Don’t forget DC Talk’s song “love is a verb”

Funny… just a couple of weeks ago I framed a sermon on John 13.31-35 (Jesus new commandment) around Tina Turner’s “What’s love got to do… go to do with it.”  Now everyone wants me to sing it at karaoke—and I don’t sing (not even in the shower).  Lenny Kravitz also has a song on love, “Love Revolution”

Tom:

Ironically was listening to U-2 Rattle and Hum the other day and was thinking of asking you to analyze, “God Part II” in which Bono sings, “I believe in love”. It seems full of irony, metaphor and symbolism, but what is the songwriter really saying about love? Oh, you forgot to include Nazareth’s ” Love Hurts” in your list.

Great subject! I do enjoy U2 but my favorite arists are the The Alarm. They have quite a few “love” songs but let me share just a few…
“Love Don’t Come Easy” which has several grat lines including:
Love can make the time move quick
Or torture time so slow
Love can heal a gaping wound
Or make the pain explode
Love can be the difference
Between life and the hangmans rope

“Blazy of Glory” has the lyric:
I’m fighting back with feeling,
I’m fighting back with love.

And maybe my favorite is from the song “Only Love Can Set me Free”:
Only love can give me an answer
Oh I know that love can heal
From the dust a new hope rises up
Only love can set me, set me free…

Fun topic.

Well, let’s at least do the boys justice by including their song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j82al7MjtQ

There’s also “I’ve looked at love from both sides now,” which phrase slipped into a paper I presented on the respective contributions of scripture and science to our understanding of love.

After reading The Nature of Love and Defining Love (Not quite finished) in the context of some things in my life I realized that when people talk about love there are many things which they mean. We just seem to assume that others know what we mean by “love” when we use it. Mick Jones asks the right question when he pens, “I want to know what love is.”  How do we best define “love” so that we know what the other is talking about?

In response to your message I would like to express my opinion of Love.  You will never be able to find love any where in this world except through the Word of God.  Everyone is looking for love and in all the wrong places.  You are looking for some thing to fill you in the inside and it can only come through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Then and only then will you truly be able to find the real love that your soul longs for.Except Christ as your Saviour and read the Word, apply it to your life and you will see that the true love of God is the answer to ALL your problems.

I agree! -music and lyrics are powerful tools that shape our understandings.  The songs we learn are more important than we realize.  The words we sing about love, and other topics, create images in our minds that are the foundation of our understanding.  It is important that we examine the songs we sing in church (hymns, choruses, and children’s songs) to make sure that our ‘lyrical theology’ matches our spoken and written theology.

To be completely honest, I think that the whole world is in love with love- to the point where the word “love” is overused, and the mass majority of people do not even truly know what it means to love. To love as a verb, and not just an expression of caring or appreciation is something that I feel the majority of people have lost sight of. Love is like religion, people make it into what they want it to be.

There are so many songs with lyrics about love.  It is easy to be confused with the true meaning of it.  I agree with Stacie though, love can be whatever you want it to be today.  It would be interesting to attempt to find the true meaning of love using lyrics.

After reading The Nature of Love, I have been thinking of the crazy ways in which our world defines love. It is a far cry from the biblical concept that you highlighted in your definition!  Needed some humerous reading tonight, so thanks for this post!

I liked this idea of love songs. It is a good way to express things to others in how you feel. You hit a lot of good songs, I think the most popular Christian song is, “Jesus loves me.” When ever you feel down you can sing this song and it will lift you up. To know that Jesus loves you no matter what you have done. It is telling us that the Bible tells us of His love.
Though there are several love songs that were not mentioned but I just felt more inspired to write about the most popular song, “Jesus loves me.”

“Defining love and expressing love go hand in hand, although we don’t have to define love perfectly to express love well.”

I liked what you said and agree that defining love and expressing love go hand in hand.  Music helps me get through the day, whether it be good or bad.  Something about the lyrics and the sound of a song moves me to feel in different ways.  I do agree with you that we have to keep practicing love in order to grow and love more consistently.

I think that song lyrics represent the current culture of the time.  It also represents song writer’s opinions of their topics.  When a writer is happy with love they write love songs that are upbeat and cheerful.  On the other hand, when they are experiencing problems in love, they write words of disparity on the subject of love.  Songs and words can inspire love.  We see this when couples get married and play songs of love during their ceremony.  Most couples have specific songs that they feel is “their song” for love.  We also see music and lyrics inspire in religious gatherings.  Songs can bind people together in a common cause for love.  Music and lyrics play an important part; it shapes our views of the world we live in.

I think the lyrics in music often give people words to describe what they are feeling when maybe they themselves don’t have the words to express it.  Love songs are pretty powerful in this way!  Music it self is an expression and I think it motivates and inspires people to live and enjoy their lives.  I have always felt music gets inside me and understands me in some ways.  I can hear a certain song and go wow that is exactly how I feel or I never thought of it that way!  I grew up listening to what I feel were the most amazing love songs.  The lyrics in love songs and other music can express who we are even when we don’t realize it.  Music can be what ever you want it to be and I think that is what makes it so powerful.

I think that love songs are a great way to help us define love.  People sing about love in dozens of different ways, each way explaining what they may think of love.  Some songs are about romance, some about sex, some about Gods love, and the list goes on.  By listening to these songs we may be able to grasp a better understanding of what love means to a variety of different people.

I believe that lyrics express love in different ways as you have suggested. They each have a different take on love. Some say “love stinks” others say “what is love” or “all you need is love”. Then there is the difference of love romantically or love toward’s God. I believe love goes through all of these stages. Sometimes you dont know what it is then you think love is the answer whether it be from a romantic relationship or with God. I feel that song’s express the way many feel at different moments in time.

It amazes me that there are millions of songs out on the radio that some how directly or indirectly relate to the theme of love.  When I think about all the artists that compose these love-themed songs I wonder if they really do mean it and if they put their own words into action.  It is also interesting to see how many people can be affected, either by mood or action, by anothers love lyrics. Furthermore, one question I think about is: can it be possible to have “one love, one world and to get together and feel alright?”

Song lyrics amaze me sometimes! I find it hard to believe that if people really thought about lyric’s meaning that they would continue to enjoy a good portion of popular songs. However, I am a sucker for a song about love. I think that love is a universal human experience and thus is so easily relatable to when it is the subject of a song. I rarely have strong opinions on music but I do hope that mainstream music and Christian music alike can inspire me to love better and more authentically.

As many others have stated, it is amazing how many songs have or refer to love in the lyrics. Love is a mystery to the world, we refer to love in many situations, but do not truly understand or grasp its meaning.  Perhaps the mystery of love drives song writers to express how they feel about love, or what love can do for the world. Love is also a common ground for everyone. Everyone in some form or another has experienced love. Song writers may choose to write love songs because they know it will appeal to the majority of people. I agree music is such a huge part of our lives and I think I should take a minute next time I am listening to a song about love and see what the song writer is implying about love, who knows I could learn something new about love.

The best part about songs that involve love (and sadness, and hope, and any strong human emotion or experience) is that the song writers intended the words for a certain purpose relating to their lives, yet as listeners, we can take what we hear and let it affect us differently from its intention. There are plenty of famous “love-songs” that I have heard, but have not struck any chords in me like they have in others. I think that this ability for music to help express the feelings, emotions, and experiences of the writers is mysterious, and I agree that it would be interesting to see what would happen if our global definition of love improved—how much better would our songs express love?

The phrase, “I wanna know what love is,” reminds me that God is love; if a man knows God, he know what love is. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Jesus came so we would know Him and His Father. I am afraid that I do not know God as I ought to. I know a lot about God, but do I know God? If yes, then how much? How much time do I spend in conversation with Him? Do I love this world? “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). Am I in unity with Jesus? Everybody has to ask these questions because it is not knowledge about love, but knowing love (Jesus) saves people from eternal damnation in hell.

I think that the vast amount of love lyrics out there in the music world help demonstrate the need we all have to love and be loved.  It is as if everyone is trying to find love somewhere, but often they have a skewed version of love and then end up with lyrics about heartbreak or love that has faded.  It makes me wonder: if people had a better grasp of what love really is, would there be fewer, but maybe more meaningful, songs about love?

Everyone has a view of love. Some are more accurate than others, but they are all based on the individual’s experience. This is very obvious anytime you turn on the radio and can be quite surprising if you take the time to really listen to the lyrics. It’s far too easy to just hum along with a catchy tune and miss what’s actually being said, which I think is true with any discussion about Love. Most of us can recognize an inappropriate view of what love is, but might not be able to articulate why it is not accurate because we have not spent enough time figuring out what Love IS.

Just as many people have many different ideas about love, many song writers/singers have different ideas about what love should look like.  It is both fortunate and unfortunate that these individual’s have helped to shape other’s perception of this important concept.  It is interesting how often that this thought of love is used in music and the pop culture throughout the generations.  I think it is obviously something important to define since from generations of the Beatles, U2 and then Black Eyed Peas are still singing about it.

I love that you chose to address song lyrics. I connect with music very easily so when an artist sings about the power of love it is very easy for me to sing along having felt the effects of love in different forms. Songs like “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” have put notions about love in my head since I was a child, but that kind of love is different than the love we have for God. I love that songs can encompass so many aspects of love such as euphoria and pain, and everyone expresses it the way they feel. There are so many songs about love that no matter one’s situation, there is a song relevant to what they are feeling.

In the words of Maya Angelou “Music was can be a refuge where one can crawl into the space between the notes and curl one’s back to loneliness”. Music can inspire, console, and even lighten up an individual’s day. Regardless of the genera notes can transmit an infinite amount of feelings and thoughts on everyday life situations. Songs such as “my heart will go on” sound cheesy yet it has the ability to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Through music, one can ultimately express feelings in a beautiful and creative way.

99.9% of the time lyrics in songs are about love.  Why, because it is such a popular subject that we love it, hate it, and it is frustrating at times.  Without the struggles of love, there would be no music industry essentially.  The phrase “I wanna know what love is and I want you to show it to me” is the greatest mystery to love.  And because it’s such a mystery, we yearn for it every day from our family, friends, and God.  Also music is a great way to express our feelings about love.  For example, heavy metal and hard rock and roll might be you expressing your feelings of frustration with love.  As long as we have love, we have music.

I think that love lyrics give people who have trouble expressing their emotions in written or spoken word, a chance to do so. I am preparing for my wedding in June/July, and in the process, songs will play and I will add them to our ever-increasing playlist. I made a CD for my parents’ 25th Anniversary that is entitled “Love”. In some ways, I think music is the perfect medium in which to present love-or the hatred of. Music is in and of itself a discovery; you go up an octave, you drop to a minor chord, you add guitar solos here and there. It is an ever-changing, ever evolving area of our society-it also is the most known. Perfect, in my opinion to communicate love over the airwaves.

I do not remember any songs that is not related to any forms of love.  and we ourselves are surrounded by and act upon some types of love.  the lyrics “I wanna know what love is” made me think what really love is.  and it surprised me how love can mean in different ways to different people and there’s no “right” definition of love.

When I think about love, lyrics, and music, I think about a very dear friend of mine whose perspective was one that I have taken on myself. He used to say that the way people view music is the same way they view people. When you hash this out, it’s so very true. If you like to listen to music for its lyrics, and listen to the words, more than likely this is the same way you will view people. You will not view people as surface value, but look deeper, and really listen to them. I wonder what would happen if people spent the same amount of time listening to others as they did listening to music. Increased irritation or increased compassion?

I feel like love songs are great expression of love and even though some might not view their meaning of love as correct, i believe that in some situations almost all of them are true. I think that song and art is one of humans best way of expressing love. If our class room of similar minded people can not come up with a solid definition of love I think that maybe we have to let the definition be undefined.

I think it is interesting how the love songs of our culture express so many different views to love. Like you said, some are negative and some are positive. It is hard to distinguish a definition of love when there are so many accepted view thrown out there. The songs you talk about above cover love in general but then there are songs that express topics within “love.” There are so many songs about affairs and promiscuity. These current definitions being thrown around may be giving the culture, now, the wrong idea.

My favorite song with love lyrics is the Hewey Lewis song “Power of Love”. While I mostly enjoy this song for the musical content, the lyrics are alright too. As mentioned above, it makes a good statement about the power of love being able to save your life, eventhough it might make you mad or sad. I feel, however, we should be careful how much we equate love song lyrics to studying love. The main reason for this being because the original intentions and meaning ascribed to the lyrics by the song writer might not be something we should assoicate love with in our context of study.

It is not surprising that many songs have lyrics that dwell on love. Love is a universal thing; people either have love, and enjoy the love that they give/receive, or they are seeking love. Either way, songs about love are able to connect at a deep level with a large number of people.

I think love lyrics can have a bigger impact on us than we ever realize. Listening to loves songs over and over again drills into our minds just what exactly we think love should look like. And when love doesn’t look like the love in a song we are disappointed. In the same way when songs call love pointless and worthless we begin to come to the same conclusion. Now granted most of us do not base our theology of love on the lyrics of a song we heard on the way to work, but they do affect us. They effect the value we place on love and teach us what is acceptable and what isn’t.

It is sort of funny how many songs there are in our world about love, what it means, what it does and how if affects the lives of people. I think it makes sense though, love is to most people one of the main themes of life. Those who have not experienced love in some form are few and far in between. If so many people experience love, naturally people can relate to songs that express it. Also love seems be a very impacting aspect of life that can change the way people view the world. We seem to focus in on it because it affects all of us, usually deeply.

I love discussing love songs with people, one simple song can have a different meaning and impact to each individual person. The way a person interprets a love song is definitely impacted by how they define love.
Love songs are so powerful. Hearing certain songs and lyrics can trigger memories and emotions. Couples choose a song, that is “their song,” and in a way that song defines their relationship.

I enjoy listing to good love songs, I think most everybody does.  People sing about what is most important to them and the need for love is often what is most important.  I think in our culture, people have a hard time finding true love because they look in the wrong places.  Culture suggests that sex, in any context, is equal to love. People who look only to sex then realize that that their need for love is not fulfilled.

Love in pop culture is really a fantastic thing. It uses so many feelings in just a short lyric. What else in this world opens our eyes and makes us realize what is happening? There have been so many times “Boyz II Men” reminds me of the days when a simple hello from the cute boy was what made me happy. Then there is the feeling I get when my husband and my wedding song plays that I get amazing feelings of love. Its not always just in the lyrics but what they represent. I really liked thay about this blog entry!

I have always really enjoyed listening to music and I think it is because no matter what stages of love (or lust) you are going through, there is a song that goes along with it.  Different people view and go through love differently so there are of course different expressions of love from different artists.  I think that it is such a main topic in songs because it is something we all go through.  We love our family, our friends, and our significant others.  There are positive and negative songs about love.  I think it helps people relate to others knowing someone else has been through this same situation.  There are songs that show love towards God.  It helps to strength relationships between Him and us, his children which helps love channel through us.

I think an essay based around lyrics would be extremely interesting. What would also be interesting is to interview the bands and find out the reasoning behind the lyrics. Try and get a feel for the motives and goals the band had when they were making the song. I would think in most cases the singers would see love in the view of romance, but at the same token I bet we could hear some surprising responses from a few of the band members. By knowing the bands intentions we could see their view of love and even more broaden our knowledge of what love should look like.

Music can be so insightful! Artists describe love in their songs in ways that I would have never thought about. I looked at my iTunes after reading this and my top 3 most played songs were “Two is better than one"by Boys like Girls “Love Story"by Taylor Swift and “Comfortable” by John Mayer. It was interesting to realize that the music I listen to has a “love” focus, both explicitly and implicitly. The music I listen to forms my perceptions of “the perfect relationship” or “the best love story” more than I realized.

As much as I can often enjoy or relate to songs about love often I feel they can produce a view of love that is unhealthy or unantanable.  I would agree with Jill in that we are effected by music and movies in a way that can drive us to believe unrealistic things. 

However on the positive there are some good love lyrics out there and I do believe that the recording artists or the song writers most likely wrote the lyrics in response to a particular life situation.  It is their human response to the world, and they have been kind enough to include us and hopefully relate with us on a tangible level.

The best song to explain why we need love is, Love Is All Around by Joan Jett

Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day
and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?

Well, it’s you girl and you should know it
with each glance and every little movement you show it

Love is all around, no need to fake it
You can have the town, why don’t you take it?
You’re gonna make it after all

How will you make it on your own?
this world is awfully big
and all this time you’re all alone

well it’s time you started livin’
its time you let someone else do some giving

love is all around, no need to fake it
you can have the town, why don’t you take it?
you’re gonna make it afterall
you’re gonna make it afterall

For me, music is a great way to express one’s feelings.  Unfortunately I am not musically gifted enough to make/write my own to express my feelings.  So instead I listen to music which aligns with my feelings.  I find that the songs which hit me the hardest are the ones which, lyrically, are most relevant to my current feelings/emotional state.