Greatest Love Song

[Jeff]

I watched a really great documentary on Z-channel and its most interesting programmer Jerry Harvey tonight ( www.ifctv.com/ifc/what?CAT0=45&CAT1=5707&TZ=ET&TB=4&CLR=blue&AID=6807 ). I thought of posting this in film, but instead decided to ask you this question. Harvey thinks Berlin's "What'll I Do" is the greatest love song ever written. Is he right? What is the greatest love song? Must the greatest be of unrequited love and melancholy?



WHAT'LL I DO

Irving Berlin, Irving Berlin Inc. ASCAP

Gone is the romance that was so divine
It's broken and cannot be mended
You will go your way and I will go mine
And now that our love dream has ended

What'll I do when you are far away
And I am blue
What'll I do

What'll I do when I am wondering who
Is kissing you
What'll I do

What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to

When I'm alone with only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do

What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to

When I'm alone with only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do
What'll I do
What'll I do
What'll I do

[Betterout]

Well, it may be a great love *song*, but it doesn't light any fires for me lyrically. Truth be told, I can't say that I've ever heard it. I'm not an Irving Berlin fan, so, that doesn't mean anything. Chris Todd used to have a best of collection, and I can't recall liking anything on it other than the "Anything you can do..." song. I liked the band Berlin, though. And Berlin the city is sorta the proto-punk Mecca: Lou Reed's Berlin album is considered a classic (although he'd never been there), as is Bowie's "Heroes," which was inspired by his experiences in Berlin. Berlin also inspired Bowie's piano and production work on Iggy Pop's "The Idiot." Irving Berlin, like Lou Reed, has no real claim to Berlin--his real name was Israel Belin, or something equally unmarketable.

I'd say there are plenty of great love songs out there. I always thought "It Doesn't Matter" by Depeche Mode was pretty good. In terms of unrequited love, you really can't get any better, sadder, or more poignant than "Vincent" by Don McLean. There are two songs from the late 80s called simply "Love Song," one by the Cure and one by Tesla. I actually liked both of them. I hate to say it, but I probably liked the Tesla song better. And speaking of guilty rock pleasures, I have a soft spot in my heart for "Amanda" by Boston, but perhaps that's just a silly bias.

Jeff's right. We really need to talk about the different varieties of love song subject matter. There's the sappy crooning stuff ("I Will Always Love You"), the awkward first few days of love stuff ("It's a Lover's Question"), the end of love stuff ("I Sure Can Smell the Rain"), the staying together ("Let's Stay Together"), the breaking up ("Letter to Elise"), the humping ("Let's Get it On"), the fighting ("Pads, Paws, & Claws"), the jealousy ("You Belong to Me"), the triangles and other shapes ("Bizarre Love Triangle"), the condemnation after rejection ("Alison"), the pleading ("Baby Please Don't Go"), the funny ("Pearl Necklace"), the tragic ("Where, O Where, Can My Baby Be?"), the demented ("Cold Ethel"), etc.