Dave & Valerie’s Anniversary Playlist
September 24, 1989 → September 24, 2025
Phones down. Volume up.
36 Years of Harmony
🎉 A celebration of rhythm and resilience.
Five songs, five questions — proof that love, music, and a little mischief can keep a couple dancing for decades.
▶️Listen on TIDAL in lossless quality, other platforms coming soon YouTube links below
1. The Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) (1965) ▶️ Play on YouTube
🎵 Lyric: “Sugar pie, honey bunch, you know that I love you.”
💬 Question: Looking back, what’s the first small gesture that made you feel like this was real — something that would last?
🌙 Why in this list: Pure Motown joy — the song that lights the fuse of memory every single time.
📖 Tidbit: Released in 1965, this was Motown’s biggest hit until it was dethroned by the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
2. Heatwave – Always and Forever (1976) ▶️ Play on YouTube
🎵 Lyric: “Each moment with you is just like a dream to me.”
💬 Question: Over 36 years, what’s the one constant that’s kept us steady through all the changes?
🌙 Why in this list: Their wedding song — a vow set to melody.
📖 Tidbit: Written by Rod Temperton (who also wrote “Thriller” for Michael Jackson), this track has become a timeless wedding classic.
3. Frank Sinatra – Summer Wind (1966) ▶️ Play on YouTube
🎵 Lyric: “Summer wind, came blowin’ in from across the sea.”
💬 Question: What fleeting season of our life together — a year, a chapter — do you still revisit in your mind like it was yesterday?
🌙 Why in this list: Nostalgia embodied, Sinatra style. The song of fleeting seasons and lasting love.
📖 Tidbit: Originally a German song called “Der Sommerwind,” Sinatra’s version turned it into a standard for reflective nights.
4. Hootie & The Blowfish – Hold My Hand (1994) ▶️ Play on YouTube
🎵 Lyric: “With a little love, and some tenderness, we’ll walk upon the water, we’ll rise above the mess.”
💬 Question: After all these years, where do you still count on me to steady you — and where do you think I lean on you most?
🌙 Why in this list: Gen-X optimism, the anthem of holding steady no matter what.
📖 Tidbit: This debut single launched Hootie & The Blowfish into stardom, peaking at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
5. Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline (1969) ▶️ Play on YouTube
🎵 Lyric: “Good times never seemed so good.”
💬 Question: What’s the one song, place, or ritual that always pulls the wild side out of you — the one that makes me laugh every time?
🌙 Why in this list: The notorious closer — the table-dancing anthem that’s gotten them tossed out of more than one fine establishment.
📖 Tidbit: Diamond wrote this in 1969, inspired by JFK’s daughter Caroline. It went on to become one of the most universally recognized singalongs in history.
How to Listen
Phones away. A glass poured. Volume just right.
Play in order — joy → vow → nostalgia → anchor → chaos.
Let the questions do their work — stories surface when the music leads.
Sequencing Rationale
I Can’t Help Myself → Sparks. The joy of beginnings.
Always and Forever → Anchor. The vow revisited.
Summer Wind → Reflection. Nostalgia with weight.
Hold My Hand → Steady. The promise of presence.
Sweet Caroline → Chaos. The wild, unbuttoned celebration that keeps things alive.
This playlist tells a story.
It begins with “I Can’t Help Myself” by the Four Tops — pure Motown sugar-rush joy, the reminder of how it all started.
It anchors with “Always and Forever” — their wedding vow, still echoing after 36 years.
It drifts into nostalgia on Sinatra’s “Summer Wind” — breezy, timeless, a reminder that seasons change but the bond endures.
It steadies with Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Hold My Hand” — hand-in-hand optimism that carried them through gigs, road trips, and late-night chaos.
And then it blows the roof off with “Sweet Caroline” — the one song that turns dinner into a table-dance and makes 36 years feel like one long night that’s still not done.
What’s one truth waiting to surface tonight? Share your stories @DateNightInStereo
After your night, tag us with what surfaced. Best shares get featured.
Phones Down. Volume Up.
Happy Anniversary, Dave & Valerie.
