A Gaggle of Love Songs
Happy Valentine's Day. Here are a half dozen absolutely great love songs that most people probably don't know -- unless they wander around these pages where I've poste the songs.
This first is a gorgeous ballad from the musical Fiorello! written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock.
Next, here's one of the best love songs of the many written by the great Steve Goodman, which is saying a whole lot.
For a change of pace, this is a song that singer-songwriter Tom Paxton describes as "the only true love song." It's his "Not Tonight, Marie.
What I've loved about this song, "Love is the Reason," from the musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is its utter charm mixed with whimsy. It's performed by Shirley Booth, and written by Dorothy Fields and Arthur Schwartz.
Okay, we have two more to go. This may be one of the most utterly joyous performances of a love song I know. It's Louis Armstrong with "Be My Life's Companion." I especially love his little ad-lib at the 2:25 mark.
Finally, we end this gaggle with what might be top competitor with "When Did I Fall in Love?", the completely gorgeous "I Know Now" from the British musical Robert and Elizabeth, about the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. It's written by Ronald Millar and Ron Grainer. We fortunately have a video of the two original stars, Keith Michell and opera singer June Bronhill recreating the number for television.
I should add as a final note, that several years back, I sent a copy of this song to Sheldon Harnick, who knew a thing or two about writing love songs. In fact, you'll recall that he wrote the lyrics to "When Did I Fall in Love?", which began this gaggle. I'd posted the two songs together and alone that year, and didn't know if he had ever heard it. He hadn't, and wrote back to giving his full approval, saying that, yes, that is a wonderful love song.
And so it is. And so they both were. And so they all here are.
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