Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Your Love Songs: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1849

Episode Date: February 14, 2026

In this 1849th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike shares your favourite love songs in celebration of Valentine's Day. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

Hey, Mom, did you save the love letters Dad sent you? Of course I saved them. Well, actually, there's only one. And it's more of a love postcard from some brewery you visited. Maybe it's a beer talking march, but you got a butt that won't quit. They got these big chewy pretzels here. Five dollars? Get out of here. Wow.

Sight of Dad I've never seen. Hello, you beautiful people. Welcome to episode 1,849 of Toronto Mike. An award-winning podcast proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Breweries. Order online at greatlakesbeer.com for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Ponger. Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Visit palmapasta.com for more. Fuging Corpso, Nick Aeinis. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline and Building Success, two podcasts that you ought to listen to. Recyclemyelectronics.c.a.comitting to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921.

Happy Valentine's Day. I chew, chew, choose you. Shout out to Ralph Wiggum's there. So this is yet another installment of the F-O-T-M-K-O-T-J series. That means Friends of Toronto Miked kick out the jams. I put out the call. If you missed the call, by the way, you're not paying attention. Let's see.

I put it on Blue Sky. I put it on Facebook. I put it on Instagram. And I put it in the Not So Secret FOTM chat on WhatsApp. So if you didn't get the message, I don't know what to tell you. Follow me on Instagram or Blue Sky or Facebook. Or send me a note and tell me why you. you belong in the not-so-secret FOTM group on WhatsApp.

Come on, get it together. Oh, I don't want to yell at you. It's Valentine's Day. It's a day where you're lovey. You think about love. You think about people you care about it. There's different types of love. There's romantic love.

There's friendship. There's love for your children, your family. There are many shades. of love. And we're going to hear from some FOTMs who submitted audio to me. They literally recorded themselves and sent the audio file to Mike at Toronto Mike.com. And everybody who submitted a love song for Valentine's Day for this F-O-T-M-K-O-T-J is in this ep.

Nobody's on the cutting room floor. You know, here's the thing. So these are the episodes that usually get booted. They typically get booted from YouTube and often they're booted from Spotify. So a bit of an experiment by yours truly. Like I'm trying to figure out the algorithm they're using to determine what episodes get ripped off their service. Like clearly there's some kind of a ratio of talking, I would say original content, or I'll just call this non-copyrighted content.

So there's a ratio of this I'm doing now, which will explain why I'm rambling quite a bit off the top. And the music I'm going to drop in here without permission from the copyright holders. I didn't license these songs. I don't know how to license these songs. I'm told there's no legal way to license these songs, but it's Valentine's Day.

I feel rather mushy, rather warm and tingly. and I want to play all the songs that were requested by good FOTMs. So maybe less of me and more of you is a good ratio here. So without further ado, let's hear from you and your favorite love songs. Ooh, it's dark in here. How romantic. Hang on, let me put on some lighting. Oh, that's nice. Hi, Mike and everybody else. It's Kelly.

Katrera talking to you from my voice booth, where I would be normally at this time hunkered down voicing the Olympics. But I don't have that job anymore either. Anyhow, enough about me, happy Valentine's Day to anyone that's listening. Mike asked me to pick my favorite love song. That is tough. I don't like picking favorites because I like a lot. of different types of music, I'll give you a couple of the songs that are love songs that I think are fantastic. So when I was first asked, I thought, okay, 10-C, I'm not in love. Because it's such a great song about how in love this guy is. He wants this person to believe that he does not love

them. So he is giving off a front of denial. And I think it's just so well done. And it's super, I really should take these things out, hey? Hang on. Hang on. Good guy. Man, it feels so much better without all the headgear and saliva. Okay, so that's one. Anybody want to make out now? All right. The other one I thought of was Tom Waits. I love closing time. It's my Desert Island album, one of them, at least. and I love, I hope I don't fall in love with you. And it's about a guy sitting in a bar room, Biden's time, at a bar, it's a dive bar, and he just has a tendency to fall in love with people.

Then I thought God Only Knows is a great love song by, of course, the Beach Boys. It's at the beginning of one of my favorite movies at Christmas, Love Actually. So that's a great love song. And then another great love song, Joe Cocker covering Billy Preston's You Are So Beautiful

Because the vulnerability In Joe Cocker's voice is a beautiful thing And you know, you just really feel it He's thinking of who he loves when he sings that song But the love song that I'm going to choose today On this Valentine's Day, 2026, The Beatles, love is all you need Because it's just so happy

Love, Love, Love, It's celebratory. And that's what love's all about, right? And you can sing it to your dog, you can sing it to your baby, you can sing it to your loved one. It's a great song. And there's not a lot of challenging lyrics. Anyhow, happy Valentine's Day.

And I hope that suffices. No, I don't follow instructions well. Bye. It's easy. Nothing you can make, you can't be made. You can save. Nothing you can do,

but you can learn how to be you in time. It's easy. Love song? Oh, that's a good one there. February 14th, Valentine's Day. I'm going to have to say my favorite love song would be, hmm, more than this by Roxy Music from the album Avalon. It's my favorite because Brian Ferry's voice is so captivating, so alluring that if you're in

a romantic situation and you hear this song more than this, actually the whole album, Avalon, you just are transported into a different world where you're more relaxed and you're just loving it. So this is the best love song for me more than this by Roxy Music. Highly recommended in moments of passion. Happy Valentine's Day. Y-Y-Z Gord here. When you ask for love songs, I'm immediately drawn to my favorite romantic comedy film,

Say Anything, and the iconic boombox scene with John Kuzak and his classic Lloyd Dobler character trying to win back the love of his high school infatuation. with the perfect love song, Peter Gabriel, in your eyes. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I got to thinking, and I realized that there's a difference in living and that feeling of being deeply enamored and charmed by something.

And so, Quincy Jones, if I ever lose this heaven, one of my favorite songs of all time, mostly because of Hubert Law's flute. I hope you like it as much as I do. Thanks for asking. Rick A. Here, my special love song is an easy one. It would be Edda James at last. It was the first song played at my wedding,

so of course it holds a special place in my heart. So that's my choice and hope you enjoy it. could speak to dream that I can call Hey Mike, this isn't really Valentine's Day romantic, more Valentine's Day erotic. So I'll take you back to 1971.

I was 20. I met this very pretty woman named Valerie. Now, she might have been, you know, somewhat younger. And as a function of her good taste, she entered into a mutually beneficial short-time relationship with me. And it was this extremely suggestive song by the bells that acted as

our aphrodisiac. You gotta give props to a song that can rhyme How She Makes Me Quiver with all the love I can give her And trust me, there was some quivering I went our separate ways after just a few weeks But about 20 years later, somehow we hooked up again for just one night Hey, maybe she'll hear this and try and find me for a third time Hi Mike, it's Leslie, aka Leslie Villian,

here with my submission for a Valentine's Day. tune. I love so many 1970 soft rock ballads, so my choice is in keeping with that. I went in a slightly different direction, though, as this isn't a song about romantic love between partners, but the love that the singer-songwriter David Gates had for his father, which he wrote after his father's death. Gates had previous hits with his band Bread, with songs like Make It With You, Baby I'm a Want You, and If. This song released in 1972, made it to number five in the U.S. and Canada and number three on the adult contemporary charts. So for this Valentine's Day, I'm getting really sappy and encouraging everyone to consider this lyric from the bridge of the song. Is there someone

you know, you're loving them so, but taking them all for granted? You may lose them one day, someone takes them away, and they don't hear the words you long to say. So with that, I wish all the FOTMs a happy Valentine's Day and I give you everything I own by bread. Keep me warm. Get me warm. You can set me free. Set me free. Is there someone to touch you again?

Hello, Toronto, Mike. It's Steve Paken here. Formerly the host of the agenda on TVO, currently the co-host of the On Polly podcast on TVO. and, as you know, I've started up my own thing called The Paken Podcast, so I'm following in your footsteps after all. Toronto, Mike, you will not be surprised to hear that my favorite love song of all time is a Frank Sinatra song.

This song is called One for My Baby and One More for the Road. It was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer back in 1943. It was originally written for a musical film starring Fred Astaire called The Sky's the Limit. But of course, Frank recorded it numerous times, most notably, I guess, in the late 1950s on an album called Only the Lonely. And even though I am normally a pretty happy guy, this is a very kind of sad saloon song. But it just, I don't know, it really speaks to me. It's a story about a guy who walks into a bar, bellies up to the bar, and he says to the bartender whose name is Joe,

I got a little story that I think you ought to know. And on he goes, you know, we're drinking my friend at the end of a brief episode, so make it one for my baby and one more for the road. In other words, pour me a drink. I got a very sad story I want to tell you. And he goes on to tell the story of his very sad breakup. I think one of the reasons I love this song is because, of course, Frank Sinatra sang it so lovingly and beautifully. and it really captures the pathos of somebody going through a very tough time.

But the other reason is much more personal. And here's a little story. I remember going to a high school reunion. I can't remember if it was our 20th or 25th or something, but we were all much older than we were back in the day. And a friend of mine who knew a bartender or who knew a bar owner, somewhere I will not reveal the location. it's about 2 o'clock in the morning at this high school reunion and my buddy says,

come on, let's go get a drink. And we get in our cars and we drive probably half an hour. It's 2.30 in the morning and I'm saying to my friend, look at, they can't possibly still be open. And he says, watch this. And he gets his phone out. He makes a call and wouldn't you know it a few minutes later, somebody can't, comes down and opens the bar, and there we are, just the two of us, and the bartender, alone in this bar. And I look at my watch, and it's about 240 a.m., and I say,

guys, there's something I've just got to do. And I go to my car, and I grab a Sinatra CD. I bring it in. I say to the guy, please play track number one on this. And wouldn't you know, the song starts out, it's quarter to three. There's no one in the place except you and me. And there we were at a quarter to three in a bar where there was no one else except you and me. So I like that song for a couple of reasons. Thanks for the chance to talk about this Toronto Mike. It's a very happy memory for me, even though it's a bit of a sad song. It's quarter to three. There's no one in the place except you and me. So set them up, Joe. I got a little story

I think you should know. We're drinking, my friend, to the end of a brief episode. Make it one for my babe and one more for the road. I got the routine. Put another nickel in the machine. Feeling so bad.

Can't you make the music? I could tell you a lot, but you've got to be true to your code. Just make it one for my baby. I could never know it, but buddy, I'm a kind of poet, and I got a lot of things like to say. And when I'm gloomy, won't you listen to me? Till it's talked away. That's how it goes.

And Joe, I know you're getting anxious to clothe. Thanks for the cheer. I hope you didn't mind my bend in your... But this torch that I found, it's gotta be drowned, Or it soon might explode. So make it one for my big. Happy Valentine's Day to all the FOTMs. This is the VP of Sales.

This is Tyler Campbell, co-host of FOTM cast. Love songs. I really love this song by FOTM, Ron Sexsmith. it is from his album, his first real album, Grand Opera Lane, which he, I believe, self-released on cassette in 1991. I first heard it when he reissued Grand Opera Lane in conjunction with his cobblestone runway album in 2002, I believe. And it's just such a wonderful, realistic love song. it's not sappy in any way it's just a mature person recognizing the goodness in their partner and knowing that their partner sees the goodness in them and I think that's a really lovely message

and this song always just makes me feel emotional when I hear it just the way Ron sings and expresses himself it's it's really beautiful to me. And I will always love this song, and I hope you do too. It is called In This Love, and it's by Ron Sexsmith and the Uncool, which was the name of his band at that particular time. You are really something else, and you've been so good for this old house. I forget myself. You should turn back to haunt you. My favorite love song is love story by Taylor Swift because it's fun to sing along to and it's catchy. First are you, I close my eyes and the flashback starts.

My pick for favorite love song is I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. Of course, we know that it's a cover of a song originally done by Dolly Parton, but Whitney's version is superb. It came from the movie The Bodyguard, where Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston were the main love interests. And it's just such a powerful song. Whitney's voice is incredible. And that's my favorite love song.

It should. That is all. I'm taking goodbye. Don't we both know. I'm not what you Toronto Mike and fellow FOTM's Midtown Gourd here Hey I found a Learren song

That I think is quite romantic It's fairly new It's from the Elevate album It's called Reddress Happy Valentine's Day I'm across an old photograph 85 all purple rain It made me like fresh out of art school

Gonna be a star We had Big Dream 60 bucks And your brother's old beat up car you said you're a key so beaute's just made the kids the house the dogs love that's what we've got so feel my mike it's rash me my favorite love song actually one record of the year at the grammies this year it's luther by kendrick lamar and ciza it's such a beautiful love song and it was a moment at the Grammys. Share was presenting the first time at the Grammys for her in like 18 years. And then

she was very confused. And Kendrick Lamar and Sizzow were very classy about the whole thing. And it's such a beautiful song. I learned that Kendrick Lamar shared in an interview recently that the only way the Luther Vandross Estate would allow his music to be used as a sample was if Kendrick Lamar ensured them that there would be no foul language, no cussing on the track. And so this is a song that I can play in the car with my kid. It's about love. I love when Siza says, I just want to see you win. It's the best thing that a partner could say to the person they love. So that's my favorite love song of all time.

Happy Valentine's Day. Five, five, five, they drop it like it's hot. If this world was mine, I take your dreams and produce them to their life. Get through strictly with their five. It's a bob. Do you, she a fan, he a flop. They can't even settle down. Hey, it's the host of this award-winning podcast.

Toronto Mike here. I hope you're having a great Valentine's Day. Once again, I want to thank every single FOTM who took the time to record a special audio presentation so they could gift to us on this Valentine's Day their favorite love song. And honestly, is it even Valentine's Day without Midtown Gord kicking out a Lee Aaron song? Or Steve Paken kicking out a Frank Sinatra song. So before I wrap this up, I thought I'd share one of my favorite love songs. It is my show.

You can stop listening, but you can't stop me from sharing this jam. Hunters and Collectors are an Australian rock band. They formed in the early 80s. And although I didn't hear much hunters and collectors when I was growing up, I did manage to secure a bootleg of a Pearl Jam show. We're talking 1998, I want to say, just when you could start burning CDs. So I got myself this Pearl Jam bootleg,

like an unofficial Pearl Jam bootleg. And Pearl Jam performed a song by Hunters and Collectors. The song is called Throw Your Arms Around Me. And I think it's gorgeous. The Hunters and Collectors version is fantastic, but I always gravitate towards the Pearl Jam cover. Now, my version was from an unauthorized bootleg, but of course Pearl Jam became rather famous

for authorizing their quote-unquote bootlegs. And they put out live reclassified. recordings of shows. So here is Pearl Jam in Australia performing, Throw Your Arms Around Me by Hunters and Collectors with Mark Seymour from Hunters and Collectors. I'm dedicating this one to my sweetheart, Monica. Happy Valentine's Day. I'll kiss you in four places as I go run along your feet I squeeze a life right out of you I will make you laugh and make you cry and we may never forget it as I make you call my name

name as I shouted to the blue summer sky and we may never meet again so shed your skin let's get started and you will throw your arms around me will throw your arms around me you'll throw your arms I dreamed you at night time And I watched you in your sleep I met you in high places I touched your head, touched your feet And if you disappear out of you Though I try to forget

Some of my life Said your skinless get started And you'll throw Your throat It's getting started Brings us to the end of our 1,849th show. It is February

26 and that means Palma Pasta is running their wonderful Hearts for Hospice campaign. That means for the entire month of February, if you buy

heart-shaped pasta from Palma Pasta proceeds from every purchase will support hospice Mississauga and the compassionate care they provide in the community of Mississauga. It's a good cause and it's delicious pasta. Thank you, Palma Pasta. And thank you Great Lakes Brewery. I'll be tipping a can of your premium logger tonight with Monica.

Thank you to Recycle My Electronics.c.a. You know that's where you go. If you have old electronics, old cables, old devices, you don't throw that out. Those chemicals end up in our landfill. You go to Recycle My Electronics.ca, put in your postal code, and find out where you can drop it all off to be properly recycled. It's Valentine's Day, so I want to shout out a couple of sweethearts. One is Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home. I love producing their podcast, Life's Undertaking.

I get to co-host that one, and we record a new episode every two weeks. So subscribe to Life's Undertaking. And Nick Aieny's, the big cuddly sweetheart, Nick stepped up to help fuel the real talk, and we appreciate it. Thank you, Nick. Nick's podcast is called Building Toronto's Skyline. So much love to all, much love to you. Happy Valentine's Day. you all Tuesday. We're recording a fresh episode of Toast with Rob Pruse and Bob Willett,

a couple more sweethearts. That's 1030 a.m. on the live stream, live.toronomike.com. See you all then.