From Air to Mr Zayn Malik: the best songs to impress your better half with .

Valentine’s Day is all about setting the scene. It should involve fine food, even finer wine, maybe a gift or two, and the stereo softly playing Mr Stevie Wonder as…

“Stevie Wonder?! But I hate Stevie Wonder! I’m sorry but that’s the last straw – I’m leaving you!”

Cue the sound of smashing wine glasses and hurled Black Magic.

The point I’m trying to make here is that picking a great Valentine’s Day playlist shouldn’t be done with a one-size fits all approach. It’s not about knowing great songs, it’s about knowing your lover. Because I don’t know your lover (or maybe I do, but don’t go fretting about that so close to Valentine’s Day), I urge you to view this playlist as a rough guide for stirring up an amorous atmosphere rather than as a strict set of instructions.

A couple of examples – not everyone will find Nico’s gothic tones to their romantic taste, but The Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror” is the song my wife and I played in church after we got married. It works for us, if not for everyone. Likewise, there might be more iconic Beach Boys songs than “All I Wanna Do”, but that’s the one we fell in love to.

Elsewhere, though, this playlist contains more reliably romantic numbers. You don’t want the music to intrude on your date too much, so orchestral music (I went for sweeping soundtrack maestro Mr Ennio Morricone) shouldn’t be overlooked, even if it’s not specifically love themed. Songs that convey intimacy are also reliable bankers. Mr Labi Siffre’s early 1970s recordings capture this perfectly and “My Song” – a track so good that Mr Kanye West himself sampled it – contains perhaps the most romantic line in all of pop: “I may not always sing in tune/And sometimes you won’t hear me/But you don’t need to be near me/To know that I’m singing.”

Ms Joni Mitchell’s “A Case Of You” and Ms Nina Simone’s version of “Lilac Wine” both capture the woozy intoxication of falling head over heels and if your date is going well then your playlist should naturally reach the libidinous likes of Mr Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”.

The giddy rush of love is all about the present, but – Mr Zayn Malik aside – I’ve tried to avoid current hits. As an old romantic I like to imagine that you want your love to endure – so it makes sense that your music should have stood the test of time, too: the likes of Mr Sam Cooke and Ms Minnie Riperton should suffice here. As I said at the start, your Valentines playlist is all about personal taste. But if your date doesn’t like these tracks, then it might be time to question whether or not they’re really right for you.

Click here for MR PORTER’s suprisingly good Valentine’s Day playlist