L is for Love

Nearly every Valentine's Day, I hear the same thing: "Why do we need a holiday to show LOVE?" It is akin to what is said each Thanksgiving. “Why aren't people thankful ALL the time?”

And my answer is always the same: because we are human. Yes, we should ALL be LOVING and thankful ALL the time. But sometimes, we're not. Sometimes, we are tired, or grumpy, or distracted, or overwhelmed. Our thoughts are overstuffed by the busyness of LIFE.

I, for one, need/want special days to remember veterans, or show thanks, or express LOVE, or the LIKE.

Here are some Valentine's Day statistics.

From HERE:

The music industry LOVES LOVE. The latest project from Nickolay Lamm—a Pittsburgh-based digital artist...tracked the popularity of certain keywords across more than 50 years of the Billboard charts. One of the most consistent words? LOVE.

Lamm's "History of Music" project details every song on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 list since 1960. Each colored rectangle in the visualization represents one song, and each column represents one year of the list, organized from the top of the graph to the bottom starting with the year's most popular song. The redder the rectangle is, the more times that word popped up in the song’s lyrics. Blue means it wasn't mentioned at all. You can see not only how often a word has appeared in pop music over the decades, but what percentage of each song was dedicated to that word.

Since "LOVE" has taken a dip in our music this century, we obviously need to have show more LOVE at every opportunity. Here are the lyrics of a noted song on the topic, circa 1967:

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can LEARN how to play the game
It's easy

Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can LEARN how to be you in time
It's easy

Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is LOVE
All you need is LOVE
All you need is LOVE, LOVE
LOVE is all you need

From the movie LOVE Actually.

The version by some British band, the name of which currently escapes me.

Make sure you send some LOVE to your fellow ABC Wednesday bloggers by visiting 3 or 5 (or more) of them.

LAST thing: sometimes, when you visit ABCW, the LINKS are slower to LOAD than the rest of the page. If necessary, reload.
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L is for Love Songs

Some noted philosopher once declared: "You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs. But I look around me and I see it isn't so. Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs. And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know, 'cause here I go again."

That sage, of course, was one Sir James Paul McCartney, who wrote the song with his late wife Linda. Sir Paul's previous group, the Beatles, wrote a lot of love songs. Lennon/McCartney composed a bunch they gave to others, and the pre-success Fab Four covered love songs that appear on Live at the BBC and Anthology 1.

Here are some Beatles' songs with Love (or Loving) in the title, with links to the songs:

Love Me Do (1962) - pretty simple, or even simplistic, but became a big hit (UK 4, US 1) eventually.
P.S. I Love You (1962) - sweet song which went to UK 4, US 10.
She Loves You (1963) - despite the "yeah, yeah, yeah", a rather sophisticated piece for its time, written in the third person. #1 on both sides of the pond.
All My Loving (1963) — breaks into an almost rockabilly bridge. US #45.
Can't Buy Me Love (1964) - the significance of this song is that when the Beatles had the Top 5 songs in the US, on April 4, 1964, this was #1. Topped the charts in the UK, too.
And I Love Her (1964) - a beautiful song from A Hard Day's Night, went US #12.
Words of Love (1964) a Buddy Holly cover from the Beatles for Sale album.
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (1965) - a sad song from the Help! soundtrack.
It's Only Love (1965) - album cut on Help! (UK), Rubber Soul (US).
Love You To (1966) - Revolver album cut, complete with sitar.
All You Need Is Love (1967) - now this IS a silly love song.
"There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy."
But I love it anyway, especially the She Loves You reprise. #1 on both sides of the pond.
Real Love (1995) - the completion of a 1979 John Lennon song that appears on Anthology 2 (UK 4, US 11).

The Cirque du Soleil soundtrack of Beatle mashups is appropriately titled LOVE. BTW, John Lennon's 72nd birthday would have been next week (October 9).

Now go show some LOVE to your fellow ABC Wednesday colleagues and visit!