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I’ve been thinking a lot about love. What it is, what it means, what it feels like, the different kinds of love and, inevitably when it comes to me, songs with love in the title. My God, there are loads of them. Thousands, maybe even millions. Love is one of the most popular words in the world, full stop. And it’s there in music, all genres, for much of the time. So today, I started thinking about some of my favourite songs with love in the title and when I finished I found even more songs with love in the title. I decided for now to write about ten of them.
- We Got Love by The Beach Boys. An astonishing Beach Boys song, in that the writers were original Beach Boy Mike Love, plus Ricky Fataar, a Malay of South African descent and Blondie Chaplin, a dual heritage South African. America’s band, all white, and here from apartheid South Africa are these two. Fataar, mainly, and Chaplin sang lead on it, too. It was supposed to appear on the band’s 1973 Holland album, but never made it, although it turned up later on a subsequent live album. We got love and we gonna change our world, that’s right.
- Love Is The Answer by Todd Rundgren. I’ve been listening to and buying records by Todd, who is God, for over 50 years now and I keep going back to this one, which I first heard sung by American duo England Dan and John Ford Coley. It’s truly beautiful. And when you feel afraid, love one anotherWhen you’ve lost your way, love one anotherWhen you’re all alone, love one anotherWhen you’re far from home, love one anotherWhen you’re down and out, love one anotherAll your hope’s run out, love one anotherWhen you need a friend, love one anotherWhen you’re near the end, loveWe got to love, we got to love one another
- Love Love Love by My Morning Jacket. What a great band they still are and their eponymously titled 2021 album was superb. Love Love Love was the stand out. And when you feel afraid, love one anotherWhen you’ve lost your way, love one anotherWhen you’re all alone, love one anotherWhen you’re far from home, love one anotherWhen you’re down and out, love one anotherAll your hope’s run out, love one anotherWhen you need a friend, love one anotherWhen you’re near the end, loveWe got to love, we got to love one another
- Love Yourself by Sufjan Stevens. This guy has made some of the best music of all time and this one from 2021 is right up there. It builds, it lifts, it makes me feel amazing. Love yourselfYou are the one thingI neededShare of yourselfShow me the things thatYou believe in
- I’ll Never Fall In Love Again by Bobbie Gentry. Bobbie was my first crush and to my ears hers was the definitive version of this Bacharach/David classic. But it’s bittersweet. Bobbie, in this case, will never fall in love again for at least until tomorrow. What do you get when you fall in love?You only get lies and pain and sorrowSo for at least until tomorrowI’ll never fall in love again
- Love The One You’re With by Stephen Stills. Back to 1970, a track from the Stephen Stills album Stephen Stills. It’s truly great and he’s truly right. Well there’s a rose in a fisted gloveAnd the eagle flies with the doveAnd if you can’t be with the one you love honeyLove the one you’re with
- Love Letters by Joe Walsh. Yes, I know. It’s ancient song, going back to 1945, and loads of people have covered it. But none like Joe Walsh. This is proper great. Love letters straight from your heart
Keep us so near while apart
I’m not alone in the night
When I can have all the love that you write
I memorize every line
And I kiss the name that you sign
And darling then I read again
Right from the start
Love letters straight from your heart
I memorize every line
And I kiss the name that you sign
And darling then I read again
Right from the start
Love letters straight from your heart - Long Distance Love by Little Feat. From 1974’s epic Feats Don’t Fail Me Now, here Lowell George sings mournfully about, well, long distance love. His girl isn’t with him, he doesn’t know where she is but he misses her so much. Heartachingly wonderful. And no matter what I doI even pray to heaven aboveAll I seem to get from her isLong distance love
- A World Without Love by Peter and Gordon. Written by Paul McCartney, and credited to Lennon and McCartney, Peter and Gordon really don’t want to live in a world without love. Can you blame them? Please lock me away
And don’t allow the day
Here inside
Where I hide
With my loneliness
I don’t care what they say
I won’t stay in a world without love - This Guy’s In Love With You by Herb Alpert. Legendary trumpeter Herb, who is nearly 90 and still going strong, doesn’t get to sing much, but when he does, as he did in 1968, he’s pretty good. That it’s another classic Bacharach/David song obviously helps. One of the best songs ever written? Yep.
You see this guyThis guy’s in love with youYes, I’m in loveWho looks at you the way I doWhen you smile I can tellWe know each other very wellHow can I show youI’m glad I got to know you
I am not pretending that this little list is a definitive list of best songs with love in the title. I just like them a lot. And you can’t get enough love, can you?
Little Feat’s Long Distance Love actually appears on The Last Record Album. I am indebted to a real writer, Swifty, for pointing this out.
