Love Songs and Music Geekery

What can I write about Valentine’s Day? Honestly, I don’t care for the holiday. It’s just another reminder that I’m still single and it’s looking to stay that way for a while. It’s not fun to be between the ages of 15 and 30 and single.

Despite this, however, I do love the idea of love and all that stuff, and I must admit that I loved passing around those goofy Valentine’s Day cards to classmates when I was in elementary school. Heck, I’d probably rock some awesome Nintendo-themed ones if I was still young. Also I’m a sucker for a well-made love song.

Since I was struggling with trying to figure something out for this article, since I’m no expert in Valentine’s Day festivities, I thought I’d just showcase some of my favorite love songs. And I promise I’ll keep them all in English (I know a handful of great Japanese love songs and a some very good Spanish ones too...but I’ll spare you guys). I’ll do a Top 15...as I must warn you now yet again, that my taste in music skewers to 1960s and 1950s oldies quite a bit (not that I don’t like current stuff, however).

Also as a warning -- I kinda get into geeky music mode when I talk about these songs.

15) “Falling”-Ben Kweller -- I never heard about this song until I accidentally stumbled upon it after I bought the Mr. Deeds soundtrack (great soundtrack by the way). This song has a simple melody, a very strong piano line, and a great tone that is reminiscent of Todd Rundgren (who will be on this list much later). This song captures the feeling of letting go of the denial that you’re harboring and finally letting yourself admit and enjoy the feeling of falling in love. At least, that’s how I gather it.

14) “I Won’t Say I’m in Love”-Susan Egan -- this is from the Hercules soundtrack and probably the only good song in the entire movie. It has a Motown feel to it that stays in your head. She doesn’t want to admit it, even though it’s entirely obvious to everybody else. The whole call and response kind of way the song goes between Meg and the Muses is what makes it for me. And then there’s the very adorable ending where relents and says “At least out loud, I won’t say I’m in love”. Sure it’s overused at times, but it’s still a very good song.

13) “Singin’ in the Rain”-Gene Kelly -- No, I haven’t seen A Clockwork Orange and I don’t plan on doing so. I prefer not to have this song ruined for me. Anyways, this song is a lot older than people think, having been written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown in 1929. However, it’s the version with the movie of the same name that is the best. The absolute joyfulness of being in love and not even caring about how crappy the weather is is something that I love. And also, who hasn’t tried to re-enact this once or twice?

12) “For Once in My Life”-Stevie Wonder -- While it’s mostly performed as a slow ballad by other artists, it’s the uptempo happy version that I particularly adore. To me, Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest musicians who has ever lived and his voice is just pure awesome. But this song is just showing the joyfulness of finally having love go your way and not allowing the past sorrows and feelings of being alone get to him. The arrangement of the song greatly emphasizes it too.

11) “Stand By Me”-Ben E. King -- The jury is still out on whether this is a love song or a friendship song. Either works for me. I’m putting it in here as a love song though because it is a great song regardless. There have been other versions of this (particularly this one that gives me chills), but this version is one that stands out the most to me. I also really love the bassline to the song and it easily gets stuck in my head. Fun fact: This song actually recharted in the late 1980s because of the movie with the same name. Crazy how that works, huh?

10) “Accidentally in Love”-Counting Crows -- In case you haven’t noticed, I really like upbeat love songs. This song is newer than the other stuff and from the movie Shrek 2, but I just like the idea of the song. I mean people fall in love accidentally all the time, I know I have. It has the perfect mood of it. Sure you didn’t mean to fall in love, but you’ve accepted it and are just going along with it now despite the fact that you are so inexperienced with the love department.

9) “Follow You, Follow Me”-Genesis -- The band admitted that they wrote this song to get chicks to listen to them. While, yes, that doesn’t seem so honorable and what not and the musical integrity is greatly questioned by the real fans, but it doesn’t stop this from being a good song. At least, in my eyes. Phil Collins is always made fun (and with some good reason) by others, but his voice is perfect here in the near whisper and when the chorus hits as the organ backs up his vocals, it just is great. The song is about basically being so in love that you wanna be with them all the time and how great they make them feel.

8) “More Today Than Yesterday”-Spiral Staircase -- I will admit, I also love the Goldfinger version but I have to go with this one for it is the first one I fell in love with. Its just that feeling of being so in love that you know that everyday is just going to get better. It also helps that this song is what I call my “clutch song” at karaoke whenever I go (clutch song being the one you can sell the best). As a former band geek, I’m a sucker for horns in pop music songs and this song totally delivers with that!

7) “Married Life”-Michael Giacchino -- Yes, this is an instrumental. Yes, this is from the movie Up. No, it doesn’t get DQ’d just because it has no lyrics. The mood of the song is what matters here. There’s a reason why Up won Best Score at the Oscars in 2010 and this song shows it. The choice of instruments brings the right tone of the song, since most of the love story between Carl and Ellie took place between the 1940s and the 2000s and the muted trumpet gives that kind of old time radio feeling to it. There’s a very melancholy part in the middle (which if you see the movie, you know why)  but then picks back up. It’s a perfect piece of music to go with the story of Carl and Ellie, one of the happiest marriages you’ll ever seen put on screen if even you see it only for 3 minutes.

6) “This Will Be Our Year”-The Zombies -- the mixture of the chord progression and the understated vocals is what initially drew me to it. The optimistic lyrics were what made me keep listening. It’s a story of a relationship that has gone through some rough times but is now finally starting and the optimism that the relationship will go well and it will be their year to shine. What sold me, however, is the majestic sounds of the horns that just cements the song as a great love song to me. I only just discovered it late last year but I love it so much. I also believe that OK-Go has covered this as well but this version is my favorite.

5) “Sea of Love”-Phil Phillips -- Actually any of the three versions that are the most noted are great. The first is just the one I prefer. The second version by the Honeydrippers (Robert Plant’s side project) is very good and has a full sounding string section that really adds a epicness to it. The third version is the very understated acoustic sounding version by Cat Power that was in the movie Juno. Her voice has a vulnerability that the other two do lack. However, the Phillips version is my favorite. The sound of Phillips’ voice and its richness combined with the simplicity of the other musicians that surround him is what I prefer personally. But of course, I’m a huge sucker for doo-wop music. Seriously though, any of the three versions are excellent.

4) “Paper Moon”-James Taylor -- Now the original song is an old jazz standard called “It’s Only a Paper Moon” which was written by Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, and Billy Rose in 1933. It also has been covered by many many people (I like Nat King Cole’s personally). However, this version is not that well known. It was featured in the A League of Their Own soundtrack and I heard it for the first time in my Radio/Video class and fell in love with it. I’ve always loved James Taylor, and this song is one of the reasons why. Also love the violin solo. I also, for some reason, imagine snow falling when I hear this song which is weird.

3) “You Send Me”-Sam Cooke -- I LOVE Sam Cooke. He is, in my eyes, the greatest soul singer who ever lived (though Otis Redding and Jackie Wilson do have a fight in the battle). His voice is just so polished and pure. The soul in his voice an be heard in anything from “A Change is Gonna Come”, “Cupid” and “Bring it On Home to Me”. This is a great love song that just captures that feeling of just being over the moon over someone that you are in love with. It’s a short song but it just so pitch perfect.

2) “I Saw the Light”-Todd Rundgren -- See, I told you Todd Rundgren was gonna be in here. This song is like a love letter to Motown music by the way it sounds. Probably one of the most underrated musicians out there, Rundgren’s song about a casual fling turned into love is like borderline symphonic in some ways. The song is about a realization of feelings being more than he bargained for and while he did try to deny them, he isn’t now and he really truly loves the girl in question. Whenever I hear this song, I feel like I want to actually fall in love just to get the feeling that this song is conveying.

And the number 1 love song in my opinion, and I will fight people if they dare tell me that they do not like this song...

1) “God Only Knows”-The Beach Boys -- I don’t care what you think, THIS is the best love song ever written on so many levels. First off, with the music, there’s so many layers to it. Instrumentally, there’s a combination of like classical instruments like harpsichord and french horn amongst others, the usual surf sounds of the Beach Boys mixing flawlessly. The combination on paper seems weird, but when put together for listening ears, it’s just so aesthetically pleasing. Then the harmonies. Oh man, the harmonies. Granted, the Beach Boys have always been known for their harmonies, but it doesn’t make them any more or less different. The lead was actually going to be sung by Brian Wilson but he then decided to give it to his brother Carl. This is probably the best decision made because Carl’s higher voice is just so beautiful to hear. That end with the harmonies all coming together is just...I can’t even come up with a word for it. Geez, I haven’t even gotten to the lyrics yet. The lyrics are just so great. They seem so simple, but actually the first line of the song is what brings it all together for me. It’s “I may not always love you” which sounds weird but when you listen to the song, you begin to realize what it really means. What is meant is that while it is possible that they may not always love you, they are going to do what they can to make sure that never happens. There’s something so touching about someone going to that length to stay in love. This song is what I always like to play whenever anybody asks me what love is.

And there you have it: My 15 favorite love songs. I say favorites because greatest is a whole different breed for me. I hope you didn’t hurt your neck from cocking your head to the side so many times at my geeky looks at most of these. And I promise next week, I will actually get back on topic of what this column originally is about. I actually got some fun stories to tell for the next few weeks!

Until then, Happy Valentine’s Day :)