Mom frequently told me that she loved me. I don’t recall Dad saying it. If he told me, it was seldom. They both loved me; and while I loved them back, the feeling that I had was not the same for each. What was that? One word with so many meanings.
We even manage to say love to express approval of inanimate objects, “Oh, I love that pizza.” Or, as my young grandchild copied from his mother, disapproval: “I’m not lovin’ it!” He was too young for such a trendy (now trite) phrase, but he understood it.
If we considered all the meanings we have for the word and lined them up on our continuum of human emotions, the variety would defy any logic we use to keep saying it. Fortunately, context helps us out and we socially understand each other’s intent. We would need to invent too many new words to replace love. Someone once told me, “I love you, but I’m not in-love with you, if you know what I mean.” I understood and welcomed the explanation since the first three words could be concerning, but still not necessarily unwelcome.
Regarding romantic love, it is one of the most fantastic feelings we can experience. We can even see that love feeling in friends who have fallen into love, head over heels. More evidence for the wonderfulness of amour is that the love and lust emotions get us in so much hot water, but we seem to dive right in anyway. It’s such a good thing. Would we be human without it? Barring some interfering DSM IV, mental problem diagnosis, we all love someone, and usually many people. And each feeling of love will be different from person to person, but it’s still love.
All love makes this world a better place. We’ll never have too much love in the world, but we seem to have too little of it. We have faced that since the beginning of time – too little caring about each other.
Enjoy The Youngbloods as they sing one of my best-liked, hippy love songs from the 1960s: Get Together. I’ve provided the lyrics below, as well as links to two other love-tunes.
The Youngbloods – Get Together lyrics
Love is but a song to sing//Fear’s the way we die//You can make the mountains ring//Or make the angels cry//Though the bird is on the wing//And you may not know why.
Come on people now//Smile on your brother//Everybody get together//Try to love one another//Right now.
Some may come and some may go//We shall surely pass//When the one that left us here//Returns for us at last//We are but a moment’s sunlight//Fading in the grass.
Refrain//refrain//refrain
If you hear the song I sing//You will understand (listen!)//You hold the key to love and fear//All in your trembling hand//Just one key unlocks them both//It’s there at your command.
Refrain//refrain//refrain
Right now…
Right now….
Also, Haddaway’s is a more erotic and fun video of What is Love (click here); and Dionne Warwick finishes up with What the World Needs Now is Love (click here). None of these songs have many lyrics, but I love them anyway.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Remember, love is a two-way street.
So, mind the gaps and be sure to look both ways.
Our Literary Journey 
Haven’t heard that ‘Get Together’ song for some time. . . As one of our grandchildren would say, “I WUV it!”
We are presently digging out from over 60 cm. of snow here – isn’t that just LOVELY?? 😉
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I first heard the song “What the World Needs Now is Love” when I was in sixth grade. The principal played the song at the end of an assembly for the entire class and in my young 11-year-old mind I knew it was true. I still believe that, even when I’m told that love is passive and that resistance is the only way to be heard, I try to remain in a state of love for all humanity. One of the most loving gifts you can give another is to allow them to be heard and understood. Listening does not imply agreement, but it is the only way to find common ground.
The only argument I really enjoy is the “who loves who more” LOL. Yes indeed, we could all use more love, every kind of love!
A great post for Valentine’s day 🙂
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Thank you, Sue. Happy Valentine’s Day.
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Haddaway – What is Love… Surprised that made your list.
Here is my favorite love tune at the moment (lyrics below):
I love you Dad!
—————————-
Could You
TV On The Radio
Shut down, give up the fight (Slamming the door, been here before, where do we go?)
Stay drunk all night (Dan pours a good one, he keeps a seat open at the bar)
Might not work out alright (Boy letting go, leave it alone, leave it alone)
Look to love someone
Look to love somebody, name you never heard of
Just a high night on the bridge, the one you’re burning
Love walked out (Where did it go, can’t find my phone, all the way down)
Check the lost and found (You’re getting older, keep getting slow, all the way down)
Feeling underground (Too many texts now, just be the one now)
Could you love somebody?
Could you hold another’s care above your bright lights?
Could you open up your heart are too uptight?
Could you work to build something besides a wall?
Could you love somebody, anyone at all?
Lover won’t be undone (Sleep in their arms, living the poem, living the poem)
And it won’t be too long (All pills are gone, write a new song, write a new song)
You can feel it, come on (Breaking the bones, suck marrow down, suck marrow down)
It’s a heartbeat, bump-bump (Biting the bullet, breaking new ground, breaking new ground)
Alright, yeah it’s alright
Fuck the wasted world on empty
But it’s been done, yeah it’s alright
Bump the skipping record forward
Could you love somebody?
Could you strip the ego bare and let love take flight?
Could you open up your heart?
Could you love somebody?
Could you hold another’s care above your bright lights?
Could you open up your heart or you too uptight?
Could you work to build something besides a wall?
Could you love somebody, anyone at all?
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Hey there son, I love you too. Thanks for the comments and the mighty fine tune. ~ Dad
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Well I have to get in on this love fest….
Remind me to tell you in person my other love song story.
In the interim, my favorite love song story is when my husband sang Silly Love Songs to me on his knees. He ended up crying halfway through and just hugging me and telling me (for the first time) that he loved me. Now that’s so much love there…
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We’ll be listening, Casz.
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Love is a weird word. We’ve discussed this at length here at home. Love doesn’t seem like the right word sometimes, so we say “i love you” all the time and when it’s special, it comes with a specific compliment and when it can’t be defined it’s “I love you and stuff and whatever” which sounds casual, but beyond writing poetry, that’s what it is.
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My topic for Friday is poetry. 🙂 Jus’ sayin’.
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Go on with yer bad self 😉
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I “Love” this blog post. I have been thinking about the word a lot lately as I read a book written by my friend. The book, a 500+ page tome called, “Glue,” talks about his many encounters with love. I’ve found myself becoming excited, angry, defensive and more, even though the book doesn’t concern me. It concerns a topic intimate to us all, though. Love. Can the word be used by two people and mean the same thing?
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Interesting question that you posed.
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