Sully Erna rocking out on stage

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Every year comes and goes, and in the post-December commercial void sits a chocolate-and-flower seller’s dream of consumer consumption: Valentine’s Day. And while Valentine’s Day’s murky origins may go back to the pagan Roman festival of Lupercalia, most modern people are largely concerned with not being left alone come February 14 — if they care at all, that is. For those who do care, and are actually suffering in sorrow on Valentine’s Day, rock ‘n roll is here to help. 

Even though rock spans the full gamut from the Rolling Stones to Radiohead, and ranges from party-hardy songs to poetic confessionals, this doesn’t mean that it can’t provide comfort to lonely individuals on Valentine’s Day. Actually, it means the opposite. Whether someone needs a hopeful, elevating song to get through the day, a sneering middle finger, a defiant headbanger, or a mournful cry to the sky, we’ve got about 80 years of highly varied music to choose from. 

On that note, we chose songs for this article that reflect a variety not only of rock styles, but approaches to getting through pain. A classic breakup song like “Go Your Own Way” from Fleetwood Mac and the endlessly tumultuous relationship of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham is a no-brainer choice. The spacey, contemplative “Hey You” from Pink Floyd, meanwhile, describes the general desire for human connection, including on Valentine’s Day. Godsmack’s “I Stand Alone,” on the other hand, serves as a chin-up anthem of resilience against circumstances that seek to control one’s life and mind. No matter that lonely people on Valentine’s might stand alone, they need not actually feel alone. 

Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac


To think that Lindsey Buckingham’s and Stevie Nicks’ endless relationship woes could inspire the lonely and downtrodden 50 years down the line. Back when Buckingham wrote “Go Your Own Way,” he was angry at Nicks about their impending breakup even as the two worked together on what would arguably become Fleetwood Mac’s finest album, 1977’s “Rumors.” “Go Your Own Way” represented his statement about their relationship, while Nicks’ “Silver Springs” represented hers. And while either song could serve as inspiration on a lonely Valentine’s Day, we’re going to give our nod to “Go Your Own Way” because it’s got the kind of grit, bite, and in-your-face directness — “You can go your own way, go your own way / You can call it another lonely day” – that’ll shore up the mind and heart against fractured relationships. 

“Grit” and “bite” might be strange words to apply to a Fleetwood Mac song, a band known for its dreaminess and lush harmonies, but they’re true for “Go Your Own Way.” They’re especially true for the extended version from Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 live album, “The Dance,” which is an absolute rock-out song with a stupendous outro/solo that ends in Buckingham smashing Mick Fleetwood’s cymbals with his bare hands. This version sounds unusually hopeful and uplifting, as though time had tempered Buckingham’s and Nicks’ feelings (the latter of whom can actually be seen smiling at the beginning of the song). 

But even though “Go Your Own Way” is a breakup song, its sentiments can be applied to any lonely person on Valentine’s Day. If your goal is to feel complete in and of yourself, you ought to give this song a listen.

Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen


So long as we disregard some of the irony underpinning the choice of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” for this article (more on that later), few songs could be so empowering for the lonely. When that most godly of front men, Freddie Mercury, belts about “havin’ a good time,” “defyin’ the laws of gravity,” “burnin’ through the sky,” making a supersonic man/woman outta you, and mixes Lady Godiva and Mister Fahrenheit into things, you really can’t help but pump your fist at the awesomeness of … well, whatever it was that Mercury was singing about. Because really, it doesn’t even matter. When the “Don’t stop me now” choral line kicks in, singles on Valentine’s Day will feel radiant and ready to conquer the world because, “I’m gonna go, go, go, there’s no stoppin’ me.”

Now to the irony of “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Queen released the Mercury-written track on their 1978 album, “Jazz,” right in the middle of one of Mercury’s most indulgent and drug-fueled periods. This means that “Don’t Stop Me Now” is actually very much a song about not being alone, no matter how we might assess Mercury’s inner world and mental health at the time. But no matter. The song is so joyful, ebullient, and in-the-moment that it can’t help but cheer on and inspire the hurting masses on Valentine’s Day.

Hey You – Pink Floyd


American Songwriter describes Pink Floyd’s “Hey You” as bleak, but that’s missing the point. “Hey You” isn’t “about” loneliness, as a topic, but rather bridging the divide between oneself and others. It’s a song about the desire for connection that sustains the listeners because it does exactly that: makes them feel connected to others. This makes “Hey You” as far from bleak as possible and an excellent companion for singles trying to get through a difficult Valentine’s Day while watching shiny, happy couples stroll on by.

“Hey You” proves so supportive because it came from a real place and real, learned wisdom. Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters wrote the song for the band’s legendary 1979 album, “The Wall,” following his divorce. He felt as though he’d left certain relationships on the sidelines during his divorce, and “Hey You” is an expression of the desire to reforge those relationships. Hence certain lines that allude to touring, like, “Hey, you / Out there on the road, always doing what you’re told, can you help me?” 

By this measure, “Hey You” is doubly helpful for singles on Valentine’s Day because it reminds them that their lives don’t consist solely of significant others. A life is a webwork of friendships, families, acquaintances, social circles, etc., full of individuals who each fulfill different roles. This is a lesson also described by “The Wall” on a whole, as it tells the story of fictional rock star Pink growing evermore isolated over time. So rather than wallow in melancholic emptiness, “Hey You” and its floaty, psychedelic soundscape encourages listeners to do as Waters did and Pink didn’t: reach out to friends when in need.

I Stand Alone – Godsmack


Let’s be clear right off the bat: Yes, “I Stand Alone” off Godsmack’s 2003 album, “Faceless,” very much suits snarling teens who bark at their moms to get out of their rooms. Yes, its riffs are super simple. Yes, it was featured in 2002’s “The Scorpion King,” as its video shows. And yes, it was also featured in 2004’s “Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within” on the PS2, a grimy, edgelord sequel to the bright and quirky “Sands of Time.” But we, or anyone else, would be lying if we didn’t say that “I Stand Alone” kicks so much ass, and amps us up so mightily, that it serves as a killer self-empowerment anthem. Whether you’re headed into a professional MMA brawl or just want to howl to the world that you don’t need its nonsense, duplicity, or flippin’ Hallmark Valentine’s cards, this is the song for you. 

We don’t have any direct testimonials from Godsmack regarding any specific story behind “I Stand Alone” and lines like its opener, “I’ve told you this once before / Can’t control me / If you try to take me down / You’re gonna break.” However, Godsmack singer Sully Erna did name his 2023 biographical documentary after the song, “I Stand Alone: The Sully Erna Story.” The film charts Erna’s path to success through violent childhood neighborhoods, drugs, self-doubt, bad relationships, etc. Erna might not have done it alone — Godsmack is a band, after all — but he was singularly driven and obsessed with music as a young adult. No matter that this is all a bit boilerplate, you can just crank “I Stand Alone” on Valentine’s Day and shout its lyrics till you believe them.

Can You Feel My Heart – Bring Me the Horizon


Bring Me the Horizon is genre-fluid enough to make our cut for this article, and that’s a good thing. Their 2013 track “Can You Feel My Heart” off the album “Sempiternal” is a true extended hand to those in pain and in need. The song is full of lines suited to relationships of all stripes, like, “I’m scared to get close and I hate being alone / I long for that feeling to not feel at all” and “I can’t drown my demons, they know how to swim.” Same goes for its chorus, which can also be applied to many other kinds of personal trouble or distress: “Can you hear the silence? / Can you see the dark? / Can you fix the broken? / Can you feel my heart?” You could potentially fault the song for being too gushy and emo, but if you do that, then you’d be shutting down the value it has for folks who feel alone on Valentine’s Day.

Bring Me the Horizon’s lead, Oli Sykes, brings his A-game to a vocal performance that matches the emotional intensity of “Can You Feel My Heart’s” lyrics. His vocal performance is also a part of the song’s key, repeating melodic phrase, which is actually a fragment of Sykes’ voice mapped to a keyboard. Whether or not listeners realize it or not, this little compositional and production trick makes it feel as though someone is crying out over the song’s entire length. And if folks are listening to “Can You Feel My Heart” while their hearts are crying out, they just might find the sympathetic emotional mirror that they need.