Friday Listen: “Saint Valentine” – Gregory Alan Isakov

By Mike Meldon

As Valentine’s Day approaches, love feels unavoidable. It’s on storefronts, in windows, on banners, and in conversations. And here in Loveland, during Hearts Afire weekend—when love is quite literally plastered all around—it can feel especially loud.

But not everyone hears celebration in this season.

Gregory Alan Isakov’s “Saint Valentine” speaks to the other side of February—the quiet grief, the loneliness, the loss of faith in love that so many people carry while the world around them seems happily paired off. This song feels like a companion for those who are circling old places, nursing old wounds, wondering why love left without explanation.

And, picturing the Saint himself in misery- with "my old heart hanging from the line” is great and heartbreaking imagery.

Well, I just came to talk, Saint Valentine

I never pictured you living here with the rats and the vines

ain't that my old heart hanging out on your lines

you're all f*$%d up, Saint Valentine

This song and its message are a small acknowledgment for those who don’t feel part of the festivities—for those who feel invisible this weekend. My heart goes out to you. Most of us have been there. That loneliness can feel endless, displacing, like you’ll never quite find “home” again.

And yet—while this song names many hard truths—I still believe in love. I still believe in hope.

Like Abraxas, I think both things can exist at once. This version of Saint Valentine—the lonely one, the broken-hearted one—is just as real and valid as the joyful, carefree version we celebrate. Which one we meet often just depends on the day.

If this song finds you where you are, know that you’re not alone. Love is complicated.