On "Love Songs"

Most love songs make me want to barf. I remember once seeing an interview with Michael Stipe in which he explained why up til REM did Out of Time, he didn't write love songs. He claimed that they were manipulative, making people aspire to emotions which they didn't actually have - or worse actually think they felt them. Out of Time is the first place in which you see REM producing love songs, however they are a bit on the non-sequitur side, which is kind of why I like them. 

So speaking of segueways, the first in my list of favorite songs about, ah, matters of the heart, is Country Feedback (you thought I would pick Losing My Religion, didn't you. Ha.) Country Feedback is about the absolute psychotic and sad demise of what sounds to have been a fairly long term relationship. Lets say I've been there. Multiple times. But I'm feeling much better now. 

The second in my list is far more hopeful and positive. Thought I'd get the negative out of the way right away. This was one of my favorite songs when I was 14, and it is still one of my favorite songs. It's a very unusual odd song of love by Talking Heads called "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)." It features such great lines as "out of all those kinds of people, you've got a face with a view."

I realized that this next one was actually a love song when I saw Neil Young do it live. The link I have below is a 27 minute version, lots of guitar. The crux of it though is the chorus "...and with you, I fear no hidden path." That's powerful, and I would very much like to feel that way. You don't have to watch the whole thing. I mean, it's very very long. But if you enjoy Neil playing Old Black and didn't get to see him on this tour, then by all means, that's what the video is there for. T

And now another turn for the weird: One of my favorite songwriters of all time is Robyn Hitchcock. He can be alternately funny and heartbreakingly serious. He has several songs that fit into this category that I find to be particularly awesome, however since I already got the depressing out of the way, I'm settling on Satellite, which includes the line, "I'm into you so far, I'm out the other side." Love it. 

There are probably more... but I suddenly feel the need to listen to some Ministry to cleanse my palate.