Love is a Four-Letter Word: Your Favourite Love Songs

[Seppuku]

It's that time of year again, the birds are singing, the squirrels are humping, and St. Valentine gets celebrated with thousands of cards featuring the icky image of a disemboweled human heart. I know some of you cats listen to all these love songs and make a "bleuch!" sound, but that's just because you're still looking for that special someone (or that special someone has taken out a restraining order against you). Now me, I think a Love song is a thing of beauty...and I don't mean Celine Dion belting out My Heart Will Go On either, because that's as much an aphrodisiac as trying to drill through your temples with a stanley knife. Naw, I'm talking Marvin Gaye and Dusty Springfield, but I guess it's a personal thing, so what are your faves? And don't they just make you melt inside...

My three favourite love songs are:

The Beatles - It's Only Love
Shuggie Otis - Strawberry Letter 23
Julian Cope - Holy Love

[Shane]

I hate love songs. It took me a while to think of some Ilike.

Ramones - I wanna be your boyfriend
Iggy Pop - Now I wanna be your Dog
Elvis - Love me tender
Frank J. Wilson - Last Kiss
Bobby Vinton - I love how you love me

[Seppuku]

I hate love songs. It took me a while to think of some Ilike.

Ramones - I wanna be your boyfriend
Iggy Pop - Now I wanna be your Dog
Elvis - Love me tender
Frank J. Wilson - Last Kiss
Bobby Vinton - I love how you love me

Great choices though. I'd have never thought of Iggy Pop, but that song's classic. And so is the Ramones track too. "Do you love me best, what can I say?" I remember that was the theme to my pining youth.

[JabberJaw]

Randy Newman - Feels Like Home
Climax Blues Band - I Love You
The Beatles - I will
Elton John - Your Song
Billy Joel - She's Got A Way

[Shane]

|It was hard for me to think of songs at first, but the more I thought It came to me. I think it's just modern love songs and most modern popular music I have a problem with. I notice that if music existed in the earlier years of someone's life, they tend to like it more than what comes out while they are an adult. For me I mostly listen to newer Death metal and Hard Core and that's most of the new stuff I like. But older music, I love Jazz, Blues, R&B, Country, Rock, pop, new wave. I think it's the whole thing where adults tell kids they listen to garbage and horrible music.

[Seppuku]

Yeah fair enough and good point. What's worse is when parents force their tastes on their children; whether someone likes something or not is a natural, personal thing, you can't force them to like it. And I'm sure there've been a few HXC love songs...I wouldn't know, the last hardcore gig I went to (Calliban- sp?) some dwarf punk guy spent an hour just spitting on me and looking at me like I was food. There's a lot of crazy people who listen to HXC (like this whole Straight-Edge thing, where if someone isn't completely on the level they'll draw a big X on your back), but it's also got good motives, and I'm friends with a few people in HXC bands who all seem really nice guys. So I guess it just gets a bad rap.

[Peven]

"You've Got A Way", by Gerry Rafferty
"For Your Love", by The Yardbirds
"Lovely Day", by Bill Withers
"Romeo & Juliet"(live version), by Dire Straits
"How Sweet It Is(to be loved by you)" , James Taylor version

i could go on and on. if you appreciate good poetry, i.e. lyrics, at all, you've got to appreciate a good love song.

[DrillerKiller]

"Sarah" - Thin Lizzy (my missus' name - handy one!)
"Still in love with you" (live) - Thin Lizzy
"Feel like makin' love" - Bad Company
"Can't get next to you babe" - Al Green
"Let's get it on" - Marvin Gaye
"Try a little tenderness" - Comitments version
"I wanna get next to you" - Rose Royce

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Do Me Baby, Pussy Control, Head and Erotic City Prince.

Fuck the Pain Away, Peaches.

You Shook Me All Night Long, AC/DC.

Love and Happiness, The Reverend.

Chewing Gum, Annie.

Baby I Love You, Aretha.

Emily Kane, Art Brut.

Brand New Key, Melanie.

F*@k You Lucy, Atmosphere.

Just a Friend, Biz Markie.

fuck, I can just keep goin'. Damn closet romantic that I am...

[Vegeta]

Hmmm...

"Call it a loan" by Jackson Brown
"Let's Stay Together" by Al Green
"Something" by The Beatles
"Just you and me" by Chicago
"Crash into me" By The Dave Matthews Band

[minstrel]

I don't like love songs. Generally they're too trite. The only one I can think of that I like is "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel.

[Doc Holliday]

I hate love songs. It took me a while to think of some Ilike.

Ramones - I wanna be your boyfriend
Iggy Pop - Now I wanna be your Dog
Elvis - Love me tender
Frank J. Wilson - Last Kiss
Bobby Vinton - I love how you love me

Gr8. I spent 15 years researching and refining my Pillow Talk...then yo go luck onto the magic formula by randomly choosing five album titles. Back to the drawing board I go...

All I want is You - U2 (would be even better if that was the title in full "All I want is you.....oh! And you too....and you....."=)

[Pudie]

Anything that Bjork has done

[Doc Holliday]

Anything that Bjork has done

what - even Goldie? Bleurrgh!

[Chief Redcock]

"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" - Bob Dylan

[Shane]

Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

[colonel_lugz]

Elton John - Tiny Dancer (quickly becoming one of my fave ever sondgs)

[J.J. Gittes]

no one put fuck me gently by tenacious d


come on that's a great love song

[TonyWilson]

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, not a classic but one of those "our song" things

Your Love Is Lifting Me Higher - Jackie Wilson

Another Girl Another Planet - The Only Ones (I will mutilate maim murder and dismemeber Blink 182 for what they did to this song)

Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Andy Williams

Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones

[Vegeta]

"I Can't help falling in love with you" - Elvis Aaron Presley (that's the motherfucking KING, y'all)

[havocSchultz]

Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC

[Ribbons]

You Shook Me All Night Long, AC/DC.

Ooh, good call! That's one that I never would have thought of on my own time, but it's a really great song, IMO.

[MasterWhedon]

I love "The Background" by Third Eye Blind and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" by U2.

[Vegeta]

I love "The Background" by Third Eye Blind and "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" by U2.

Pefer Rolling Stones version of Wild Horses to U2, but to each their own.

[MasterWhedon]

Pefer Rolling Stones version of Wild Horses to U2, but to each their own.

I love it too, but they're different songs. U2's isn't a cover, if that's what you meant.

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

I think love is a beautiful thing, and I cherish the times I actually felt it before I became numb to all human emotion.

I've gone back and forth about love. I've thought it could save me, and I've thought it was meaningless and timewasting. In my olde age, I have more or less come to terms with love; it's a really beautiful feeling, but it doesn't last; it's not meant to last.

Moreover, trying to force it to last just seems to turn it into something awful, resentful, and achingly sad. Due to this fact, I can say that the following songs, one ridiculously overwrought, and the other rather fun and light, pretty much sum up my feelings on where all love seems to go... no matter how great the first spark feels...

Love Will Tear Us Apart -- Joy Division

Why Don't You Love Me -- Hank Williams

[Shane]

I think love is a beautiful thing, and I cherish the times I actually felt it before I became numb to all human emotion.

I've gone back and forth about love. I've thought it could save me, and I've thought it was meaningless and timewasting. In my olde age, I have more or less come to terms with love; it's a really beautiful feeling, but it doesn't last; it's not meant to last.

Moreover, trying to force it to last just seems to turn it into something awful, resentful, and achingly sad. Due to this fact, I can say that the following songs, one ridiculously overwrought, and the other rather fun and light, pretty much sum up my feelings on where all love seems to go... no matter how great the first spark feels...

Love Will Tear Us Apart -- Joy Division

Why Don't You Love Me -- Hank Williams

I'm going to give you the age old, that depends on the kind of love response.

I'll love my wife and kids until I fucking die.

[MasterWhedon]

I think love is a beautiful thing, and I cherish the times I actually felt it before I became numb to all human emotion.

I've gone back and forth about love. I've thought it could save me, and I've thought it was meaningless and timewasting. In my olde age, I have more or less come to terms with love; it's a really beautiful feeling, but it doesn't last; it's not meant to last.

Moreover, trying to force it to last just seems to turn it into something awful, resentful, and achingly sad. Due to this fact, I can say that the following songs, one ridiculously overwrought, and the other rather fun and light, pretty much sum up my feelings on where all love seems to go... no matter how great the first spark feels...

Zombie, are you dead inside? Has your heart completely rotted away?





Oh, umm, yeah... I forgot.

Zombie.

Tends to happen.

[Ribbons]

I think love is a beautiful thing, and I cherish the times I actually felt it before I became numb to all human emotion.

I've gone back and forth about love. I've thought it could save me, and I've thought it was meaningless and timewasting. In my olde age, I have more or less come to terms with love; it's a really beautiful feeling, but it doesn't last; it's not meant to last.

Moreover, trying to force it to last just seems to turn it into something awful, resentful, and achingly sad. Due to this fact, I can say that the following songs, one ridiculously overwrought, and the other rather fun and light, pretty much sum up my feelings on where all love seems to go... no matter how great the first spark feels...

Love Will Tear Us Apart -- Joy Division

Why Don't You Love Me -- Hank Williams

Jeez, way to bring down the room Zombie!

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

I'm actually not down or bitter or anything, I just think love is silly. And I certainly don't believe it's everlasting.

I can see how love for ones children could be everlasting and unconditional, but romantic love? Shit, romantic love is the least honest relationship you will ever have. Any relationship built on such a complex system of needs can't possibly be honest. I mean, can you really and truly be honest with the object of your affection? Can you tell her (or him) everything you really feel? I mean everything.? No. Of course not.

Basically, its all about keeping your Eyes Wide Shut. Everything else is pretty lies.

[MasterWhedon]

I'm actually not down or bitter or anything, I just think love is silly. And I certainly don't believe it's everlasting.

Zombie, love lifts us up where we belong. Bitch.

[Kilgore]

The short list:

'I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You' - Colin Hay
'Fallen for You' - Sheila Nichols
'Love Rules' - Don Henley - and it pains me to put Don Henley on any 'favorites' list, but I dig this song
'Nobody' and 'Achin' to Be' - The Replacements
'The Luckiest' - Ben Folds
'Everyday I Write the Book' - Elvis Costello
'Love' - The Sundays
'Pictures of You' - The Cure
'(I Believe) When I Fall in Love' - Stevie Wonder
'Let My Love Open The Door' - the slowed down version - Pete Townsend
'Catalyst' - Anna Nalick
'Your Untouchable Face' - Ani DiFranco
'(There Goes My) Inspiration' - Utopia
'The Only One' - Billy Bragg
'God Only Knows' - The Beach Boys

Good god I'm getting old...

[Brocktune]

I think love is a beautiful thing, and I cherish the times I actually felt it before I became numb to all human emotion.

I've gone back and forth about love. I've thought it could save me, and I've thought it was meaningless and timewasting. In my olde age, I have more or less come to terms with love; it's a really beautiful feeling, but it doesn't last; it's not meant to last.

Moreover, trying to force it to last just seems to turn it into something awful, resentful, and achingly sad. Due to this fact, I can say that the following songs, one ridiculously overwrought, and the other rather fun and light, pretty much sum up my feelings on where all love seems to go... no matter how great the first spark feels...

hey, did you peek at mine before i posted it?
seriously zombie, i feel the same way, only angrier. am i a zombie too?

oh well, since i loathe romance, and romantic blubbering (generally), i was hard pressed to come up with some good ones. but i think i have...

mitch & mickey - the ballad of bobby and jane
mitch & mickey - when im next to you
elastica - the entire first album
(kcbc's nominations of those prince songs has me confused about whether or not songs about fucking, and not necessarily love count)
squirrel nut zippers - lovers lane
perez prado - lupita
liz phair - supernova
nirvana - milk it
they might be giants - theyll need a crane
damaged goods - gang of four
anthrax - gang of four
the au pairs - love song
black nasty - it wuz worth it
the sugarcubes - the entire "stick around for joy" album

[MasterWhedon]

I also love "As Is" by Ani. It's a really beautiful sentiment, accepting someone for their faults and admiting all of yours to them.

Here are the lyrics:


you can't hide
behind social graces
so don't try
to be all touchy feely
cuz you lie
in my face of all places
but i've got no
problem with that really

what bugs me
is that you believe what you're saying
what bothers me
is that you don't know how you feel
what scares me
is that while you're telling me stories
you actually
believe that they are real

and i've got
no illusions about you
and guess what?
i never did
and when i said
when i said i'll take it
i meant,
i meant as is

just give up
and admit you're an asshole
you would be
in some good company
i think you'd find
that you friends would forgive you
or maybe i
am just speaking for me

cuz when i look around
i think this, this is good enough
and i try to laugh
at whatever life brings
cuz when i look down
i just miss all the good stuff
when i look up
i just trip over things

and i've got
no illusions about you...

you can't hide
behind social graces
cuz i don't buy it
like everyone else
and you can lie
in my face of all places
just don't
lie to yourself

cuz i've got
no illusions about you
and guess what?
i never did
and when i say
when i say i'll take it
i mean,
i mean as is...

...as is...

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

hey, did you peek at mine before i posted it?
seriously zombie, i feel the same way, only angrier. am i a zombie too?

Ha Ha! Yes! I knew I could count on you, Brock!

I'm not angry about it, though. I just don't care!

Apparently, being independent and self-assured is the greatest sin a man can commit. I better go get in love with something quick!

[TonyWilson]

hey, did you peek at mine before i posted it?
seriously zombie, i feel the same way, only angrier. am i a zombie too?

Ha Ha! Yes! I knew I could count on you, Brock!

I'm not angry about it, though. I just don't care!

Apparently, being independent and self-assured is the greatest sin a man can commit. I better go get in love with something quick!

Oh dude, it's not like that. Being independent and self assured is the only way to fall in love with someone. If you are clingy and needy then whatever relationship you have is bound to fail. Ultimately being independent and self assured isn't mutually exclusive to being in love.

[Brocktune]

i just prefer to see it as crass realism

[TonyWilson]

i just prefer to see it as crass realism

LOL, but I do know shit loads of couples who have been married for years and years and years so I think Love does happen and does exist in many cases.

[Brocktune]

i totally agree
i just dont believe it exists in the fairy tale/ movie kind of way. its much more complicated. maybe one out of ten million experience movie love.

[TonyWilson]

i totally agree
i just dont believe it exists in the fairy tale/ movie kind of way. its much more complicated. maybe one out of ten million experience movie love.

oh totally. Hollywood "love" is utter bullshit

[ZombieZoneSolutions]

Oh dude, it's not like that. Being independent and self assured is the only way to fall in love with someone. If you are clingy and needy then whatever relationship you have is bound to fail. Ultimately being independent and self assured isn't mutually exclusive to being in love.

I see where your coming from. I'm just so tired of this "cult of love" whereby we are all fed this line -- in films, on tv, on the intraweb, et al -- that getting coupled is the only option for living your life. If your not, then you either a) must be unhappy or b) must be looking.

As for me, I am neither unhappy, nor am I lookin' 4 lurve. I'm quite happy being single and independent. I like being by myself. Unfortunately, in the eyes of society, this is anathema. It arouses suspicions. There must be something wrong! Nope. I'm just not interested.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

(kcbc's nominations of those prince songs has me confused about whether or not songs about fucking, and not necessarily love count)

i love to fuck, so they count in my 'lil universe (the only one that matters!)

[Brocktune]

word!

[TonyWilson]

Oh dude, it's not like that. Being independent and self assured is the only way to fall in love with someone. If you are clingy and needy then whatever relationship you have is bound to fail. Ultimately being independent and self assured isn't mutually exclusive to being in love.

I see where your coming from. I'm just so tired of this "cult of love" whereby we are all fed this line -- in films, on tv, on the intraweb, et al -- that getting coupled is the only option for living your life. If your not, then you either a) must be unhappy or b) must be looking.

As for me, I am neither unhappy, nor am I lookin' 4 lurve. I'm quite happy being single and independent. I like being by myself. Unfortunately, in the eyes of society, this is anathema. It arouses suspicions. There must be something wrong! Nope. I'm just not interested.

It's a fair point, I don't really pay attention to all that rubbish and the idea you have to be coupled.

May I suggest something from the Smith ouevre in that case: Sheila Take A Bow or perhaps "Will Never Marry" by Morrissey.

Perhaps we should do an "Anti-Love songs" Thread? Any mods want to split it?

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Perhaps we should do an "Anti-Love songs" Thread? Any mods want to split it?

no.

start a new thread.

[TonyWilson]

Perhaps we should do an "Anti-Love songs" Thread? Any mods want to split it?

no.

start a new thread.

[grumble] damn lazy mods[/grumble]

[Retardo_Montalban]

I can't Stop Loving You - Ray Charles

Closer - Nine Inch Nails (I guess more a lust song than love song)

[St. Alphonzo]

'God Only Knows' - The Beach Boys

Not only one of the best love songs ever (and certainly the most honest... it even starts with the line "I may not always love you") but also one of the best songs period.

I'd thow in "Make You Feel My Love" by Dylan and "I Want To Do Everything For You" by Joe Tex

[Brocktune]

'God Only Knows' - The Beach Boys

Not only one of the best love songs ever (and certainly the most honest... it even starts with the line "I may not always love you") but also one of the best songs period.

i would have to agree with you. the other one of the beach boys' that comes to mind for the same reasons is "wouldnt it be nice". it seems like a happy song on the outside, but if you listen closer, it depressing as fuck. that song rips my heart out everytime i hear it. wilson really wrote some emotional gems in the beach boys later years.

[St. Alphonzo]

'God Only Knows' - The Beach Boys

Not only one of the best love songs ever (and certainly the most honest... it even starts with the line "I may not always love you") but also one of the best songs period.

i would have to agree with you. the other one of the beach boys' that comes to mind for the same reasons is "wouldnt it be nice". it seems like a happy song on the outside, but if you listen closer, it depressing as fuck. that song rips my heart out everytime i hear it. wilson really wrote some emotional gems in the beach boys later years.

Amen. Wilson is fantastic. It's too bad he went off the rails.