Vote for the best Love song Ever

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Allan C.
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 03:44 PM

I have to agree with Bill Searcher, "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Fools Rush In) is one of my all-time favorites along with the late Minnie Ripperton's "Loving You". - which, by the way is completely different from the one Elvis (I think) did by the same name.

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD LOVE (Neal & Leandra)
From: robd
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 02:22 PM

So many of my favorites have already been mentioned.

But this one, by Neal & Leandra, is my current #1:

Old Love
Neal & Leandra

We've got an old love
One we never will get tired of
One that fits us like an old glove
One to warm a winter days
We don't have to say I love you
Quite as often as we used to
Old love just goes without saying,
But we'll still say it anyway

I met we you beneath the willow
You were young, a little shy
But we would sit and talk for hours
Watch the river flowing by
You would laugh at all my stories
And then at dusk I'd walk you home
Who'd have guessed we'd walk a lifetime
Growing up and growning old

We've got an old love
One we never will get tired of
One that fits us like an old glove
One to warm a winter days
We don't have to say I love you
Quite as often as we used to
Old love just goes without saying,
But we'll still say it anyway

We may not leave this town we live in
Life's not as easy as we planned
I always meant to give you diamonds
But you still wear a plain gold band
That old river keeps on rolling
We don't know just what's in store
But in spite of all of this
I don't love you like I did
I love you so much more

And we've got an old love
One we never will get tired of
One that fits us like an old glove
One to warm a winter days
We don't have to say I love you
Quite as often as we used to
Old love just goes without saying,
But we'll still say it anyway
^^

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 01:09 PM

Just found, and fell in love with this site.....

haven't read many posts on this thread, so I don't know the consensus. There are many types of love songs. While my first 4 candidates are of the positive, or hopeful, or joyous type, I'm partial to the "lost love" song type. Many examples abound, and I'm losing sight of the "best love song ever" theme. Cuz there are too many "best"s. With a gun to my head, I'd vote for my number 1, and Elvis.

My vote(s) would be for:

1.) "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis. An astounding combination of melody, lyric and performance. It's nothing less than a hymn.

2.) "Feels so Right" by Alabama. A very passionate love song. Sing it to your best girl and see what happens.

3.) "If I Could Only Win Your Love" by the Louvin Bros., but I've never heard their version. Check out Emmy Lou's though. It'll make you want to find someone to fall in love with.

4.) "If I Fell" by the Beatles. Another winning combination of lyric, melody, and God, those harmonies.

5.) "You Don't Know Me". A standard. Eddy Arnold wrote it, I think; don't quote me. I first heard Jerry Vale's version, from my mother's collection. Have also heard Elvis's, from one of those mid 60's movies. Definitive version, for me, is Ray Charles's.

6.) "All I Have to do is Dream" Great lyrics and melody, by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant,and nobody can beat Don and Phil. Although "If I Fell" comes close.

7.) "Love Hurts" also by Boudleaux Bryant, with Don and Phil at their best. A much different perspective than "Dream".

8.) "Please Help Me, I'm Fallin", Hank Thompson did it first (?) Have heard John Fogerty also, and it's a classic country weeper...my favorite version is by Janie Fricke.

9.) "He Stopped Loving Her Today" George Jones, don't know who wrote it. The saddest love song I've ever heard, with the possible exeption of...

10.) "I'm so Lonesome I could Cry" Hank Sr. all the way. A stark and desolate song. Man, does he miss his baby.

What a kick....comments welcome @ [e-mail].

Bill

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 12:50 PM

"Bestest Friend" is Mac Davis.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 12:35 PM

I should have said "counteth" instead of "countest." Tho thorry.

And come to think of it, about those virgins: "And the pale virgins, shrouded in snow, arise from their graves..." I suppose they're sunflower seeds.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mark Roffe
Date: 12 Mar 99 - 01:03 AM

Those are beautiful and eerie lyrics, Sandy.
Some more of the related "Ghost Lover" --

She took him by the hand and she laid him down,
Felt he was as cold as the clay.
She said "My dearest dear, if I only had my way,
This long night would never turn to day."

"Oh where is your soft bed of down, my love?
Where are you white Holland sheets?
And where is the fair maid who watches over you
As you lay in your long dreamless sleep?"

Tim - "Ah, Sunflower!" is a great one. I heard the Fugs version in the '60's. Blake's lyrics have been rattling around in my head ever since:

Ah, Sunflower! Weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime,
Where the traveler's journey is done,
Where the youth pine away with desire,
And the pale virgins arise from their graves,
And aspire where my sunflower wishes to go.

Thanks for reminding me.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 09:45 PM

I don't know the Karen James song, but the last verse Mark refers to above reminds one of the Child ballad of "The Grey Cock" (#248?). There are a couple of versions in the DT. I collected an Appalachian version called "Pretty Crowing Chicken" from Hattie Presnell on Beech Mountain in North Carolina (not far from Catspaw's Boone stomping grounds!). Hattie's last verse was:

"My old true love, my sweet turtle dove,
When will I see you again?"
"When the sun and the moon meet in yonders glen,
And the sky it shall shed no more rain, rain, rain,
And the sky it shall shed no more rain."

The version makes it quite clear that her old true love was a ghost who had to return to his grave before the cock crowed for day. Hattie can be heard singing the ballad on Volume 1 of my Traditional Music of Beech Mountain custom cassettes.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Art Thieme
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 09:13 PM

Jim Ringer singing "California Joe". (Folk Legacy)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 07:30 PM

"Annan Water", and "Radio Sweethearts' Waltz". I mention these because I was listening to Kate Rusby's CD last night.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 07:26 PM

I had forgotten about 45 years by Stan Rogers.

I also like "The Broad Majestic Shannon", by that decidely unsentimental band, The Pogues.

I suppose "Big Yellow Taxi", by Joni Mitchell.

I like "Highland Mary", by Burns. Although I have know it has a tune to it, I've never heard it sung.

How about "Ah, Sunflower!" by William Blake? Others have put different music to it, as Blake's own music has been lost as he lacked the skill to make notation of it.

Subject: Lyr Add: YOUR SONG (Elton John)
From:
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 10:38 AM

"YOUR SONG" by Elton John was one of my favorites

"It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside.
I'm not one of those who can easily hide.
Don't have much money, but if I did,
I'd buy a big house where we both could live.

If I was a sculptor, but then again no,
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show, Oh...
I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do,
My gift is my song, and this one's for you.

And you can tell everybody this is your song,
It might be quite simple, but now that it's done...
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words...
How wonderful life is while you're in the world.

I sat on the roof and picked off the moss,
Well a few of the verses have gotten me quite cross.
But the sun's been quite bright while I wrote this song,
It's for people like you that keep it turned on.

So excuse me for forgetting the things I do,
See, I've forgotten if they're green or their blue.
Anyway, the thing is... what I really mean...
Is... those are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen.

And you can tell everybody this is your song,
It might be quite simple, but now that it's done...
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words...
How wonderful life is while you're in the world.^^

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Night Owl
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 03:57 AM

Guess it would be good to get titles RIGHT...! Re previous post...."Only a Song"--Bill Staines

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Night Owl
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 02:51 AM

If I Were A Song..Bill Staines

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mark Roffe
Date: 11 Mar 99 - 12:23 AM

The last verse of The Ghost Lover always did it for me: "When shall I see you, my love," she cried, "When shall I see you again?"

"When little fishes fly and the seas they do run dry, and the hard rocks do melt with the sun."

(Might have been written by Karen James?)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Strange (inactive)
Date: 10 Mar 99 - 01:00 PM

I've always been alittle partial to "True Love" by Buddy Holley Strange

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Pete M
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 07:38 PM

Ah yes Sail, as requested by the inmates in "Tales of old Dartmoor."

Pete M

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: sail
Date: 09 Mar 99 - 06:26 PM

Hey you folks!! What about the Righteous Bros., Unchained Melody????

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 05:37 PM

Joe Tully, I've always loved that song myself, didn't know the story about it though, thanks.

Frank i.t.s.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Cara
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 05:08 PM

I can't find "Forty Five Years" in the DT. Help please?

No one's mentioned Raglan Road--pretty much the end-all of forbidden love. I love Fields of Athenride too. Lonely love favorites by Tom Waites--Martha and Closing Time. I agree that favorites change with circumstance. I'm still haunted by an interpretation of an Amazing Rhythm Aces song I heard, which is coincidentally what brought me to Mudcat 9searching for the lyrics), the lyrics to which I still have not found...

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Pete M
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 02:54 PM

Can't choose a "best" so: In the traditional category, Lark in the clear air, Lizze Lindsay and about fifty others, Modern: My ladies a wild, flying dove, (Paxton); First time ever I saw your face (MacColl)

If forced to choose a single one however I'd pass over all these and go with Carolines choice

"Joy of living"

Pete M

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 02:06 PM

Tim Jaques--the Gordon Lightfoot song you were thinking of is "The Last Time I Saw Her Face."

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: John OSh
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 01:18 PM

How 'bout two by the balladier (sic) Tommy Makem - "The Coast of Malabar" and "Gentle Annie" Both sweet enough to bring tears to the eye!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 12:35 PM

My choice for the greatest love song is "Believe me, if all those endearing young charms". Which Thomas Moore wrote for his wife Bessie Dykes, when she was stricken with small pox. The victims of small pox are usually horribly disfigured if they live. Moore is telling his wife, who was a beautiful young actress, that it doesn't matter what happens I still will love you. Tully

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 10:36 AM

My favourite in the non Vulva ploughing category is Bob Dylan's Forever Young. Although it may not be as tradional a love song as Rock-a-day Johnny's material, the wishes conveyed in these lyrics is obviously borne of a very deep love.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 09:51 AM

If I only get one vote I would be caught between "Matt Hyland" which I sing with guitar and "The Shady Woods of Thrugh" which I sing unaccompanied. "Matt" is somewhat marred by the memory of Tony Callanan (from whom I learned the ballad) pointing out to me that Matt's first thought, when faced with banishment from his love, was to ask about the money owed to him by her father. "The Shady Woods of Trugh" (which I learned from Cathal McConnell one incredibly cold night in Brooklyn many years ago) is probably the superior ballad. It puts together the love theme with that of Irish patriotism - one helluva combination.

More than one vote would take far too much time.

All the best,
Dan

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Animaterra
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 09:47 AM

Bruce O., you're going to get me in trouble if I ever get spied on by the internet police on my network!

Subject: ADD: Bestest Friend
From: Bert
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 09:30 AM

Just one of my favorites which I'm listing here because I don't hear anyone singing it now. I know it's a country song but I'm not making any apologies for it. It carries a message which cuts right through the corny words. I first heard it in the early eighties, I don't know who wrote it or even who sang it but it is a fine love song which should not be forgotten. Here 'tiz from memory.

Bestest Friend

Who wipes me off when I spill gravy on my shirt
Who knows exactly where to kiss me when I hurt
and who'll make love to me in satin sheets or in the dirt
You Babe, you're my bestest friend.

Who takes me home when I get too drunk to dance
Who bravely puts up with my uncles and my aunts
and who discretely whispers I forgot to zip my pants
You Babe, you're my bestest friend.

Who comes down to bail me out when I get in a jam
and helps me tell the police where I live and who I am
and who pats my back when no one else could give a damn,
You Babe, you're my bestest friend.
Who can be as gentle as a sparrow in my hand
or meaner than a junk yard dog when she's fighting for her man
and who's the only one I'll ever love or understand
You Babe, you're my bestest friend.
I'm talking about you Babe, you're my bestest friend.

^^
Bert.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 09:00 AM

Obviously there is no "best," only an infinite number of favorites and those may change depending on your circumstances. A couple of great ones that haven't been mentioned yet:

Stephen Foster's "I Dream of Jeanie" is still beautiful and stirring almost a century and a half after it was written.

"I Wouldn't Change You If I Could" Not sure of the title, or origins, I a bluegrass version by Reno & Smiley.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Alan B
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 08:59 AM

No competion - its got to be Excercise 77 - Martyn Wyndham-read

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: martin the guitar numpty
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 08:21 AM

quick responses, must get back to work...

"a lover sings" Billy Bragg "carrickfergus" various "sweet sixteen" Fureys & various and, please don't laugh too loud, "I will always love you" whitney Houston !!!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Frank in the swamps
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 06:04 AM

1) "Whiskey you're my darlin"

or..

2) "Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug,

kind of makes you go hidy ho, burns your tummy don't you know..."

Er, sorry, how about...

"My woman's got teeth like a lighthouse on the sea,

Every time she smiles she throws them lights on me."

Frank in the awful lonesome swamps.

Subject: ADD: No Regrets - Tom Rush
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 05:59 AM

For a somewhat off the beaten path song, "No Regrets" written and performed by Tom Rush. It describes love that has gone.

I know your leavin's too long overdue,
For far too long, I've had nothin' new to show to you.
Goodbye, dry-eyed I watched your plane,
Sail off West of the moon.
And feels so strange to walk away alone.

Hours that were yours echo like empty rooms,
Thoughts we once shared I now keep alone.
I woke last night and called your name,
Not thinking you were gone.
And it felt so strange to lie awake alone.

My friends have tried to turn my nights to days,
Strange faces in your place can't keep the ghosts away.
They say the darkest hour,
Is just before the dawn.
And if feels so strange to live my life alone.

^^

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sean MacRuaraidh
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 05:19 AM

Is the best love song,

1. The song that evokes most emotion in the listener?
2. The song that best describes modern romantic love that takes place between male/female?

In this group it number 2 would seem to be the answer but why has no-one mentioned any songs that express love between mother/daughter, sister/brother, brother/brother, father/son, friend/friend, individual/nation, nation/nation, species/species, individual/god etc.

I guess I'm saying that the word love itself is too general a term.

It would be nice to get your opinions on these alternative categories of love.

I think Sally Oldfield's Waterbearer album carries a lot of love in the music and words combined. It also ties in beautifully with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Joni Mitchell has evoked a lot of emotion in me over the years -

Just before our love got lost you said
'I am as constant as the Northern Star' -
Constant in the darkness, where's that at?
If you want me, I'll be at the bar.

On the back of a cartoon coaster
By the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice

You are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Well I could drink a case of you
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet.

I remember the time you told me love is touching souls,
Well surely, you touched mine for
How do you draw out of me these lines from time to time.

I met a woman, she had a mouth like yours
She knew your life, she knew your devils and your deeds
She said 'go to him, stay with him if you can, but be prepared to bleed'

Oh, you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Well I could drink a case of you
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet.

Sean MacR.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Musicman
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 03:46 AM

Hi there,

My vote goes to Stan with "45 years from now", sang it for my wife on our wedding.... won't be singing it for a while......

Sweetest moment at work singing "When I grow too Old to Dream" watching two couples singing along to each other lost in each others eyes.....

Tend to agree with Mick and the others on "Dutchman" as well. Powerful song about true love through thick and thin.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 03:39 AM

Ewan McColl , First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

I read somewhere that he dashed it off it when challenged after saying something something to the effect of "Anyone can write love songs"

Followed closely by Stan Rogers 45 Years

Regards Ted

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mudjack
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 03:11 AM

I'm real partial to Utah Phillip's "Rock Salt and Nails". First Time Ever has to be a classic alltime favorite. And lets not forget Kate Wolf's " Give Ypuorself To Love or John Stewart's "Some Kind of Love. I guess I have more than one favorite love song. Jack....

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: CarlZen
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 12:42 AM

Hard Love

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sarah
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 12:27 AM

Forgive me for this, but I think the greatest love song has to be "Written in Red". I'm not sure who sings it, but it definitely speaks of a higher love than many of those suggested here!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Big Mick
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 11:57 PM

Vulva ploughing?????????? While it is an activity for which I have great respect and admiration, you could have gotten me to bet every last thing I own, and half of what you own, that it would not end up as part of a song lyric, never mind in a love song. LOL LMAO.

I couldn't even begin to figure out the greatest, but as Elliot said, The Dutchman is a song about real love. Every time I sing it.........I am just filled with the depth of feeling in it. And "The Hiring Fair" is certainly an amazing tale of the lusty kind of love that we experience only once in our lives. I love interpreting that one as well.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 11:46 PM

Caroline asks me to cast a vote for Ewan MacColl's "Joy of Living."

Sandy

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Don Meixner
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 11:39 PM

Favorites are easier than bests which are ofcourse opinions.

"Outward Bound" by Tom Paxton for the love of a woman or a man. "Power and Glory" and "My Land is a Good Land" by Phil Ochs and Eric Anderson respectively for love of country. "Where are you Going" by Malvina Reynolds for love of a child. " All for the Love of Lynn" By Woods Tea Company for loves lost, (Title may be wrong here.) "Zippidy Do Dah!" for the love of life it self. "In The Garden" for love of God.

These are my votes, I'll probably think of more.

Don

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Rosebrook
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 11:17 PM

Tim Jacques, I echo your nomination for "Dark Eyed Molly", although I am only familiar with the cover performed by Justina and Joyce. I really love this song! The song brings lots of vivid pictures to mind. I guess that, in addition to the haunting and rich vocals, is why I like that one so much.

Along those lines, I also love "The Banks of the Lee", by Silly Wizard. I can barely sing this one without crying. But then again, I'm a sap for those sad love songs where someone dies.

On the subject of rivers, I also really enjoy Alix Dobkin's "Over the Banks". (from that song)

And when the night turns dark as a dungeon
And not a star shines up above
I know I'll surely be guided
To the warm arms
Of my dearest love.

Rose

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: alison
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 10:51 PM

Hi,

"The Hiring Fair", by Ralph McTell...... love, & lust..... no ploughing mentioned **grin** ... but definately implied.....

Slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bruce O.
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 10:49 PM

Both Burn's and the original "John Anderson, My Jo" are reasonable candidates, but what does best mean?

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 10:03 PM

There's no vulva-ploughing going on in it, but I would vote for "Crazy Love" from Van Morrison's Moondance LP.

I can hear her heartbeat fom a thousand miles

and the heavens open every time she smiles

She makes me righteous, and she makes me whole

She makes me mellow down to my soul

And when you listen to Van sing it, you know the man was in love.LEJ

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Will (inactive)
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 10:02 PM

So many songs ... "The first time ever I saw your face" is wonderful. Also, Stan Roger's "Lies". But "In my life" (Lennon & McCartney) is probably the first song I think of when I start singing about love.

Now, for lust, on the other hand ... (but maybe that's another thread)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Peter Fisher
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 09:59 PM

I stand corrected. Ewan MacColl wrote First Time Ever I Saw Your Face; I was confused because I have a recording of Peggy Seeger singing it. 45 Years is also great.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: A.M. Austin
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:55 PM

Great thread and quite a tall task! Stan Roger's the "Lock Keeper" is a great one as is "45 Years". I also love "Annie's Song". However, I'll put my two cents worth in for a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "I Will Be Here". After all, true love is about commitment. BTW, this one works great both at the altar and around a campfire.

-Andrew in Yellowknife

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:42 PM

At my age, I'm inclined to go along with Bob S. (above) and cast a vote for "When You and I Were Young, Maggie." Goes right along with "John Anderson, My Jo," doesn't it? But I also consider Stan Rogers' "Lock Keeper" to be a very beautiful and meaningful love song.
,br> Must have something to do with being married to Caroline for over forty years.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: ddw
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:40 PM

I have to agree with Peter's nomination < The First Time < but wasn't that written by Ewan McColl as a wedding gift for Peggy Seegar, not by her? That's the story I heard about its origins, which always made me like it a little more.

ddw