Love...Nothing But Love
Next Wednesday is Valentine’s Day, here to for called VD. Yes, it is the Mother of all Hallmark Holidays and men need to be on guard.
If you don’t know by now it should be the Day of Disappointment, something akin to the Mexican Day of The Dead. Similar results.
Aww, thats just me being me and I shouldn’t be so negative about a day that celebrates love in all it’s permutations but it really is a manufactured day to sell more Russel Stover Chocolates and $7.49 cards. That’s right, cards are no longer $3.49, unless you go to Target and get some knockoff card that misspells “Wishing”. I blame Joe Biden.
It is Friday and it is time for Love Songs, nothing but Love Songs.
If you look back in recorded history, Love has been and always will be the topic of a vast majority of the music that has been written. Pretty much every genre’. Pretty much every artist. It’s all about love. Love lost, love gained. Love Love Love. Ugh. Enough already!!
Let us be totally honest here. If Taylor Swift hasn’t written 6,000 songs about breakups alone, I would be surprised. Adele, that Englishwoman is a veritable sad sack of misery when it comes to her love life. Jeez. Are there no happy women out there?
With that in mind, I start this weeks Magical Mix with the classic “I Used to Love Her” by Guns and Roses. I have only mentioned this song a dozen times over the years because it is downright hysterical. His broken heart led to a shovel and some removal of landscaping.
Keeping in that same vain, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash is another This sucks, I’m done song but his partner leaves above ground not below.
Wait. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division is the perfect song for anyone coming out of a relationship. Great Rock and Roll song about the end.
Aw Hell, I am in that mood I guess. Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” is actually one of the best breakup, end of relationship songs ever. Catch her in 12 years when she gets elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Enough of that! This is supposed to be about Love and the feelings you get when you are in love. Thankfully, there are way more positive songs about Love than negative ones so the choices here are a lot easier.
I am not sure but “Shelter From The Storm” by Bob Dylan might be my favorite Love Song of all time. Blood on The Tracks certainly ranks up there as one of my top five albums and this song stands out. You listen to the lyrics and you can feel the pain and love and longing. It is as moving a piece of music as you will find in Rock and Roll.
The Rolling Stones have produced a multitude of songs that could be classified as Love Songs but I think “Wild Horses” is the closest to a pure heartbreak of Love song that the band ever recorded. It isn’t overproduced and the lyrics are simple as well. The Stones are one of the few bands that can put a song like “Wild Horses” on a record and also put “Dead Flowers” and “Bitch” and make it all work.
Going in a different direction, I am going to put two Johnny Cash songs on my playlist. I could probably put two dozen but I chose “Ring of Fire” and “I Walk The Line”. Very familiar songs and with good reason. They are both great records. Songs that have been covered dozens if not hundreds of times and they still hold up today 60+ years after being released.
Here is a song that only I could include in a list of love songs “Aja” by Steely Dan. I have always thought that this song was their finest recording. I still think it holds up well against anything I have heard before or since. It is not considered a typical Love Song but it is definitely an ode to a very special person.
Another artist who wrote incredible music is Stevie Wonder. Looking through his catalog and trying to decide on one song to include might be next to impossible but not for me. “As” from Songs In The Key of Life is often overlooked. Not sure why. Maybe because it is an incredibly powerful 7 minute Love Song that has no equal? I don’t know but I may have listened to this song 10,000 times over the years and I have never skipped it.
Pat Benatar’s “Love is A Battlefield” isn’t a typical Love Song but it’s about the love and the pain that love causes. It’s a tough listen if you really think about it but I think it’s her best song and she is a Long Island girl so she get's props for that too.
Amazingly, Jefferson Starship put out one of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded. I say amazingly because they also some of the worst recorded music in history so hearing this song rise from that pile of crap is a true “Miracle”. Marty Balin’s voice is beautiful and the production is perfect. I always thought this was a love song directed at Grace Slick, the other lead singer of Starship but apparently it was some women he met who was a follower of a guru he liked. Whatever the case, it is beautiful.
Another odd choice for this list, “Lovely To See You Again” by The Moody Blues. It may be the shortest song I have ever put out there but it is clear that the author is very glad to see this person. Not sure if it’s even a Love Song but it is a happy song about connecting or reconnecting.
You want different? How about “Sharon” by David Bromberg? Bromberg is one of the most unique talents in all of Rock. He tells stories, real stories, funny stories. This is no exception. I am not sure if “Sharon” is a stripper or just a circus performer that the author fell in love with, at first sight. Alas, it was never to be. The Big Bear of a bouncer tossed the audience because he was in love with “Sharon”. We have all been there.
Delaney and Bonnie’s “Never Ending Love Song” is beautiful and simple and it sounds like it was recorded in someones backyard during a barbecue. This song had to have been done in one take and that is where the charm is.
The artist that everyone has discarded but they secretly still love, Cat Stevens, had dozens of beautiful Love Songs. My favorite is another short one, “Sun/C79” is a story a Father is telling his son about meeting his Mother. A beautiful tribute to his wife at the time.
“Mandolin Wind” by Rod Stewart is another no so typical Love Song. It is a story of love and togetherness and a tribute to his partner in desperate times. Stewart (and Faces for that matter) probably has one of the most extensive lists of Love Songs but I think this one stands apart.
For the last selection I will put up “Mystic Eyes” by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. This is another song that I have mentioned multiple times. Petty was a true genius and it is amazing that every time I hear anything by him I feel a sense of loss and I wasn’t even a Petty fan. This song is another one about reconnecting with someone, a long lost love? Again, the live version is way better than the studio version.
I have roughly 6,000 songs on my digital device and if I actually took the time and counted, I would say there are 4,500 love songs in there. That doesn’t mean I am a closet romantic it just means that artists tend to do their best work when dealing with love and relationships. You write about what you know.