Just before Valentine’s Day, ten local music figures talk about their favorite love songs.
Jack Andrews of Daguerreotype/Gum/Local Surfing
“It’s on an album called ‘Today!’, and it’s just got beautiful harmonies, and it’s really sweet. It has everything you’d want out of a love song. It’s a great pop song ... It’s not cheesy. That’s as simple as I can think to put it. It totally could be, but it’s not. They have so many love songs that are almost, like, offensively cheesy, but that one’s not. It’s very real.”
Hannah Groves of Local Surfing/Duck Trash
“It’s really shameless some of the lyrics are ‘Don’t fall in love with me, we only recently met/True, I’m in love with you, but you might decide I’m a nut/Give me a week or two to go absolutely cuckoo/Then when you see your error, then you can flee in terror.’ It’s basically just talking about lust with a really flaky person, which I identify with heavily. It’s a love song that’s expressing love but in a realistic way.”
Joseph Komari of Rese Tips/Ants
“The beginning is like, you catch a glance. That just happened to me recently...That song sort of captures the kind of love that happens instantly, super-fast, and then it’s gone ... I fall for people pretty instantly, and that just captures it... It has a harsh reality to it, which I really vibe with, because the older I get, the more I realize there’s no such thing as painless love.”
Nathan Kane of Whale Bones
“The lyrics sound like he’s in a dull monotonous state — ‘Today was fine/I woke up late like I always do.’... This seems to be very ordinary. He’s trying to describe how he’s come to love all the simple things that come with being married and having kids.”
Ben Wittkugel of Winspear Records
“It’s not really a love song, but it’s more of a relationship song. It shouldn’t work, but it’s pretty real. It’s a lot about real life things. It’s not very emotional or out there, but it’s about the little things, and that’s what counts.”
Brayton Arvin, doctor of music candidate and ”Così fan tutte” cast member
“Besides being a James Bond fan, the text of the song is very sweet and chill — perfect for a romantic evening dinner.”
Mathilda Edge of doctor of music candidate and “Così fan tutte” cast member
“I have always loved this song, but I especially fell in love with it when the movie ‘A Cinderella Story’ with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray came out when I was in high school, and there was a sweet scene where it was played on violin with them dressed as a prince and princess and dancing. I’m a sucker for a fairytale.”
Zachary Coates, doctor of music candidate and ”Così fan tutte” cast member
“The music is pristine and delicate, but it includes a repeating moment of dissonance between the voice and accompaniment that, to me, paints the intensity of a love so sweet it is almost painful. And the text is amazing. It ends with the line, ‘And my soul spread its wings, flying over the peaceful landscape as if it were flying home.’ If that doesn’t describe true love, I don’t know what does.”
Monika Herzig, jazz pianist
“Cole Porter is one of my all-time favorite composers. The melody is really haunting. In the movie “De-Lovely,” Porter sings it to his wife as she is passing away, so it’s really a kind of sad love song.”
Matt Shugert of Matt Shugert Quartet/JKS
“It’s a really beautiful ballad, and the lyrics are a little dramatic. You can apply the lyrics to specific situations. They’re cheesy but timeless.”
[The first 10 songs of the playlist below are love songs recommended by local musicians, the rest are staff picks from the IDS newsroom.]
