Love songs: celebrities tell us what makes their favorite songs special

Ebony, Feb, 1996

AS long as poets rhyme and set words to music, we will sing and cherish our favorite love songs. They are songs that celebrate a new or familiar love, while others remind us of our youth. Still others remind us of something that cannot be named or put into words and yet cannot be forgotten.

An informal survey of everyday people and public figures indicates that almost everyone has a favorite love song. Not surprisingly, the songs and the reasons for liking them varies by age and generation. Most members of the older generations listed well-remembered songs recorded by Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine, while younger Blacks cited recent Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston hits. But there were indications in both groups that love songs transcend age.

Many of our most special songs also remind us of someone or something special, and when we hear them we find ourselves transported to another time and place. That is what happens to Dexter Scott King, chairman and CEO of the Martin Luther King jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, whenever he hears Gerald Levert sing "I'd Give Anything." He says, "It reminds me of a period in my life when I was in love and the desire to experience or re-experience that feeling of throwing caution to the wind and feeling uninhibited--when you just allow yourself to go with the flow."

Fulton County, Ga., Sheriff Jackie Barrett also names "I'd Give Anything" and she says, "The song brings to mind a favorite memory of having someone care enough that he'd kill a mosquito if it bit me."

Quite often a certain song becomes our favorite because it evokes memories of a particularly romantic moment. Every time he hears "You Make Me Feel Brand New," comedian Bernie Mac remembers the night he proposed to his wife, Rhonda McCullough, more than 20 years ago. "When she said, `Yes,'" he recalls, "the next song coming off the album I was playing that night was the Stylistics' `You Make Me Feel Brand New,' and she really does to this day!"

Actress Michael Michelle, who plays Nikki Sheridan on the CBS television series Central Park West, says her favorite love song is Johnny Hartman's recording "For All We Know." When she hears it now she remembers an especially romantic date.

"I had a very special person over to my home for a meal that I was preparing and, as usual, I had my relaxing jazz music playing in the immediate back-ground," says Michelle. "Just as we sat down to eat and celebrate the holiday, this song came on and it could not have come at a more appropriate moment."

Sometimes a particular song simply makes us feel romantic. "[`Blue Velvet'] just struck such a romantic mood," says former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder of the Arthur Prysock recording. "His was the first rendition that I had heard of--I think it's a tremendous song."

Romantic feelings and memories are not the only reasons that we like some songs better than others. Some songs simply lift our spirits. Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney, D-Ga., says: "When Barry White sings `Practice What You Preach,' I just lose all control. His majestic voice, passion, and most of all, the message of that song, make me close my eyes and leave [Speaker of the House] Newt [Gingrich] and the budget behind."

Not only do love songs lift our spirits but they also take us back to our younger days. The Flamingos' version of "I Only Have Eyes For You" has been Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer's favorite since his youthful years in Cassopolis, Mich. "The lyrics are excellent," he says, "and the music is nice and slow."

Jaleel White, who portrays Steve Urkel on the TV sitcom Family Matters, names as his favorite "Secret Garden," the recording that's featured on Quincy Jones' 1989 album, Back On The Block, and includes vocalists Barry White and James Ingram.

On the show, Urkel can't get next to the girl of his dreams and suffers from a bad case of unrequited love. In White says "Secret Garden" became his favorite after his father bought the album. "In junior high school, I had a crush on a special young lady," says the 19-year-old UCLA sophomore. "Whenever I hear that song, it reminds me of that period."

Love songs, like the emotion itself, transcend generations, and very often our parents' and grandparents' favorites still stir the hearts of young lovers. A case in point is The Temptations' remake of "At Last," which appears on their For Lovers Only CD. Listeners experience the same Etta James-inspired goosebumps when they sing, "At last my love has come along/My lonely days are over/and life is like a song." This classic, along with thousands of others are among the many in our treasure chest of favorite love songs.