Love songs

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

Well then you have no excuse for not writing a sad love song.

Heh heh. Might be time to regroove your logic model. You're ascribing a causal relationship where there is none. I've written lots of them. What I can't crack is writing good ones — both requited and un. Here's one of my uns:

"Sinkin' Down"
copyright Leon Fullerton

I guess you taught me, baby,
I guess you showed me good,
I guess I learned my lesson,
I guess you knew I would.

Rip my heart out by the roots,
stomp it on the ground.
Ever since we got hooked up,
I been sinkin' down.

I've flexed my mental muscles
till I can't stand the strain.
Are you a heart condition,
or did I sprain my brain?

Rip my heart out . . . .

If heaven loves a loser,
I owe my wings to you.
Explain it to me one more time,
my dyin' time is due.

Rip my heart out . . . .

And here's a requited:

"My Baby Likes Me"
copyright Leon Fullerton

When we walk down the street, the fellers all stare,
suck in their guts, slick back their hair.
She could take her pick, but it's plain to see,
my baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
My baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
My baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
I'm just as happy as a man can be,
'cause my baby likes me.

Cats call her up she don't even know,
want to take her fishing, go to a show.
She says she's booked solid, so I think you'll agree,
my baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
My baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
My baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
I'm as happy as a joobah at a jubilee
'cause my baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)

Her boss wants to take her for a ride in his car.
It's long and fast, and it'll take her far.
But it's lonely at the top, and there ain't nuthin' for free,
so my baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
My baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
My baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)
I'm as happy as a catbird in a catbird tree
'cause my baby likes me. (My baby likes me.)

See the problem? Those will never make tender hearts throb and willing women swoon!

=O[

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein

Younger, middler, and older days. Over and over and over. I'm an equal-opportunity annoyer.

(In fact, "Over and Over and Over" is probably a title waiting for a song.)

Indeed, that title has been use at least twice. This is the one I remember:

[FrankHudson]

Some good tips already in this thread. Some have already pointed out that sincere or earnest love songs can be tough to escape from the "sappy" trap. Love, real love, is something that one feels and does, something lived, it doesn't necessarily fit into words, though we try.

Heartbreak is easier to write about.

One tactic is to get expressionistic, even surreal about it. Bob Dylan has written love songs that try for the sincere and straightforward, but he's a master at the outlandish love song that throws in metaphors from whatever. "Love Minus Zero=No Limit" for an example.

One can treat bad love or heartbreak this way too. Here's my translation of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova's poem called simply "Liubov" in Russian (Love) which I set to music and played for this video:

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Indeed, that title has been use at least twice. This is the one I remember:

Oh, yeah! Catchy tune! Too bad those guys couldn't get past the "other Beatles" albatross.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Some good tips already in this thread. Some have already pointed out that sincere or earnest love songs can be tough to escape from the "sappy" trap.

Yup! My point and struggle exactly. McCartney knows how to write for fifteen-year-old girls. I haven't cracked it.

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Love, real love, is something that one feels and does, something lived, it doesn't necessarily fit into words, though we try.

Heartbreak is easier to write about.

One tactic is to get expressionistic, even surreal about it.

Yeah. I do that a lot whether it's a love song or not.

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Bob Dylan has written love songs that try for the sincere and straightforward, but he's a master at the outlandish love song that throws in metaphors from whatever. "Love Minus Zero=No Limit" for an example.

Yep. He's great at both. From "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" to "Visions of Johanna."

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

One can treat bad love or heartbreak this way too. Here's my translation of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova's poem called simply "Liubov" in Russian (Love) which I set to music and played for this video:

Nice! The vocals are very Mike Scott of the Waterboys. Love that guy.

[12FanMan]

Haven't read other replies to this, so someone likely covered this base, but....you've gotta' feel it to write it. The best love songs in American history came from heartbreaking times...like ww2 and nam. .. especially nam. Songs that express hurt and, maybe, resolution thereof, strike a chord in the heart...a la Neil Diamond (e.g. "Song Sung Blue"..and the artist who wrote "Sylvia's mother"). Neil Diamond expressed the pain of his many heartaches. I owe that man so much that I'll never get to express, as fame and fortune form such an impenetrable wall.

Well done love songs move the hurt from the inside to the outside. That's the secret of their magic. Sung later by others through the years...the same thing happens again for the performer as well as the hearer. Wound pain is confined to no era.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

Haven't read other replies to this, so someone likely covered this base, but....you've gotta' feel it to write it.

Absolutely! It's like they say in the lottery commercials: You gotta be in it to win it.

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

The best love songs in American history came from heartbreaking times...like ww2 and nam. .. especially nam. Songs that express hurt and, maybe, resolution thereof, strike a chord in the heart...a la Neil Diamond (e.g. "Song Sung Blue"..and the artist who wrote "Sylvia's mother").

Love Doctor Hook!

Originally Posted by 12FanMan

Neil Diamond expressed the pain of his many heartaches. I owe that man so much that I'll never get to express, as fame and fortune form such an impenetrable wall.

Well done love songs move the hurt from the inside to the outside. That's the secret of their magic. Sung later by others through the years...the same thing happens again for the performer as well as the hearer. Wound pain is confined to no era.

Thanks! What about love songs that are just about being in love?