Sunday, May 16, 2010

Video Sunday: Great Literary Love Songs

I love books, music, and romance, so here's a fun little video playlist of songs that celebrate all three things. And I'm always looking for more (or any song with "Book" in the title, really), so if you have one to suggest, please leave it in the comments.

Great doo-wop fun: "Who Wrote the Book of Love?" by the Monotones, performed here by Sha Na Na.

The first literary love song I ever knew, thanks to the "When Harry Met Sally . . ." soundtrack: "I Could Write a Book," music by Richard Rogers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, performed here by Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak in the film of the musical in which it first appeared, "Pal Joey":



"Everyday I Write the Book," by Elvis Costello (thanks to my friend Ben for introducing me to this one):



I'm including this video because it seems like the result of a lot of teenage daydreaming about love as it's presented in books. . . . It's exactly the fantasy I would have had at age 15, after swooning over "Romeo and Juliet" in Honors English I and watching the Keira Knightley "Pride and Prejudice" two hundred times. And I'm also including it because, ah hell, I love this video now: "Love Story" by Taylor Swift:



But a much better and more honest song about love, and one of my all-time favorite songs, period, is "The Book of Love" by the Magnetic Fields, performed gorgeously here by Nataly Dawn:



And finally, to finish on a fun note, "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors," by Moxy Fruvous:

11 comments:

  1. These were all fantastic, but my favorite would have to be Taylor Swift. Probably because I write YA and it feels so magical. Thanks for this Cheryl.

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  2. But Frank will always be #1, especially because my hubby sang, "The Way You Look Tonight" at our wedding :)

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  3. I think Taylor Swift has a usb link to the 16 year old that still lives inside of me.

    I always liked this book song, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paD_lC52dFc&feature=related

    Complete with muppet!

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  4. Thanks for the fun topic. Here's my addition: "The Book of My Life" by Sting.

    A beautiful song.

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  5. "You're My Favorite Book" is a great song by the band Stars.

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  6. What a great blog topic. Fun to find your blog. I'm retweeting your link on Twitter.

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  7. My favorite "book" song is "Close as Pages in a Book" from the now forgotten Up in Central Park. Couldn't find anything on youtube that included lyrics. You can hear a tiny bit here:

    http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,193626-12382648,00.html

    I love Barbara Cook, but her version is a little droopy. I like Bing Crosby's better. Tiny bit here:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Close-As-Pages-Book/dp/B001GM2EZU

    There's another fantastic song from this musical called "The Fireman's Bride," which I can't find anywhere, not even lyrics, which are wonderfully witty. Proof that you cannot find everything you're looking for on the internet.

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  8. Books, Music, and Romance? This blog entry has my name all over it.

    Here's one more for your setlist, Cheryl. In other circles, I am known as a Bruce Springsteen fanatic. (It's a good life.)

    Here's a beautiful Bruce song I hope you'll enjoy adding to your Literary Love Song List: BOOK OF DREAMS (Bruce Springsteen.) It's a song from his his 1992 CD, LUCKY TOWN.

    First up, a live peformance clip:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpVduSOxvLg

    The official cut from the album:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9peHAPdP-k&feature=player_embedded

    And the lyrics, because I am the completist when it comes to all things Bruce:

    BOOK OF DREAMS (B. Springsteen)

    I'm standing in the backyard
    Listening to the party Inside
    Tonight I'm drinkin' in the forgiveness
    This life provides
    The scars we carry remain but the pain slips away it seems
    Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

    I'm watchin' you through the window
    With your girlfriends from back home
    You're showin' off your dress
    There's laughter and a toast
    From your daddy to the prettiest bride he's ever seen
    Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

    In the darkness my fingers slip across your skin
    I feel your sweet reply
    The room fades away and suddenly I'm way up high
    Just holdin' you to me
    As through the window the moonlight streams
    Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

    Now the ritual begins
    'Neath the wedding garland we meet as strangers
    The dance floor is alive with beauty
    Mystery and danger
    We dance out 'neath the stars' ancient light into the darkening trees
    Oh won't you baby be in my book of dreams

    Love musicians who write about writing. The grass is always greener on the other side of the page.


    p.s. Does Bruce Springsteen's DANCING IN THE DARK count? It includes one of my, ahem, favorite author-centric lines of all time:
    "I'm dying for some action
    I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book"

    Um. Yes. I can relate.

    Oh. One More Thing:
    See also this website: A CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND at

    http://consequenceofsound.net/2009/10/18/list-em-carefully-top-10-songs-about-writing/

    for a lovely list of "Songs About Writing." Some selections you know about as per your blog; most of the songs are new to my ears. I hope the songs ring true to those of us who love and live to write.

    -Pamela Ross

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  9. Cheryl, I sure hope you get this. I'm a little late seeing this post. Have you ever heard of the song "Hand of Sorrow" by Within Temptation?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ttYwm7GEA

    The really cool thing about this song is that they wrote it based on "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb. A book based song!!!

    http://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Apprentice-Farseer-Trilogy-Book/dp/055357339X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274710431&sr=1-1

    Hope you enjoy the music video.
    WandaV

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  10. "Book of Love" by Dar Williams is beautiful.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt0hX6YsDL0

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