Favourite love song?

djchameleon · 03-19-2011, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I've been listening to more songs in this thread, thinking about what "love" really means and whether I agree with the views of the songs. For example, Roy Orbison's song above sounds lovely and very emotional...and yet I feel something important is missing from it.

I remember the songs I posted before as my favorite love songs: "Annie's Song" by John Denver, and "In my life," by The Beatles.

What I find frustrating about these and many other love songs, though, is that they miss some of the complexity of what I feel love is. For example, love songs usually involve the singers going on euphorically about how wonderful they feel and how much they want or need someone, so that seems very self-centered, really. Is that love? "Annie's Song" is beautiful, but wanting someone to fill you with sensations isn't a full description of what I feel love is.

Other songs do comparisons of how important people are in your life, such as in The Beatles' song, "In My Life." And I feel that is partly true: certainly you can have stronger feelings about one person than another.

Yet maybe fulfilling promises when your emotions aren't loving, and acknowledging that sometimes you can't easily rank a person's importance in your life are a better measure of love than any of these gushy, romantic feelings described in this thread's songs, most of which seem painfully simplistic to me. Maybe actions are the best descriptor of love than any emotion a person can profess.

The closest representation of love, with its complexities and ambivalences, that I can think of right now is Wilco's "Reservations" song. It shows love isn't all easy and joyful; sometimes it is brutal honesty and confusion and clarity combined. So, I guess right now I'd say this is one of my favorite love songs:

While I agree with some points you have made I feel like everyone's definition of what love really is varies from person to person and there is no "right" way to describe what love is imo.

VEGANGELICA · 03-19-2011, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

While I agree with some points you have made I feel like everyone's definition of what love really is varies from person to person and there is no "right" way to describe what love is imo.

I agree with the point you make, dj. I'm just saying that for *me* the lovey-dovey songs feel like self-deception or over-accentuation of positive emotions while ignoring the negative feelings or the complexity of love. They seem one-sided.

What I like about Wilco's song is that it *isn't* one-sided. It is multi-faceted. It doesn't sing about "forever" and "hearts" etc. Its vision of love is more realistic, not completely fulfilling.

I do appreciate songs that capture the beautiful feelings of love that are one facet of love, but I *really* would like a song that seems grounded in reality by including more of the complexity of love rather than just one aspect of it.

That being said, the following is a love song I like very much even though it only describes positive feelings and focuses on appearances and how they make the observer feel...or perhaps the feelings of love are what make the person view the beloved as a rainbow. I feel the scratchiness of the violin and messiness in parts of the song save it from feeling too overbearingly sweet to me, although I also like the song's sweetness.

The Rolling Stones - "She's like a Rainbow"

Zaqarbal · 03-19-2011, 07:38 AM

My favourite love songs are mainly from the 80's and 90's. For instance, these two:

Apart from that, I haven't seen songs in French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish here yet. And a thread about love songs without songs in Latin languages is like a garden without flowers.

I'd like to post some masterpieces in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, but I need time to translate their lyrics properly. Let me a few days to do it.

For the moment, here you are a French classic with English subtitles:

♫ "(...)
Moi, je t'offrirai.........I'll give you
des perles de pluie........pearls of rain
venues de pays.........that come from lands
où il ne pleut pas...........where it does not rain.
(...)" ♫

Zaqarbal · 03-19-2011, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

(...) there is no "right" way to describe what love is imo.

Maybe you're right. Some literary critics say this is one of the best definitions:

To drink poison as if it were a soothing liquor,
To disregard gain and delight in being injured.
To believe that heaven can lie contained in hell;
To devote your life and soul to being disillusioned;
This is love; whoever has tasted it, knows.

(Lope de Vega: Rhymes, 1602)

starrynight · 03-20-2011, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I've been listening to more songs in this thread, thinking about what "love" really means and whether I agree with the views of the songs. For example, Roy Orbison's song above sounds lovely and very emotional...and yet I feel something important is missing from it.

I remember the songs I posted before as my favorite love songs: "Annie's Song" by John Denver, and "In my life," by The Beatles.

What I find frustrating about these and many other love songs, though, is that they miss some of the complexity of what I feel love is. For example, love songs usually involve the singers going on euphorically about how wonderful they feel and how much they want or need someone, so that seems very self-centered, really. Is that love? "Annie's Song" is beautiful, but wanting someone to fill you with sensations isn't a full description of what I feel love is.

Other songs do comparisons of how important people are in your life, such as in The Beatles' song, "In My Life." And I feel that is partly true: certainly you can have stronger feelings about one person than another.

Yet maybe fulfilling promises when your emotions aren't loving, and acknowledging that sometimes you can't easily rank a person's importance in your life are a better measure of love than any of these gushy, romantic feelings described in this thread's songs, most of which seem painfully simplistic to me. Maybe actions are the best descriptor of love than any emotion a person can profess.

Love can be very self-centered and not necessarily selfless, I said that on another forum recently. And there are different kinds of love too, not necessarily romantic. Maybe it's the very difficulty of trying to define it which has made it such a useful subject along with all the complexities it creates. Love traditionally has been seen as ennobling and positive though and certainly a source of inspiration, though how much that is a gift to a loved one or just an expressing of oneself is debatable.

VEGANGELICA · 03-20-2011, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrynight

Love can be very self-centered and not necessarily selfless, I said that on another forum recently. And there are different kinds of love too, not necessarily romantic. Maybe it's the very difficulty of trying to define it which has made it such a useful subject along with all the complexities it creates. Love traditionally has been seen as ennobling and positive though and certainly a source of inspiration, though how much that is a gift to a loved one or just an expressing of oneself is debatable.

True! I usually think of love as involving the pleasure of both giving and receiving (which may just be from one's own psyche).

Speaking of the difficulty of defining love, I remember a song that always perplexed but interested me when I was a child: "Muskrat love." I remember liking this song when I was a child because I liked muskrats and any other animal. I thought the song actually was about muskrats.

Actually, maybe it is about muskrats. :/ I find this song a little annoying *now* but my child self thought it was pretty cool.

Captain and Tennille - "Muskrat Love"

CRAZY-HORSE · 03-16-2011, 12:37 AM

"you do something to me" by Paul Weller is as good as any love song ever recorded, from the 1995 album "stanley road"

Howard the Duck · 03-16-2011, 12:43 AM

reminds me of this geek top-of-the-class girl I had a crush on in tuition class when I was 15

ReadyWhenCalled · 03-16-2011, 01:19 AM

"Why do fools fall in love" Frankie Lymon... I guess that doesn't classify, but it's been in my head all day, and I can't think of a love song right now.. He mentions love in the song

.

Love-song · 03-16-2011, 05:09 AM

Aaron Neville...

Forever My Darling

forever my Darling...
...Our Love will be true
always and forever...
...I'll Love only You
just promise me Darling...
....Your Love in return
may this fire in my Soul...Dear...
...forever burn
my heart's at Your command Dear...
...to keep...Love...and to hold

03-19-2011, 07:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
Zaqarbal Music Addict Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 824	My favourite love songs are mainly from the 80's and 90's. For instance, these two: Apart from that, I haven't seen songs in French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish here yet. And a thread about love songs without songs in Latin languages is like a garden without flowers. I'd like to post some masterpieces in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, but I need time to translate their lyrics properly. Let me a few days to do it. For the moment, here you are a French classic with English subtitles: ♫ "(...) Moi, je t'offrirai.........I'll give you des perles de pluie........pearls of rain venues de pays.........that come from lands où il ne pleut pas...........where it does not rain. (...)" ♫ __________________ "Lullabies for adults / crossed by the years / carry the flower of disappointment / tattooed in their gloomy melodies." Last edited by Zaqarbal; 03-19-2011 at 07:44 AM.

03-16-2011, 01:19 AM	#9 (permalink)
ReadyWhenCalled Groupie Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American residing in Canada Posts: 32	"Why do fools fall in love" Frankie Lymon... I guess that doesn't classify, but it's been in my head all day, and I can't think of a love song right now.. He mentions love in the song. __________________ ReadyWhenCalled

03-16-2011, 12:37 AM	#7 (permalink)
CRAZY-HORSE Groupie Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 29	"you do something to me" by Paul Weller is as good as any love song ever recorded, from the 1995 album "stanley road"

03-16-2011, 12:43 AM	#8 (permalink)
Howard the Duck Live by the Sword Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 9,075	reminds me of this geek top-of-the-class girl I had a crush on in tuition class when I was 15

03-16-2011, 05:09 AM	#10 (permalink)
Love-song Music Addict Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 400	Aaron Neville... Forever My Darling forever my Darling... ...Our Love will be true always and forever... ...I'll Love only You just promise me Darling... ....Your Love in return may this fire in my Soul...Dear... ...forever burn my heart's at Your command Dear... ...to keep...Love...and to hold