IN ANTICIPATION OF VALENTINE’S DAY, HERE’S MY LIST OF THE 10 GREATEST LOVE SONGS OF ALL TIME. I’LL POST A SONG EVERY DAY THROUGH VALENTINE’S DAY.
It’s the memorable song from what is arguably the greatest movie of them all.
And the man who wrote the score for the film, Max Steiner, didn’t even like the song.
From Encyclopedia.com:
“Playwrights Murray Burnett and Joan Alison had written the song into the play Everybody Comes to Rick's. What might strike some as surprising is how insistent everyone associated with the production--with the exception of Steiner--was that the song be used. Both Aljean Harmetz and Harlan Lebo chronicle Steiner's attempts to get the song removed and his arguments that he could write an original tune that was the equal if not the superior to the Herman Hupfield standard. In fact, there is an apocryphal story that Hal Wallis finally acceded to Steiner's request and was going to allow him to write a new song for the film. Unfortunately, Ingrid Bergman, who had just started shooting For Whom the Bell Tolls, had cut her hair, and it was agreed that it would be too much trouble--if not virtually impossible--to bring her back to reshoot scenes in which the song is mentioned. Both Lebo and Harmetz pretty much discredit this tale, however, by discussing how both Wallis and Warner insisted that the song be used.
The insistence that the song stay makes sense on a couple of grounds. First, the song, published in 1931, is really perfect for the film because of its evocation of the past; its reliance on minor harmonies, moreover, serves to communicate a sense of bittersweet longing and wistful nostalgia. Second, based on trends in popular music and theater during this time, a song with some nostalgia attached to it would most certainly be received warmly by movie audiences in 1943.”
The song, of course, is “As Time Goes By,” from Casablanca.
So there you have it, my top ten of the greatest love songs. I'm sure you have your own personal favorites, and I can assure you, I thought long and hard over which top ten belonged in my very own list. But if you take the ten tunes I've selected and put them all together in one compilation, you'd have to agree it's not too shabby.
Throw in some champagne and chocolates and you've got yourself a romantic setting.
Whatever your special song and for whatever reason, I hope it finds a way into your special time with that special someone.
I wish you the happiest Valentine's Day because after all................everyone needs to be in love.
TOP TEN LOVE SONGS
1) AS TIME GOES BY
2) UNFORGETTABLE
3) CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU
4) CRAZY
5) CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU
6) IT HAD TO BE YOU
7) CHANCES ARE
8) UNCHAINED MELODY
9) EMBRACEABLE YOU
10) THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
