Do you know any songs that are about cleaning out the garage? How about doing taxes? Driving in traffic? Cooking dinner?
Probably not. Most songs are about — well, you know — love.
So this post is about one of my other loves (besides grammar and my kids) — music. I like all genres of music, particularly any song with a good melody and a good beat — maybe because I was a dancer. I am most fond of the music of the late 1950s and early-to-mid 1960s. That is when I started listening to the radio, even before my preteen years. I had a transistor radio that I received for my ninth birthday. It was next to my ear almost constantly — that is, when I wasn’t playing 45s or albums. I can remember exactly what my beige Motorola transistor radio looked like. I even looked on eBay to see if I could get one now. I found one on another site, but it wasn’t for sale.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to do a post about love songs. First, I wanted to see the differences in love songs from the 1960s and the 2000s. I would have guessed that more of the older songs would have the word love in the title.
I decided to compare the Billboard Hot 100 songs of 1960 with those of 2020. I was surprised to find out that six songs from the Top 100 from 1960 had love in the title, compared to five songs in 2020. Pretty close.
1960: Puppy Love, Cradle of Love, Love You So, I Love the Way You Love Me, Tell Laura I Love Her, When Will I Be Loved.
2020: Someone You Loved, Lose You to Love Me, Savage Love, ILY (I Love You Baby), Lovin’ On You.
I then wanted to see how many of the top songs had girls’ names in them:
1960: Cathy, Laura, Tracy, Sandy
2020: Only Roxanne
I then looked at the titles of songs from those two years to see how they had changed. Here is a selection from each year:
1960: Teen Angel, Sweet Nothin’s, Puppy Love, Pretty Blue Eyes, Mama, Stairway to Heaven, Heartaches by the Number, You Talk too Much
2020: WAP (ask your kids if you don’t know what this means), Ballin’, Good as Hell, Woah, Death Bed, We Paid, Godzilla, Hot, Emotionally Scarred, Suicidal, Juicy, Pussy Fairy
Yup, some differences there!
More LOVE music trivia:
- Since 2000, 365 Hot 100 songs had some form of the word love in the title.
- 66 Elvis songs included love in the title.
- 15 Dylan songs included love in the title.
- Although the Beatles had only about a dozen songs with love in the title, they used the word love 613 times in their songs.
- As of 2011, 1187 recorded songs had love in the title.
- It is estimated that more than 100 million love songs have been recorded.
- The top-ranking song of the 1960s decade with love in the title is Will You Love Me Tomorrow (sometimes known as “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” words by Gerry Goffin and music by Carole King, recorded by the Shirelles.)
Billboard’s Top five love songs with love in the title — of all time:
5. Silly Love Songs by Wings – 1976
4. We Found Love by Rhianna – 2011
3. How Deep Is Your Love by the Bee Gees – 1977
2. I’ll Make Love to You by Boyz II Men – 1994
1. Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie – 1981
However, according to many sources, the top love song of all time is I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, 1992
Love Makes the World Go Round was the first to come to mind.
I found the Everly Brothers’ version with the lyrics I remember. I’m older than you, Arlene, but they were one of my favorites as a teen.
The YouTube I found said it’s the theme from Carnival.
I sure wish love, not hate, made the word go round in the 21st century.
I like the Everly Brothers too. Love the ’50s and early ’60s music. But I don’t remember their version of Love Makes the World Go Round. I don’t know the theme from Carnival. Agree with your last sentence!!!