Sometimes lost in all this talk of love and romance is that this day commemorates the death of a saint. As a way of paying homage to St. Valentine, this post looks out how the word saint(s) is used in pop music by looking at its occurrence in songs from the Billboard year-end Top Thirty charts (1951-2015) and presents videos of some of these songs.

Generally speaking, the word occurs in two categories. The first is as a noun, where it is often used metaphorically to mean "good person/people." It is used this way in the songs "This Ole House" (1954), and "Demon" (2012), and the following song from 1996, 1997, and 2005, respectively:

If God had a name, what would it be And would you call it to his face If you were faced with him in all his glory What would you ask if you had just one question Yeah, yeah, God is great Yeah, yeah, God is good Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Music video by Meredith Brooks performing Bitch.

The other general category that the word falls into in the Top Thirty is in its use as a name; however, this category has four subcategories associated with it. The first comprises those songs in which it is used in reference to an actual saint, as in which there are three references to St. Peter, in "The Thing" (1951), "Sixteen Tons" (1955), and in the following song from 2008:

Coldplay Live 2012, out now on DVD/CD/Blu-ray/digital. Get it from your local retailer at http://smarturl.it/cplive2012ww Pre-VEVO play count: 24,009180 Music video by Coldplay performing Viva La Vida. (C) 2008 EMI Records Ltd

Another subcategory comprises placenames with the word Saint in them, one being a reference to St. Louis in "Country Grammar Hot Shit" (2000) and the other a reference to St. Thomas, in the following song from 1977:

Kenny Nolan performs "I Like Dreamin' " on American Bandstand aired January 22, 1977.

A third subcategory consists of family names, St. George being used as the name of a fictional detective in "St. George and the Dragonet" (1954) and St. Laurent as the name of a designer who then applied his name to his fashion business, Yves St. Laurent, as mentioned in the following song from 2015:

Mark Ronson's official music video for 'Uptown Funk' ft. Bruno Mars. Click to listen to Mark Ronson on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/MarkRonsonSpotify?IQid=MarkRUF As featured on Uptown Special.

The fourth and final subcategory comprises a single tune (from 2013) and is also in reference to a clothing retailer, AllSaints:

Justin Timberlake's official music video for 'Suit & Tie' ft Jay Z. Click to listen to Justin Timberlake on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/JTSpot?IQid=JTSuit As featured on 20/20 Experience.

Here's a bonus from The Boss:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Houston 1978

Here's a word search comprising uses of the word saint in the collection, as well as some random names of saints that were added into the mix.

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