Love songs bridge age, gender and nationality. “‘Greensleeves’ gained popularity as a melody used to solicit clients,” Gioia states, adding, “and the title possibly alludes to the grass stains on the attire of women who had sex with customers outdoors.” “Most of the lasting love songs are about heartbreak” Even “Greensleeves,” that staple for generations of youngsters learning the guitar, apparently originated as a song about prostitution. There are also, naturally, songs galore about sex and seduction (such as Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” and “Let’s Get It On”). There are songs about new love (a rich vein that everyone from Elvis Presley to Ed Sheeran has mined) songs for time-tested devotion (such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s duet on the Gershwin classic “Our Love Is Here To Stay”) break-up songs ( Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” sold seven million copies) songs of devotion (Whitney Houston’s version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” is one of the most popular tracks ever) and songs about making up and forgiveness ( Elton John’s “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word”). It has been estimated that more than 100 million love songs have been recorded, and the variety is staggering. Some 400 years later, 12th-century European troubadours spread their songs of longing, an early indication that pleasure and pain are natural bedfellows in a love song. In his 2015 book Love Songs: The Hidden History, Ted Gioia explained how love ballads emerged in the 8th-century tunes of medieval Arab female slaves in Spain. Their song “What Can You Say In A Love Song?” contained the lines Finding anything new to say about this many-splendored thing prompted an amusing song in Ira Gershwin, Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen’s 1934 Broadway musical Life Begins at 8:40.
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