And every night I whisper a prayer
That every day of my life you will always be there
Well, if these words don’t say it all… Written by Kim with Rick Nowels, this song was released on the 1992 album Love Is. According to Rick, he came to Knebworth to write ’A Miracle’s Coming’ with Kim in January 1991. Later in the year, they met again and wrote this song.
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
I’ve Got So Much Love
You wouldn’t guess it from the guitar intro, but this is another song that describes that feeling of yearning so well.
I’ve got so much love
Do you feel the same
We’ll how can I begin to
Hide the feelings that I’m into — for you
I’ve got so much love inside
I’ve got this feeling for you
It was written by Kim, Ricky and Marty Wilde and demonstrates how well the three were able to come up with perfect pop songs in the mid-Eighties.
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
Love In The Natural Way
A song written by Kim, Ricky and Marty Wilde is always going to be an attractive proposition, since the three of them have so much talent for melodic and catchy pop songs.
It is not entirely unbelievable that if ’Love In The Natural Way’ had been one of the first singles taken from Kim’s 1988 album Close, it would have been a massive hit. The song was performed live all around Europe when Kim performed as Michael Jackson’s support act and the lyrics are universally recognisable as an invite to give, share and spread love. There’s only one ’but’: this song is only recommended for use by heterosexual couple because of the line No union is stronger than a woman with a man. A slip of the pen? Kim has never made it any secret that she is very supportive of gay rights.
But tonight I wanna hold you
Cos tonight you’re gonna see
I’m gonna give you love in the natural way
And keep you here with me
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
Loved
Kim recorded this track for a compilation album, released in 2001 to coincide with an Eighties revival tour across the UK she participated in. Having retired from music three years earlier, she approached the song — and the tour — as a one-off thing. The response to both was so overwhelming, that Kim couldn’t help but start the second phase of her musical career.
A favourite among fans, ’Loved’ has a very simple message: You are loved. Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about? The only exception to the rule that all the songs in this list have to be written by Kim Wilde herself, this one simply couldn’t be ignored. Ricky Wilde and Terry Ronald came up with a lyric that is simply too appropriate for this special day.
Make me the beat of your heart
Love isn’t always the same
You are loved
Ooh you are loved
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play
Loving You
Released on the B-side of Kim’s best selling single You Keep Me Hangin’ On in 1986, this song probably says it all.
I wanna be loved by you
Is there anything else I can do
I wanna be kissed by you
Wanna spend all the night loving you
The song originated from a demo recorded by Ricky solo, with himself providing wordless vocals. Kim wrote the lyrics afterwards and together they moulded this into a perfect lovesong.
Buy this track: Although released on cd — the expanded edition of the 1986 album Another Step by Cherry Pop — this track does not seem to be available online. Such a shame!
Million Miles Away
Especially suited for those long distance relationships, this song is a tricky one because basically it describes the problems of such relationships instead of the joys of it.
Kim and Ricky Wilde wrote this track together and it displays the classic melancholy sound that they often come up with in their songwriting.
If you would like to use this song in your mixtape, proceed with caution, especially if the person it’s intended for is keen on song lyrics… Although this part is certainly attractive:
You’re a million miles away
But I feel you in my heart
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
Together We Belong
When you decide to declare your love to someone who hasn’t got a clue, a little confidence comes in very handy. Using this song will certainly grab the attention. ’Together We Belong’? Oh? And why, exactly?
Never a day goes by
it’s you that I need
Never a moment when I don’t believe
I’ll spend my life through with you
Written by Kim and Ricky Wilde with produced Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, it’s a song that doesn’t forget to be realistic about love, as it also speaks of
The silent anger when we fight
The way the words don’t come out right
So out of all the songs in this list, it is probably best suited for those love affairs that are getting on a bit.
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play
You Came
When you ask a few thousand fans on Facebook about their favourite Valentine’s Day song by Kim Wilde (which we did on February 10, 2015), the majority will say ’You Came’. This is remarkable, because originally this song was written with the birth of Ricky’s firstborn son Marty in mind. Released in 1988 as a single from the album Close, the song resonated with many people around the world and continues to do so until today.
Even Kim herself reappropriated the song in 2006, when she recorded a new version for her 2006 album Never Say Never, dedicating it to her husband Hal Fowler.
As far as declarations of undying love go, you could certainly do worse than this:
You came, and changed the way I feel
No one could love you more
Because you came and turned my life around
No one could take your place
Buy this track: Amazon | Google Play | iTunes
Want more?
For brevity’s sake, this selection of songs only lists tracks that were written by Kim herself (with the exception of ’Loved’ — we couldn’t help ourselves). Of course there is loads more to explore within Kim’s 35 year output. Help yourself to many more lyrics over on wilde-life.com/encyclopedia/s/songs!
