Go back to the late ‘seventies and it’s interesting to review how the post-punk bands were wrestling with what to sing about when you sing about love. Here’s the Only Ones with the song from which this track takes its title.
“I want you to be around ‘til the summer comes along and I don’t mind having you around ‘til the summer comes along
Then you go and make that first mistake of trying to walk before you can even run
I wanna be by your side, it’s so cold on this side
I wanna tell ya about love, love that’s around today
We’re lovers of today, we ain’t got feelings, we’ve got no love, we ain’t got nothing to say
We’re lovers of today
If we ever touched it would disturb the calm, physical effort often causes mental harm
I don’t have the energy, you could say things get pretty tranquil with me
Maybe you can’t see but I love you baby - much more than me
When you know that’s all to know, maybe you’ll just come and see the show
We ain’t got feelings, we’ve got no love, we ain’t got nothing to say
We’re lovers of today”
Or when you don’t sing about love. Here’s the Gang of Four on ‘Love Like Anthrax’:
“Love comes up quite a lot and it's something to sing about cause most groups make most of their songs about falling in love or how happy they are to be in love
You occasionally wonder why these groups sing about this all the time
It's because there's something very special about it; either that or it's because everybody else sings about it, always has
To sing a song, you had to be inspired
I said to myself, "Nothing inspires quite like that" and these groups of singers think they appeal to everyone or they would have you believe that anyway
But these groups have something I don't wanna catch”
Love is universal and singing is universal. Young people sing more than old people so there are lots of songs about love - even today. Here are some songs about Love in the 2020s.
Tracklist:
Love theme, Mandy, Indiana
Undilated lovers, Snapped Ankles
Hellow I love u, Astro-B
You are every girl to me, M J Lenderman
Territorial call of the female, Bodega
Time for love, The Pink Tiles
Love, try not to let go, Julia Jacklin
The only place, Big Thief
Shotgun, Soccer Mommy
I love you, baby, Opus Kink
Future lover, Daughter
Love, Occult X
There’s so many people that want to be loved, Sorry