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

[Cabiria]

Emily Kane, Art Brut.

Awww! I adore this song. The bit about school kids singing her name is ridiculously sweet.

I'm a wee bitter about this topic, but I'm game enough to list a few songs that I dig.

Fields of Gold - Sting (Shut up.)
Love Song - The Cure
Never Tear Us Apart - INXS (ah, strings!)
Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin
I Think I See The Light - Cat Stevens
Naked as We Came - Iron & Wine (depressing...)
Deutscher Girls - Adam and the Ants (ok, not really a love song, but I like it)
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel (Hmm, not really one either...)

I've just come the realization that I'm terrible at picking love songs. I think I'm in the wrong thread!

[Kilgore]

'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.

I don't know if it's that bad...'crazy as a shithouse rat' is a lot more origiinal than 'unexplained suicide', 'found on bus under mysterious circumstances' or 'now releasing Mercury Rising'.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Emily Kane, Art Brut.

Awww! I adore this song. The bit about school kids singing her name is ridiculously sweet.
I'm a wee bitter about this topic, but I'm game enough to list a few songs that I dig.

Love Song - The Cure
Never Tear Us Apart - INXS (ah, strings!)
Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin
I Think I See The Light - Cat Stevens
Naked as We Came - Iron & Wine (depressing...)
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel (Hmm, not really one either...)

I've just come the realization that I'm terrible at picking love songs. I think I'm in the wrong thread!

no you're not! Some of those are fantastic! I mean, love songs can be sad, depressing, wrist slitting stuff (cripes, I had fuck songs on my list, and J.J. Gittes showed the impeccable taste of his cinematic namesake by mentioning Fuck Me Gently by the D).

and you're never in the wrong thread if you give me shout-outs, darling.

[MiltonWaddams]

And You For Me - The Gamits
El Scorcho - Weezer (duh)

The Gamits cite Brian Wilson as a major influence, even writing a song about how he goes batshit crazy and gets exploited by his doctor. If you write moderately catchy music and don't cite the Wilson as an influence, something is screwy.

[Lady Sheridan]

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....."=)

Doc, between the LOTR thing, the Val Kilmer avatar and your love song of choice, I am very close to wanting to marry you.

My list:

Today--Jefferson Airplane
Is This Love?--Bob Marley
Fools Rush In--Elvis Presley
Fields of Gold--Sting (I'll stand with you, Cabiria)
Anything by Dean Martin
Unchained Melody--I forget...but I also like U2's cover of it which is kind of 80's and angsty.

So many of U2's are horribly bitter, anti-love songs so I can't pick them. So I'll go a bit grungy and pick the weird "Hawkmoon 269" because it has that sleazy motel thing. "Love is Blindness" is pretty hot, too.

I hope you won't mock me too much, I will always think "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera is one of the sexiest love songs. But it has to be done right and not many stage performers ever get it. The movie version was sexcellent.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Unchained Melody--I forget...but I also like U2's cover of it which is kind of 80's and angsty.

it was written for a movie by Alex North and Hy Zaret (had to Wikipedia that one) and has been covered a million times, including by H-arry Belafonte and Al Green. The most famous version was by the Righteous Brothers...

[Lady Sheridan]

Unchained Melody--I forget...but I also like U2's cover of it which is kind of 80's and angsty.

it was written for a movie by Alex North and Hy Zaret (had to Wikipedia that one) and has been covered a million times, including by H-arry Belafonte and Al Green. The most famous version was by the Righteous Brothers...

Ah, I knew it was some set of brothers. I think the only two covers I've ever heard were Joni Mitchell's and U2's, oddly enough. I always imagined it as one of those sacred cows no one touched.

[Doc Holliday]

Doc, between the LOTR thing, the Val Kilmer avatar and your love song of choice, I am very close to wanting to marry you.

My list:

Today--Jefferson Airplane
Is This Love?--Bob Marley
Fools Rush In--Elvis Presley
Fields of Gold--Sting (I'll stand with you, Cabiria)
Anything by Dean Martin
Unchained Melody--I forget...but I also like U2's cover of it which is kind of 80's and angsty.

So many of U2's are horribly bitter, anti-love songs so I can't pick them. So I'll go a bit grungy and pick the weird "Hawkmoon 269" because it has that sleazy motel thing. "Love is Blindness" is pretty hot, too.

I hope you won't mock me too much, I will always think "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera is one of the sexiest love songs. But it has to be done right and not many stage performers ever get it. The movie version was sexcellent.

Hey Lady S - heh, I woulda answered last night, but I was too busy running to the airport and trying to smuggle myself on a plane to Denver

Hawkmoon 269....you see, this is exactly why I LOVE the Zone. I could sit in pubs with friends for the next twenty years and still not have heard that song get a mention. Its wasn't a single (in the UK anyway, as far as I know) and was on an album that spawned many other HUGE hits.

Yet it was the one track on that album that would just send my head spinning off into a trance. Would take me right out of whatever moment I was in..great track, good to see it get a mention! There was another song from an earlier album (could have been WAR maybe?) called something like HeartLights....quite short, but the music on that had a similar effect on me too.

And don't even get me started on cool Avatars Milady: Val Kilmer is cool...but he's no Lara Croft...you smooth talker you!

[Carolian]

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths, and "Amsterdam" by Coldplay. I love (HA HA HA) those songs.

[Cabiria]

and you're never in the wrong thread if you give me shout-outs, darling.

How could I not, when you mention the incredible Art Brut? Anytime, babe.

Fields of Gold--Sting (I'll stand with you, Cabiria)

Excellent! Join me in loving the "used to be cool but now is oh so very lite rock and cheesy" Sting! Yeah, it's played in hundreds of waiting rooms, and it is, well, for lack of a better term, schmoopy-but I like it.

And Is This Love by Bob Marley? Genius. Adore that one. Excellent choice.

All this love song talk has me thinking about my sad high school career of making mix-tapes for a couple of crushes. Had to pick the perfect song- the perfect theme- and then he would know. So silly in retrospect, but at the time, of critical importance!

[Keepcoolbutcare]

All this love song talk has me thinking about my sad high school career of making mix-tapes for a couple of crushes. Had to pick the perfect song- the perfect theme- and then he would know. So silly in retrospect, but at the time, of critical importance!

at least you stopped in high school .

[Carolian]

All this love song talk has me thinking about my sad high school career of making mix-tapes for a couple of crushes. Had to pick the perfect song- the perfect theme- and then he would know. So silly in retrospect, but at the time, of critical importance!

at least you stopped in high school .

For some reason, I thought I was the only one who did this.

Nowadays, I can't find anyone I'm willing to lose a CD-R over. Sad, sad times.

[Seppuku]

Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones

I'm as big a fan of The Stones as anyone, but this is one song that has been improved IMO, and that was The Flying Burrito Brothers' version (Gram Parsons' band). Damn does his voice make me feel sad n lonesome.

Wow, I didn't think this thread would be such a downer. I guess there's a lot of folks here who've been burnt somewhere down the line, and have forgotten that old adage: "It's better to have loved and lost...". I like to take all emotions in my stride, rather than block 'em out. Which is why Love is such a powerful thing for me, because it's not a positive force- it's every feeling wrapped into one, and sometimes it's hard to know what to make of it. Sometimes it can make you feel hollowed-out and empty, but the fact is underneath that shell you're boiling-over. And damn if it doesn't mess with your ability to make decisions- how many people have fucked with their life while high on love?

I get Zombie's point about people feeling obliged to be in love, and be tied to somebody else all the time. I remember writing a song about it a few years ago, with a line that went something like: "I feel like half a man when you're not around, but before I met you I was twice the man I am now".

Got no solutions, I just like those songs a lot.

[Seppuku]

For some reason, I thought I was the only one who did this.

Nowadays, I can't find anyone I'm willing to lose a CD-R over. Sad, sad times.

Nope I did this exact same thing... In fact I used to write pretty bad love songs and record them too, but more often than not the girls would prefer it if I'd bought them an album by whoever was scaling the charts at the time.

This all reminds me of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity.

[The Vicar]

Almost any song by Greg Lake ( Lend Your Love to Me Tonight, C'est La Vie, Still...You Turn Me On, Closer to Believing) works.

Running Up That Hill - Kate Bush

With or Without You - U2 ( one of the greatest songs, period)

All I Know - Art Garfunkel

Strange Kind of Woman - Deep Purple ( ah, kinky love is the best...)

Mail Order Annie/A Better Place to Be - H'arry Chapin
( not traditional love songs, but songs of love nonetheless - & among Chapin's finest)

Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik ( yoyos & condoms...but nice song)

[The Vicar]

Merde - I nearly forgot Salisbury, by Uriah Heep. WTF, you say? And well you might, if you haven't heard it. Took up nearly all of side two of the Salisbury album, feeaturing a full orchestra, some sweet base lines & the best guitar solo work from Mick Box ever. Has some great, romantic vocals from the late David Byron in the beginning, middle & end. ( Had one of the most stunning experiences in my life with this on the speakers, so sentiment might be clouding judgement here. Still, quite a lovely, long love song.)

Honorable mention to Isaac Hayes version of The Look of Love ( by Bacharach, not ABC)

[The Vicar]

[qu ote="Cabiria"]
All this love song talk has me thinking about my sad high school career of making mix-tapes for a couple of crushes. Had to pick the perfect song- the perfect theme- and then he would know. So silly in retrospect, but at the time, of critical importance!

at least you stopped in high school .

"For some reason, I thought I was the only one who did this.

Nowadays, I can't find anyone I'm willing to lose a CD-R over. Sad, sad times.[/quote]"

Another member of the club. Maybe we should get jackets made.

[Doc Holliday]

[qu ote="Cabiria"]
All this love song talk has me thinking about my sad high school career of making mix-tapes for a couple of crushes. Had to pick the perfect song- the perfect theme- and then he would know. So silly in retrospect, but at the time, of critical importance!

at least you stopped in high school .

For some reason, I thought I was the only one who did this.

Nowadays, I can't find anyone I'm willing to lose a CD-R over. Sad, sad times.

Another member of the club. Maybe we should get jackets made.

On a couple of occasions I wrote a letter, made up entirely of lines from songs that were spliced together to read perfectly well as a standard letter.

At the time I thought I'd found an excellent way to show my love...all that time spent etc. Now I look back on it...I'm not so sure the whole point wasn't to just show off what a smart arse I could be if I wanted to...

Ah self-doubt my old, friend - pull up a chair and sit with me a while why don't you?

This one is Cheesey as Hell...but I guess most Love Songs are, so what the Hey! It sure gave me Superhuman-level Brooding Powers from the age of 16 until about 19....Romeo and Juliet...Dire Straits. "You can fall for Chains of Silver, you can fall for Chains of Gold...you can fall for pretty strangers...and the promises they hold..."

And whilst I'm in the process of shedding whatever dignity I had left to me....I used to really like Hazard...even though I've never been framed by a small-town sherriff for the murder of the only girl I ever loved (it was the deputy in my case, which is why I shot him...but thats a whole other song entirely...) 8)

[The Vicar]

Doc Holliday wrote

"On a couple of occasions I wrote a letter, made up entirely of lines from songs that were spliced together to read perfectly well as a standard letter.

At the time I thought I'd found an excellent way to show my love...all that time spent etc. Now I look back on it...I'm not so sure the whole point wasn't to just show off what a smart arse I could be if I wanted to..."

Naw, I wouldn't say that. Edmond Rostand wrote a very good little piece ( Cyrano) about effectively wooing a woman with some one else's words - I think even olde Bill Shakespeare did likewise. Be of good cheer, my man. You're in grand literary company, at least.

[The Vicar]

Lady Sheridan wrote;
"I hope you won't mock me too much, I will always think "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera is one of the sexiest love songs. But it has to be done right and not many stage performers ever get it. The movie version was sexcellent."

Not at all. Some of the most wonderful love songs ever written have come out of the musical theatre - Not A Day Goes By, by Stephen Sondheim, is a sterling example. Or Johanna, by the same author, from Sweeney Todd. ( well, Sondheim is a bloody genius after all) Or Maria, from West Side Story ( that Sondheim guy again).

[Doc Holliday]

hey - thanks for the kind words Vic. I'm gonna go with your take on it!

I don't know if these strictly qualify...but there are four tracks on the Blade Runner LP that have served me well across the years....but can I remember their names...no of course not.

No...no...not "One More Kiss Dear..." - definitely not that one.

I'm pretty sure it would be tracks 3, 5, 7 and then the one with "Tears in the rain..." on it.

One of the ones above might be an error and should have been track 4. My head hurts.

[Brocktune]

Deutscher Girls - Adam and the Ants (ok, not really a love song, but I like it)

i love you

[Doc Holliday]

Lady Sheridan wrote;
"I hope you won't mock me too much, I will always think "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera is one of the sexiest love songs. But it has to be done right and not many stage performers ever get it. The movie version was sexcellent."

Not at all. Some of the most wonderful love songs ever written have come out of the musical theatre - Not A Day Goes By, by Stephen Sondheim, is a sterling example. Or Johanna, by the same author, from Sweeney Todd. ( well, Sondheim is a bloody genius after all) Or Maria, from West Side Story ( that Sondheim guy again).

Whats that one from Les Mis? "On my own....without you here be-side me.." Great song.

[The Vicar]

Lady Sheridan wrote;
"I hope you won't mock me too much, I will always think "The Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera is one of the sexiest love songs. But it has to be done right and not many stage performers ever get it. The movie version was sexcellent."

Not at all. Some of the most wonderful love songs ever written have come out of the musical theatre - Not A Day Goes By, by Stephen Sondheim, is a sterling example. Or Johanna, by the same author, from Sweeney Todd. ( well, Sondheim is a bloody genius after all) Or Maria, from West Side Story ( that Sondheim guy again).

Whats that one from Les Mis? "On my own....without you here be-side me.." Great song.

On My Own. Saw the Broadway production of this sucker, and whilst I'm a Sondheim worshipper, the technical aspects of Les Miz blew me away. Damned impressive. And some nice tunes, of which On My Own is a real standout.

As far as bitterseet love songs go, Send in the Clowns ( although beaten to death by just about everyone) stills rates. Judy Collin's version was nice, but hearing Len Cariou & ( I can't remember her name) doing it on the Broadway cast CD was an eye opener. Irony & regret. Hate to sound like Eeyore, but "sounds like Friday night at my house...."

[Lady Sheridan]

Hey Lady S - heh, I woulda answered last night, but I was too busy running to the airport and trying to smuggle myself on a plane to Denver

Yet it was the one track on that album that would just send my head spinning off into a trance. Would take me right out of whatever moment I was in..great track, good to see it get a mention! There was another song from an earlier album (could have been WAR maybe?) called something like HeartLights....quite short, but the music on that had a similar effect on me too.

And don't even get me started on cool Avatars Milady: Val Kilmer is cool...but he's no Lara Croft...you smooth talker you!

8)

Lara and Doc Holliday, that's like a match made in fan fic heaven. One day I'm going to log on and she'll be missing, off admiring his six-shooter no doubt...

It wasn't "Two Hearts Beat As One"? was it? That one is really long though. They really were hypnotic in those early days..."Drowning Man" is another good one, I always considered it a love song though it's supposedly one of their religious ones.

This is turning into a U2 love fest, we're going to be shunned!