Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Day for Love Songs

Two Thoughts for Tuesday


Thought #1  Picking a Perfect Love Song

I am a person that likes to listen to the words of songs.  Call me crazy (and I know you do) but I like songs that have a message, a story...something that is heartfelt.

What sent me down this path of finding a nice love song,  was the fact that I was in the car listening to some of the more modern, trendy songs that incorporate sweet sentiments like "tap that" and "gonna do ya" when it occurred to me that surely there are songs out there that are meant to woo a girl.  It was evident  by the time I was listening to LMFAO's lyrics of "I have passion in my pants and I aint afraid to show it" that perhaps professing one's  love  through music must be  passe.    (Note: It might also be pointed out that we aren't supposed to take advice about romance from a group that names their band after the anagram for Laughing my f******* ass off.)

So, for the sake of Valentine's Day, I was on the hunt for some nice love songs. How hard could this be????

As I am Googling through some of the 65 million possible websites that come up for "great love songs" I find some of them are, in fact, about love of country, love of God, love of partying, love of drugs, love of Rock and Roll and all manner of love. I narrow my quest to only songs that are professing love or lust for another person".    Still this is proving to be more difficult than one would imagine.  

On many of the "top love song" sites, there are lists of possibilities.  Unfortunately, no two lists come close to naming the same songs. 

According to a website out of  Wedding Central, a website out of Australia  the #1 love song of all time is Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.

According to Stereo Gum it is My Girl by the Temptations.

According to About.com it is Something by the Beatles.

According to DigitalDreamDoor it is I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston  (NOTE:  I wrote this post prior to Whitney Houston's passing, but it must be said she had some beautiful songs...loves songs among them.  This particular song is among the great love songs.)

I suspect the "greatest" love song for each person is unique.  It would have to be a song that touches a person,  perhaps reminds them of a true love,  or marks a memorable moment in their life. 

When Hubby and I got married one of the songs sung at our wedding was One Hand One Heart by Leonard Bernstein.  I not altoghther clear why we picked that song other than it was originally written for an opera so it fit into the service along with Ave Maria better than  something like "Let's Get It On".

 It was, after all, the 1971 and I was a teenager so my decisions might be up for review.  In the early 70's,  I could have picked far worse choices.  (you can get an idea of some of the awful music that was available in the 70's by going to Furious.com)

If I could point out a positive about my  choice, it is the fact you can understand the words.  At the time, I didn't seem to notice that there was a lot of death mentioned in this song. 

Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart;
Even death won't part us now.

Make of our lives one life,
Day after day, one life.
Now it begins, now we start
One hand, one heart,
Even death won't part us now
(footnote:   If anything goes wrong with this marriage after 41 years, there probably will be a death involved. If there is a younger woman involved, there will be 2 deaths)

Thought #2  Examples of what a love song should look like and what it SHOULDN'T look like


First up cute songs written for love....



I am not a huge fan of the Twilight movies. (hard to believe but not all of us can go ape sh** over vampires and werewolves)  I liked the Twilight movies ok, but don't quite get into the attraction of vampire love.  Frankly, marriage is hard enough without the added burden of a husband that is creepy pale,  stays up all night, prone to craving human blood and is immortal.  So much for growing old together.  Still, this song is a nice love song.






This song was written by Tom Higgenson after he met Delilah DiCrescenzo.  Tom said later in interviews (if one is to believe what one reads in the media) he thought she was the most beautiful woman he ever saw and wrote the song for her.  Nothing ever came of a romance as Delilah had a boyfriend.  Still the sentiments of Tom's love song (albeit unrequited love) makes for quite a nice romantic gesture.




I love the songs that Jim Croce wrote about the love of his wife and son.  There were other besides, this one. Ingrid Croce, tells in her book Thyme in a Bottle, that she and Jim had a disagreement about their finances one night.  Rather than talk about it, he went to the kitchen to sulk and she went to bed. She said Jim had problems communicating anytime there was conflict involved.   The next morning very early, he nudged her awake and sang this to her.  (Jim Croce's songs didn't get popular until after his death in 1973. This song came out a year later in 1974)


Maybe these aren't what you consider great love songs but you have to appreciate that I didn't pick Jimmy Buffett's Let's Get Drunk and Screw (who could resist that come on) Da Brats In Love Whi Chu (which just is chock full of fun lyrics) and R. Kelly's You Remind Me of Something (he compares his girl to his Jeep and wants to wax her among other things).  How romantic!!!!

What are your favorite love songs and is there a story as to why it is your favorite?




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16 comments:

Jayne said...

Wow. You really did some research here. "Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney comes to mine. And "Yesterday" even though it was about a broken heart. I can't think of anything recent, but then I haven't been in love recently either.

41 years! Holy moley. You could write your own love song.

Bodaciousboomer said...

Look at you being all sweet this special day. I went a different direction; not that that's much of a surprise.

I am a big fan of Jim Croce, another person who died too soon.

Cheryl P. said...

When hubby and I got married our wedding ceremony was very traditional. That would have eliminated about 99 percent of the songs. When e harmony comes up with the perfect rich guy for you, I will help you pick songs for your wedding. (is Money, Money, Money an appropriate choice for a wedding)

Cheryl P. said...

I especially like his Time In a Bottle written for his then little boy. Some of his songs were just so heartfelt.

Did you get your computer issues all worked out? Are you still haveing to go to the library or are you back on line at home? Hope all is going well for you.

Nicky said...

Seriously, that did have me LMFAO!

Cheryl P. said...

Hi Nicky, I love that you are keeping the LMFAO theme on track.

Liggybee said...

Those are some pretty good music choices you listed, Cheryl. Personally, I have a favorite love song from awhile back - "Oh My Love" by John Lennon. It was a song I first heard from my aunt who dedicated the song to her fiance in the early 1980s. I've heard lots of beautiful love songs since then but that one song kinda stuck to me as so beautiful.

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day to you!

L.C. Griffith said...

Hi love bug! I really enjoyed your choices. They were all legit! This is my favorite love song by Andrea Bocelli, Besame Mucho. I don't know what he saying except, kiss me a lot. LOL!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPRESlT4Ccg

Wolfbernz said...

Hi Cherly,

Great choice on the Jim Croce, Time in a Bottle is one of my all time favorites. Nice post,

Clicks!
Wolf

Cheryl P. said...

It had been so long since I listened to "Oh My Love" I had to go over to You Tube. Your right, that is a perfect love song. It was released 2 months before my wedding on the Imagine album. Some of his most beautiful songs were written after he met Yoko Ono.

Another of his love songs, that I always thought was wonderful was the one he wrote for his son Sean, Beautiful Boy.

Cheryl P. said...

Hi Wolf,

Time in a Bottle is one of my very favorites as well. Timeless.

Trina said...

Great choices! I really like the Delilah song, it's always been so perfect like, I don't know, it just strums a chord for me.

I guess my favorite is "you Look Wonderful Tonight" Eric Clapton It's just so full of love in every word and you follow the couple through an evening, it's beautiful :)

Happy Valentines Day!
--Trina

Jayne said...

Could you possibly have picked a more perfect song. I want it for the wedding march.

meleahrebeccah said...

Oh wow. I absolutely LOVE Jim Croce. I didn't know the story behind that song!

Cheryl P. said...

I am with you on the Delilah song. Just works for me.

That is another great song. I wonder if there is a story behind it. Eric Clapton's song that he wrote after his son died, Tears in Heaven, was also a love song of sorts. Beautiful.

Cheryl P. said...

Ditto....LOVE Jim Croce. The video to the other song, I mentioned, Time in a Bottle breaks my heart. His now grown up son looks a lot like him. Sad to lose a parent so young.