Like I said Thursday, contrary to popular belief, I do believe in love songs. But, I don't believe in the hackneyed. So, instead of waxing poetic on things romantic, I give you my favorites of the genre.
At No. 5 is a song we featured in a prior jukebox, "A Tu Lado" by Duncan Dhú.
Tied for fourth place are two songs from R.E.M., which I always thought were related in spirit. Where "Nightswimming" dealt with new love, tentative and wishful, "Leaving New York" was a last plea for a love well-known and almost-lost.
At #3 are The Pogues, who I talked about during the Holiday Jukebox. And just like "Fairytale of New York" was maybe the first Christmas song I really liked, "Tuesday Morning" was maybe the first love song that I truly enjoyed.
In second place is "Don't Change Your Plans," from Ben Folds Five, which breaks my heart every time I hear it, because of the way it weaves together its' protagonist's sense of loss with the simple reasons he loves and misses the girl he can't have -- not because of any falling-out, but because their lives are simply going in different directions.
And at the top, now and always, is a song I fell in love with the first time I heard it, in a sprawling outdoor stage in the heart of downtown San Diego: Woody Guthrie's "California Stars," as covered by Wilco. This is the one you'll hear at my funeral, for sure.
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