Vote for the best Love song Ever

Subject: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Ariel
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:41 AM

Hello Mudcatters!

Tell me what you think is the best Love song ever written. (This is just an informal poll.) You can also tell me why. Myself, I would have to say it's "Annie's Song" by John Denver. What do you think?

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bill
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 11:22 AM

"Spanish Is A Loving Tongue" tells a great story, with a theme that goes beyond the usual love song. Narrated as a lament of lost love, for reasons having nothing to do with either partner. In some versioms there is the taboo of inter-racial relationships involved. It also has a nice melody.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Jeremy J Woodland
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 11:27 AM

I'd have to vote for "ON THE ROAD TO FAIRFAX COUNTY," as sung by Joan Baez.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: MMario
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 12:15 PM

Boy, what a loaded question! I think in the long run, the "best love song ever" is the one that means the most to you. And depending on the circumstances - it may not even mention love....

MMario

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 12:22 PM

Gotta be "Lizzie Lindsay". When I sing that to my wife Heather, for a few minutes I can picture myself as a noble Scottish Laird. The fact that I'm scared of horses, and would probably cut my finger off with a claymore never enters into it.

Sometimes there is a problem when a public figure (like John Denver) writes a love song at such a young age, to his partner. When the divorce comes, the song becomes kind of an orphan. Maybe we should wait til we're 70 to write 'em.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sam Hudson
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 12:29 PM

'Best' is t oo tricky for me. My two favourites, though, would be 'Beeswing' in the modern category, and 'Bridget O'Malley' in the trad.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bill
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 12:42 PM

"Best" is really too subjective - but it will be nice to get a variety of opinions regarding love songs. How about some off the wall old jug band, early blues "love songs" like Rich gal she drinks good pineapple juice Poor gal she does about the same, My gal drinks old shoe polish but she gets drunk just the same,

I will be there in the morning if I live, I will be there in the morning if I don't get killed, If I never see you again be sure to remember me.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Peter Fisher
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 04:18 PM

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face -- Peggy Seeger.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bruce O.
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 04:23 PM

I suspect that many people have forgotten it by now, but I am partial to a lovely duet sung by Inanna and Dumuzi in Sumer about 5000 years ago. A few of Inanna's lines go:

My honey-man, my honey-man sweetens me always.
My lord, the honey-man of the gods,
He is the one my womb loves best.
His hand is honey, his foot is honey,
He sweetens me always.
My eager impetuous caresser of the navel,
My caresser of the soft thighs,
He is the one my womb loves best.

In the spoken prologue:

Inanna:
....
Who will plow my vulva?

Dumuzi:
Great Lady, the king will plow your vulva.
I, Dumuzi the King, will plow your vulva.

Inanna:
The plow my vulva, man of my heart!
Plow my vulva.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Teresa
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 05:06 PM

Um ... Bill and Bruce, I thought I was quirky ... I love this Mudcat! Let's see, if I really had to choose one, it would be Borderlands by Danny Carnihan. Bittersweet, but I just can't stay away from it. Teresa

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mulligan
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 05:19 PM

Lmao.....

Bruce.....that was awesome.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 05:29 PM

"Maggie" probably not the correct title, but you know what I am referring to.

Look up the story behind the song.

Bob S.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Rosebrook
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:06 PM

"Imagine", by John Lennon

Not your typical two-people-in-love sort of love song, but still, if you think of the words it's truly a song that depicts love.

Rose

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:07 PM

Best is not one I will try to name.
When I was a girl I would sit at the piano and play while my father would sing "The Rose of Tralee". Now, there's a love song.

"Twas not her beauty, alone, that won me.
Oh, no, twas the truth in her eyes ever shining,
That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee.

I am at the public library posting this, since my computer is down for about a week. My time is up at this terminal, but when I am back online at home I will be back at the Mudcat. See you then.

Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:20 PM

Trad: "He's Gone Away", "Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair", "Greensleeves" (no more than two verses)

In between: "To Celia" (words by Ben Jonson)

Written: "Gretchen am Spinnrade" (Schubert/Goethe), "Wie bist du, meine Koenigin" (Brahms/ some lyricist translating Hafiz), "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Simon), and yes, another vote for "The First Time" (MacColl).

Thank you, Bruce! And I apologize to the Germans for not knowing how to make an umlaut o.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:28 PM

Song of Solomon (a/k/a "Song of Songs").
--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bruce O.
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:38 PM

Charlie, I've not yet concluded my research on that one. It just might be Solomon's 'good and godly ballet' version of Inanna and Dumuzi's song spun out to rather riduculous length.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:43 PM

Well, I can see no one's afraid to be a little off the wall here so I'll throw in one of mine...Howzabout "Catch the Wind" by the mellow yellow boy hisself.

catspaw

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:58 PM

My vote is for "Dark Eyed Molly", by Archie Fisher, off "The Man With A Rhyme". Stan Rogers also did a nice cover of it on "Turnaround". A prettier little melancholy love song you couldn't hope to find, and set to a rather odd tune. I was disappointed when I saw Fisher in concert and he didn't sing it. Obviously I won't be getting to hear Stan sing it. That was an opportunity I passed up in the early eighties, thinking I would catch him the next time he was in town.:( (Put this under the "Regrets, I've Had A Few" thread)

Isn't "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Gordon Lightfoot?

"When A Man's In Love" is also a good one. I think I like it more for its tune, because it does seem a little nasty of the man to put the woman on the spot like that without any warning or opportunity to come up with an alternative plan. But it does seem like he is a little exasperated to have been at it for that amount of time and in foul weather without any result. This is odd because it is usually the guy who can't be forced into a commitment.

In a non-folky vein, "A Kiss To Build A Dream On". It was done by lots of folks but I like Louis Armstrong's version best, as indeed I tend to prefer Satchmo's versions of a great many songs. Actually a lot of those old forties and fifties love songs were pretty good.

"Dream A Little Dream Of Me", from the twenties or thirties I think, covered by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald in one of their many excellent duets, and later by Mama Cass.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 07:35 PM

My nomination for best Australian love song must go to Henry Lawson's 'Reedy River'. The word pictures are so powerful that I am no longer amazed at how transfixed an audience will become upon hearing this song for the first time.

Regards
John

Subject: Lyr Add: ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE (Dave Van Ronk)
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 07:42 PM

Dave Van Ronk wrote a beauty ("Another Time & Place") some years back & the beginning always makes me think of when I met my wife.

"When first I met you years ago, in another time & place
The thought came to my mind I'd never seen a kinder face
Nor warmer laugh nor gentler smile or eyes so full of life (light?)
I knew that I would be a fool if I didn't fall in love that night"

it goes on about their sad parting but the 3rd verse is again beautiful in it's undying love.

"Love that blossoms in the night can't stand the test of time
It ebbs & flows, comes & goes, no reason, reach or rhyme
And as each day becomes another day each year another year
I'd trade a year in heaven for a day with you my dear"

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:10 PM

Almost any song on Donovan's new album (well, new last year) "Sutras", esp. "Please don't bend" and "Give it all up".

And, three songs my brother, Del Hudson, wrote and I've sung in concert, "Flowers of Summer", "Evenings in Crystal", as well as "Karmic Lover". Beautiful, beautiful songs with unforgettable tunes written from the heart. Available for performance. If anyone is interested, please email me at [e-mail].

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Les B
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:29 PM

My current favorite is "Rose of Allendale" -- it says all the right things without once using the word love. (At least in the version I've heard)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Elliott Hancock
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 08:34 PM

My vote is "The Dutchman". Michael Smith may not have intended it to be a love song, but that's the way I hear it.

I thought Ewan MaColl, (my apologies for the spelling) wrote "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: CarlZen
Date: 08 Mar 99 - 12:42 AM

Hard Love

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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:
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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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:
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: 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: 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: 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: 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:
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:
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 - 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: 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: 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: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: guitar dan
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 01:27 PM

First of all, thanks for putting me on this thread: it's a treasure. My favorites are--

"The Rose of Tralee,"

(And two that no one has mentioned:)

"Have I Told You Lately that I Love You," and

"Red River Valley."

I did not appreciate the latter until I heard George Stait's rendition on "Horse Whisper." It's a knockout.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: AlistairUK
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:00 PM

My votes go to Spancil Hill and She mMoves through the Fair. Both lovely bittersweet lovesongs. Plus 'I hope That I don't Fall in Love with You'by Tom Waites...really gets to the heart of the matter.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: The Shambles
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:03 PM

Dick Gaughan's. A different kind of love song.

I thought I have already voted?

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mark Clark
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:04 PM

Whew! What a great list of love songs. Although given the traditional bent of "The 'Cat" and most of the folks who post here, I'd have expected fewer pop hits than we are getting.

Someone suggested "I Will Always Love You" and mentioned Whitney Houston but I believe Dolly Parton had it out long before Whitney. I think Dolly is the composer as well. If you like the song you really must hear Dolly doing it.

Favorite love song of mine and of friends include the old country tune "When The Bees Are In The Hive", the Carter Family's "You've Been A Friend To Me" and Bob Dylon's "Girl From The North Country." Another great love song is Don Williams' song "You're My Best Friend."

Now tell me the truth, is Ariel about to edit a book of love songs and just started this thread to troll for material?

- Mark

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Gilly
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:20 PM

The most beautiful love song I've heard is "Nanna's Song" by Ralph McTell. -Gilly-

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Dr John
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 02:27 PM

Several. I'm glad the Carter Family's "You've Been A Friend To Me" was cited; beautiful. "She Moves Through The Fair" has wonderful imagery. Cisco's "Girl in the Wood" is magic. Doc Watson's sad "Alberta" I like too. Another sad one but with hope is Jez Lowe's "Last of the Widows". But my favourite must be Phil Ochs singing his own composition "Celia". "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is mentioned by many: a bit crude I think, needs a bit of folk process!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Shula
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 05:09 PM

Dear folks,

Really tickled to see this thread resurrected. What a treat! My only regret is that many of my favourites have been already cited. I will post my list a little later, after I have a chance to compare it with Akiba's. I think he'll be posting his list as well, so I don't want to mention all our mutual favourites before he takes a whack at it.For now I just want to share a few critical thoughts on specific performances that have been cited. (Maybe we should consider our favourite renditions, as well as songs?)

Three of the songs mentioned, while unexceptionable love songs of their particular genres, have been largely spoilt for me by their most famous presenters. To start with the least of them, "Loving You," by Minnie Riperton, is utterly ruined by the high notes for which she is famous. Her rendition is nothing short of embarrassing. No competent singer would consider notes that must be screeched, part of her vocal range, much less feature them in her performances. Ms. Ripperton is said to have had operatic training, she should have known better.

Next, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," sung by Roberta Flack, is not exactly bad, but the arrangement is self-consciously drawn out, again, I believe, to demonstrate a feature of the singer's voice, in this case, her ability to sustain a note. I have heard this song done less melodramatically and more straightforwardly. It was thus more affecting, since the words and tune are lovely enough to require little embellishment and no over-arrangement.

Finally, and I am so glad Mark. C. mentioned it first, "I Will Always Love You," Dolly Parton's heartfelt ballad to a love on the occasion of its loss, has been subverted by Ms. Houston in the service of overweening self-importance. What do those belligerently belted "I's" have to do with the *meaning* of this song? Houston is clueless. Maybe a better acquaintance with sorrow is required to do this piece justice. The song records the self-effacement of real love. Even Ms. Parton, whose work usually holds little charm for me, surprised me with this one. Her first popular recording wasn't bad, but when she sang it, many years later, awkwardly interpolated into the movie version of "Best Little Whorehouse In Texas," it was a revelation. Her voice had lost the smoothness of youth, but her interpretation had the depth and poignancy of genuinely painful experience. It was so moving, in spite of the absurd setting and wildly caricatured costuming, that it brought a ridiculous farce to a devastating, sob-in-the-throat full stop. The film never recovered; but the SONG was wonderful.

Which brings me all the way 'round to my point. The latter two of these songs have some merit (the first is sniggeringly suggestive, trite and tacky tripe, end to end), but it is the singers' vanity that appalls me. Prima donna displays have no place in the performance of love songs. There is an intolerable cognitive dissonance of medium and message in these self-indulgent performances. Love, the genuine article, doesn't sing of self. There are hundreds of love songs I like; the ones I love are humble.

Adieu jusqu'à demain,

Shula

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Tony Burns
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 05:40 PM

Stan Rogers, Lies. Best love song ever. One of the few that can reduce me to tears.

"She'll look up in that weathered face that loves hers line for line and see the maiden shining in his eyes"

I get goose bumps just typing it.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bri
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 06:53 PM

I think the ones that come to me right away are from my other music love...showtunes.

All I Ask Of You- Phantom of the Opera (sung by Christine and Raoul.

On My Own- Les Miserables (sung by Eponine)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Tucker
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 09:40 PM

Hi Sail and all. I have to put unchained melody in the top five but an earlier version than the righteous brothers was much better in my opinion. Too many ooohs and ahhhs in the latter.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Tucker
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 09:47 PM

Hi Sail and all. I have to put unchained melody in the top five but an earlier version than the righteous brothers was much better in my opinion. Too many ooohs and ahhhs in the latter. An additional note. Ghost lover defineatly in top 3. Since rose of tralee was mentioned often both here and in other threads I am going in search of it in a midi format to hear it. I may know it but not recognize the title and if it's that good I want to learn it.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Bud Sherman
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 10:50 PM

I agree with those who feel that a long term committment is important in a love song. In that category is the German song that the Irish have adopted, "I'll take you home again, Kathleen."

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Ronn
Date: 12 Apr 99 - 10:55 PM

Many of my favourites have already been mentioned, but a few that have not include "Moonlight Serenade", "Under The Boardwalk", & "When A Man Loves A Woman".

In a totally different vein, one might want to consider "Why Dont We Get Drunk And Screw" and "Paradise By The Dashboard Lights". Then again, one might not.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Frank Howe
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 09:46 AM

Phil Ochs musical rendition of "The Highwayman" has to be on the list

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sophie
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 09:58 AM

Is "P" Stands for Paddy, I suppose", a lovesong? A bit cryptic, but I think it is. Anyway, I love that song so much I'd try to cram it into any category. Also "The Flower of Magherally" is very lovely, but if I go down that road I'll have to mentioned about 10 more. I'll stick with "P" stands for Paddy, then. Sophie

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Walt B.
Date: 13 Apr 99 - 10:52 AM

"Seven Daffodils" by Lee Hays is so pure, sweet, sentimental and timeless in its simplicity ... and it has such a haunting melody.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Andy A.
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 12:11 AM

I have to say I like the Elvis Song, "Falling in Love With You." ....BUT isn't this an old French (possibly traditional, I don't know) love song "Plasid d'Amour" (or however you spell that.) Heard it sung by a Welsh lady. It's the same tune. Folkies gotta remember to take credit for everything the pop world doesn't acknowledge credit for...!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mark Roffe
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 04:38 PM

Wow! I've sung both those songs for decades and never noticed they had they same tune. Except the Elvis one has the "Like a river flows" part with a different tune.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 05:58 PM

Mark, Andy, how can I get the French words? Been brushing up on my French after a Christmas trip to Quebec and would love to try singing it.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mark Roffe
Date: 14 Apr 99 - 11:24 PM

Well I ain't no Frenchman, ain't no Frenchman's son, but I can phonetically write the way I hear it in my head in pidgin french:

Plasir d'amour, ne dure q'un moment
Chagran d'amour dure tu
la vie

Joys of love are but a moment's time
the pain of loving you lasts the whole life through
.

But I'm sure you can easily find it with correct spelling.

Mark

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Tucker
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 10:33 PM

Marianne Faithful did a very good version of Pleasures of Love (My french sucks too). I'm with Ronn too, Paradise by the dashboard light and Why don't we get drunk and Screw have to be on the list. Meat Loaf and Jimmy Buffet are the Oscar and Hammerstein of our age.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Frank Of Toledo Oregon
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 10:51 PM

Guy Clark's "Comfort and Crazy"

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Dan
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 09:19 AM

"She Was to Good to be True" from the great Kingston Trio album, "Time to Think."

"Danny Boy," as sung by Kate Smith and other greats.

"That's a Sad Song" as sung by Paul Williams in a Muppet movie.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 01:37 PM

How about Harry Nilsson's "You're Breaking my heart, you're tearing it apart, so F#@* You?

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: bbc
Date: 17 Apr 99 - 09:41 AM

This one used to just *kill* me in my divorce phase--Stars in Their Crown by Garnet Rogers, on his Small Victories recording--another great song about commitment through the years. Now that I've found my life-partner, I'm looking forward to that kind of long-term love.

bbc

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 17 Apr 99 - 03:04 PM

Waddaya mean, "Best ever"? There are sooooo many "best evers". . . .

I do vote for Dick Gaughan's "Different Kind of Love Song". I know it's not all that romantic, but it needs to be heard. ;-)

For stuff from Bruce "Utah" Phillips, might I nominate "Nevada Jane". Has the virtue of being not only touching, but (mostly, I suppose) true.

Garnet Roger's "Frankie and Johnny" (AFAIK; it's on the "Small Victories" CD) is interesting for a slightly different take on love.

I could go on and on. . . .

Cheers,

-- Arne Langsetmo

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: amy
Date: 17 Apr 99 - 10:17 PM

well, my personal favourite is "always be warm" from joanne rand. but that may be a little obscure for y'all.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Arne Langsetmo
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 01:40 PM

Oooops. When I said Garnet Rogers's tune "Frankie and Johnny" was on "Small Victories", I was wrong. It is on "Summer Lightning" (although I'm still not 100% sure on the title).

But I've been trying to go to the Garner Rogers website (http://www.daddyo.com/SnowGoose), and keep timing out. Hope this is just transient.

Cheers,

-- Arne

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Camilla
Date: 25 Apr 99 - 07:26 PM

I wouldn't think there's only one best lovesong, there are many.

But one of the best I know may be "Black is the colour of my true love's hair"

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Reta
Date: 30 Apr 99 - 05:18 PM

No doubt about it. Bob Dylan's "Love Minus Zero, no limit."

Blessings

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 01 May 99 - 02:36 AM

There are sooooooo many! The one that is fondest in my heart for many reasons is "Share the Darkness" by the Saw Doctors...(Mick Lowe, I hope you're reading this as I know your fondness for the Docs!!) I love the Gaelic (Irish) lyrics...

"Tá an dorcheadas ag teacht anuas
tar abhaile liom, a ghrá"

which a friend translated for me more literally/poetically than in the sleeve notes as

"The darkness is coming down, come home with me, my love."

~SingsIrish

(I've just started reading the thread about HTML...hope the breaks worked....I'm trying!LOL)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 01 May 99 - 09:20 PM

Yes I am reading this Singsirish.. Now I would have thought you might have chosen some others.. namely Gary Moore's rendition of Peter Green's "Need Your Love So Bad" or even that very obscure musical version of Roger McGough's Poem " Love Is"
But than I guess I know why you chose the Saw Docs
My own list would go on forever depending upon who my favourite artist is/was at the time and the mood I am/was in.
For unrequitted love the Moody Blues and Go Now is a must
Shakespeare's Sister and Stay is up there in the top ten
Love Hurts by the Everly Bros
Loads by Roxette, not forgetting The Day Before You Came by Abba but covered by lots of other groups
But probably the best are the ones I've written because they have a very special meaning, none more so than one entitled.. "We are as one".

Cheers
Mick

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 01 May 99 - 09:56 PM

Hello Mick,

Well, I was simplifying my potentially endless list by choosing one song...Yes you should know why I chose the Saw Docs song...suppose the entire cd could be cited.

Ah yes, Gary Moore...mmmmmmmmmmm I can think of several of his that would suit my fancy depending on mood. "Supernatural" for instance...And you, Mick, have named lots of good ones by several artists.

I would have listed a certain "We Will Always Be As One" but didn't because I felt it too much a private matter, though I definitely thought about it. (Besides, only one other person has ever heard the song: the songwriter/artist.)

There are lots of oldies tunes I love...ie balads from the 30's, 40's and 50's...One that comes to mind was sung by Nat "King" Cole: "A Thousand Thoughts of You"

Sláinte!

Mary (well, my name was mentioned in a couple other threads, so WHY NOT! Mick you got me on that one!)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Andrés Magré
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 02:02 AM

May I vote too ? There is an old song very well known to many of you. I can't assure that it is the best, but I think it is the deepest love feeling ever expressed in a single phrase. It is My Old Kentucky, and the phrase is:

"Weep no more, mah Lady oh, weep no more today ! We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home.. for the old Kentucky home, far away.. "

From the worst poverty, near to slavery, this black man respectfully calls his beloved "Mah Lady" (not my honey, not my impossible dream, not my madness, just mah Lady, just our home) This is the only song I could never sing, because I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to open my throat. Best regards - [e-mail]

Subject: ADD: Featherbed - John McCutcheon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 03:23 AM

I'm not much for lists of the "best" and the "greatest," but I'd like to say that this is a very nice love song, especially when McCutcheon sings it with his hammer dulcimer.
-Joe Offer-

If I Were a Featherbed
©1984, John McCutcheon

If I were a featherbed, in your house so fine
I'd hold you in my arms each night, keep you warm in the wintertime

If I were an old banjo, felt your finger on my strings
I'd play the sweetest little song that a banjo e'er did sing

If I were a drop of rain that trickled down your chin
I'd run right up and kiss your lips, and kiss them twice again.

If I were a breath of wind on your cheeks as you walked by
I'd pick you up upon my back and teach you how to fly.

If I were a hair ribbon, and my color it was blue
I'd be ten times as beautiful, 'cause I'd be wearing you.

And if I were a big wool rug sitting in your front hall
I'd tickle your feet and make you laugh if you stepped on me at all.

If I were a featherbed, in your house so fine
I'd hold you in my arms each night, keep you warm in the wintertime
^^
JRO

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Rita64
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 05:04 AM

Vulva ploughing - tee hee hee!

There are three songs I can think of that always make me wistful and dreamy ... they are simple but so powerful ...

The Very Thought of You - Ray Noble
Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair
Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen (can't believe he hasn't been mentioned yet on this thread)

~FYM~

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: thosp
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 07:59 AM

i agree Fair Youngmaid -- how could Leonard Cohen be overlooked --- i don't remember the title of the song --but the line ---"her hair upon my pillow,like a sleepy golden storm" and so much of his work is such beautiful love song

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Leslie
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 05:11 PM

And Loving You by Tom Paxton...Tomorrow Is A Long Time by Bob Dylan...The Dutchman by Michael Smith...

Leslie

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: LEJ
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 05:33 PM

Andres...thanks for bringing up My Old Kentucky Home . I never really thought of it as a love song, but you are right. For those of us who have left her, the tears always come when singing this song.

LEJ

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 03 Jul 99 - 02:27 AM

Hey, this is slightly off topic - I apologize but I'm desperate. Someone mentioned "P Stands for Paddy" - is there anyone out there who could send me the words for this song? I know just the chorus and I love it. Thanks in advance!

You should have started a new thread, but we'll let you go this time. A forum search for "paddy" will bring it up, or you can click here
-Joe Offer (sent by e-mail, too)

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: kayti (inactive)
Date: 03 Jul 99 - 08:09 PM

You should know by now, sung about 20 years ago by Angela Bofill, no idea who wrote it, or Clint Black's song about his wedding "Something that we do" an awesome song, and what about betty carter's rendition of Beware My Heart? OR /Frank S; All the Way, or My One and Only Love? How can there be one best love song? we love each person so differently, and each of us redefine love, that's probably why we write about it so much!!!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: skarpi
Date: 03 Jul 99 - 08:20 PM

I just saw this thread and the love songs are so many that I like, but one off many is this one.

it is called " MORE THAN YOU´LL EVER KNOW " sung and written by Travis Tritt.

bless skarpi Iceland.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 03 Jul 99 - 09:12 PM

"When It's Sleepy Time Down South", sung by Louis Armstrong.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From:
Date: 04 Jul 99 - 04:24 AM

Elvis took more than Plaisirs d'Amour (Falling in Love With You). He had real good taste. He found a beautiful old Civil War tune, Aura Lee, and (he or someone he believed in) transformed it into "Love Me Tender".

"Aura Lee" has the distinction of having been mentioned in "Yellow Rose of Texas" "You Can talk about your Clementine or sing of Aura Lee / But the yellow rose of Texas is the only girl for me.

I've been thinking about Aura Lee in another context.

Same tune:

As the interns in the spring Traveled to DC. One knew how to get ahead, She do it Aura Lee

Well, that's as far as I've gotten.

Sourdough

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Sumac
Date: 04 Jul 99 - 07:00 PM

I vote for "Joy of Living", absolutely one of the finest songs ever, written by Ewan MacColl in his old age and declining health, his "...farewell to the world and the people he loved." *sniff* brings a tear to my eye every time. Track #20 on his "Black and White" cd. I know that for a fact, I've worn it out! cheers, Sumac

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: amo
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 01:38 PM

I have to add my favorite: "I don't kno how to love him ..." from the musical Jesus Christ.

amo

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 04:36 PM

"If I Loved You" from Carousel.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: AlnBooth (inactive)
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 10:14 PM

To me it is clear cut - Highland Mary, by Robert Burns; I don't know whats in second place, but Burns probably wrote it!

Subject: RE: Vote for the best Love song Ever
From: campfire
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 02:01 PM

I was just listening to Tom Paxton singing "Bad Old Days" and it wins for me, this week anyways.

campfire

Subject: Lyr Add: QUARTER MOON (Cheryl Wheeler)
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Jul 99 - 09:07 PM

This song has always done it for me, and I don't think the word 'love' is in there anywhere. It still makes me cry sometimes.

QUARTER MOON

Cheryl Wheeler

And they seem to know each other very well
They speak across the garden and not a soul could tell
They can read the summer sky and they can hear the back brook swell
And they seem to know each other very well

And they drive up north on sunday afternoons
And he buys her wooden windmills and whales and quarter moons
She feeds the birds all winter and she knows them by their tunes
And they drive up north on sunday afternoons

(Chorus)
And all summer long, they make the garden grow
Keep the green so strong
Oh, wish them well, for standing on their own

And they buried their old dog in their backyard
With a fence and plastic roses
And St. Francis standing guard
She speaks of him quite often to this day she takes it hard
And they buried their old dog in their backyard

She brings me plants and flowers all the time
And we dig the holes together she has to help with mine
When she pats the soil around them oh my god, her eyes can shine
She brings me plants and flowers all the time

(Chorus)

And they speak about their lives as almost gone
Waiting for the sunset from an old and distant dawn
Selling off the land except the part they're living on
And they speak of their lives as almost gone

And they seem to know each other very well
They speak across the garden and not a soul could tell
They can read the summer sky and they can hear the back brook swell
And they seem to know each other very well