Of all the genres of music, love songs seem to be the most prevalent. Singers like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Deon and Kenny Rogers have popularized this type of music and never seem to tire of expressing their feelings about romance, falling in love for the first time, falling in love for good or breaking up with someone they loved. Even rebellious punk rockers and rappers feel the need to address these topics in song and sometimes it seems as if there isn’t a singer alive who hasn’t experimented with the genre at some point in his or her career.
So just how far back can we trace love songs? When Pharoah Rameses wanted to tell a beautiful, bronze-skinned Egyptian lady that he found her desirable, did he have a court musician sing something that sounded like "Love Me Tender"? “In a way, he did,” says recording artist Robin Frederick. According to Frederick, 3500-year-old Egyptian love poems from pieces of papyrus and pottery fragments have been recovered that are filled with the language and sentiments we hear in today's pop songs. “Though they are thousands of years old,” she says, “the earliest love songs sound so contemporary, so honest, so urgent, they might have been written yesterday. They are proof that human emotions have not changed. When we fall in love today, we feel what men and women felt in centuries past: desire, joy, disappointment, yearning, fulfillment.”
Throughout history love songs have changed to suit the tenor of the times. For instance, in the Gay Nineties & Tin Pan Ally, songwriters, and particularly American popular songwriters, came into their own. It was an era of letting loose and innocent flirtation. Novelty love songs like "Jeepers, Creepers!" and "A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight" were wildly popular. The 1930’s and 40’s represented the golden age of American musical theater and saw love songs from Broadway shows written by the likes of Rodgers & Hart and Jerome Kern take off. The 1950’s was the decade of love songs from Frank Sinatra, while the 1960’s saw the rise of love songs targeted at teens. In the 1970’s the teens grew up. By the time Barry White charted with "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe" in 1974, love songs exhibited a sophisticated, sensual appreciation of romance sung from an adult perspective. Then came along disco and tastes changed again.
Today’s eclectic mix of love songs offers something for everyone. Whatever you’re going though on the romantic front, you’re sure to find a singer who expresses it in the style you like best.
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