The month of February is a perfect time for a music blog about love songs. Heck, I don’t think there’d be a thing called music, especially pop music, without the sweet mystery of falling in love. Take a listen to some of your favorite songs, no matter what era you grew up in, and you’ll hear about a whole lotta love.
As I work on my book about music’s impact on our lives, I can already see that it will include a lengthy chapter on people’s stories of falling in love. As I think about how to write that chapter, I’ve been contemplating the memories from people who’ve shared their songs about love, and today I want to spotlight a couple of them. While the two contributors talk about music and their love differently, they get to its heart with one thing in common: The Beatles.
Lots of people have fallen in love while Beatles songs were playing, but only some of those couples stayed in love. Kevin Kovacs, for one. Kevin’s music memories and his appreciation for The Beatles also show up at other important times in his life, but for today’s blog, we’ll look at how their music—and one song in particular—gave him the chance with a woman he fell for a long long time ago.
“Shortly after meeting my wife Beth, 47 years ago,” Kevin remembers, “I played my beat up acoustic guitar and sang her a Beatles song.”
Back when The Beatles dominated the music scene, many boys thought of taking up guitar to catch a girl’s eye, but that’s not how it was for Kevin. “I took lessons beginning at age 9, before The Beatles came to America and before I had any interest in girls.” And Kevin didn’t choose the more popular Beatles songs, like “Love Me Do” or “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” to convince Beth of his love. He went with something more lasting…more promising. “In My Life.”
Imagine what Beth must have felt when she listened to Kevin strumming his guitar while singing these words:
But of all these friends and lovers
there’s no one compares with you…
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more
Kevin’s story of The Beatles’ influence ends with his appreciation for “In My Life.” “Beth later told me it sealed the deal.”
Now that’s a love story with staying power! The same goes for Mike Otis’ Beatles song and story, though his carries on even longer, after his wife had passed away. Though Mike’s story is brief, it says so much.
“After my wife Holly died, the relistening to ‘The Long and Winding Road’ helped me envision a day we might be reunited!”
As I normally do when I receive a person’s song and story, I took some time to listen to this Beatles classic, their last number one hit before heading off on four different roads. I was reminded of how that song, back when it was released, sounded like the end of a journey we fans we shared with The Beatles. But then I listened to the song as Mike does, as a way to keep connected to the love who’s no longer with him.
The long and winding road
that leads to your door
will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Leads me to your door…
Did The Beatles have any idea of the gift they gave us back when we first heard their songs, as Paul McCartney sang in “Winding Road,” “a long, long time ago”? Isn’t it amazing how, decades later, our beloved love songs still can stir our heart? What about you? Do you have a song and story about Falling In Love—whether it lasted for a day or a lifetime—to share? Let me know, so I can write the best chapter about the power of love to be found in music. Here’s the link.
