History Main / SillyLoveSongs

* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' once replaced Larry's silly songs with "Love Songs by Mr. Lunt." It ended up being a song about how much Mr. Lunt wanted a cheeseburger, and his being tempted to have breakfast at Denny's rather than staying faithful to "his cheeseburger!"

Some performers write {{Anti Love Song}}s because they want to try something different. They never stop the deluge of Silly Love Songs that fill the airwaves. And what's wrong with that? (A lack of variety, of course, but [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]] all the time.)

This trope name was first coined by Music/JohnLennon, who criticized [=Paul McCartney=] for always writing Silly Love Songs. [=McCartney=] in turn wrote the song he gave the title to as [[TropesAreTools a rebuttal]].

* Played with by Australian comic, Music/TimMinchin, at the 2008 Secret Policeman's Ball, where he sang a song that began by extolling the virtues of his lover, but then got to the chorus which went: "If I didn't have you … then I'd probably have somebody else..." Still played fairly straight, as the song says that although he might have somebody else without her, he does have her, and that's special. Also subverted by Tim Minchin (several times) with ''Inflatable You''; a loving ode to an inflatable doll. And ''You Grew on Me'', which compares his love to his partner as quickly worsening diseases. And more. Tim seems to like his messed up love songs.
* The Gershwin song "[[BlahBlahBlah Blah, Blah, Blah]]."
* Music/PaulMcCartney's song "Silly Love Songs", as quoted above. It's technically by Music/{{Wings}}, but the misattribution is [[IAmTheBand not exactly wrong]].
* Similar to [=McCartney=]'s lampshading of this trope, Music/PaulWilliams' "An Old Fashioned Love Song", as well as Three Dog Night's cover:

** It isn't ''that'' silly-- unless you watch him [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qjtj9lliXU singing it]] [[Series/TheMuppetShow with a trio of Muppet clones of himself.]]
** There's also a few levels of this trope working, as the song's about an ''actual'' love song playing on the radio as well as being a love song itself (since listening to the love song on the radio prompts the singer to muse about his own romance).
* Most Broadway musicals include at least one Silly Love Song; ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'' has one titled "The Song That Goes Like This", which explains how every Broadway musical contains at least one Silly Love Song.
* Probably one of the reasons why [[Music/TheCure Robert Smith]] [[CreatorBacklash hates]] [[DaysOfTheWeekSong "Friday I'm in Love"]]. Even their most straightforward love songs like "The Love Cats" aren't that simple.
* Don Johnson's "Heartbeat", while faring better than many actors-turned-singer albums, has been thoroughly roasted by the likes of ''Website/TheAgonyBooth'' and legitimate music critics. Don sings well, but his lyricism and stage performance could've used a bit more polish.
-->'''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Miles Antwiler]]''': You can’t help but chuckle at the repetitive nature of Don’s songs. After all, we are “looking for a heartbeat”, but we also learn “the last sound love makes is a heartbreak” and also “when looking for love, it is a heartache away”. It is like filling out a [=MadLibs=] but replacing all nouns with either “love”, “heartache” or “heartbreak”.
* FM Static's song "My First Stereo". A line in the chorus goes "My first love was my first stereo." Yes, it's true.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''
** The experiment ''Film/OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank'' has "Loving Lovers Love", sung by Pearl and Observer.
** Another episode has "Gypsy Moon" (as in the film of same name), making use of nearly every word that rhymes with 'moon'.
* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' once replaced Larry's silly songs with "Love Songs by Mr. Lunt". It ended up being a song about how much Mr. Lunt wanted a cheeseburger, and his being tempted to have breakfast at Denny's rather than staying faithful to "his cheeseburger!"

-->Pizza Angel, please come to me \\
Tomato sauce and cheese so gooey \\
Pizza Angel I'm on my knees \\
You'll live forever in my me-e-emorieeees

** "Mix Tape" and "Fantasies Come True" are more traditional, but ''Theatre/AvenueQ'' parodies love songs in [[SlapSlapKiss "The More You Ruv Someone"]].
* Subverted by Sara Bareilles with "Love Song". The story goes that her producer told her that she was doing pretty well as an up-and-coming artist, but she still needed a big hit. "You need to write me a love song", said the producer. Sara, not liking this idea, decided instead to write a song ''about how she's not gonna write him a love song''. And now it's her SignatureSong. And now it's probably [[EarWorm stuck in your head]].
* The Beautiful South's "One Last Love Song" is about these.

** The Beautiful South also wrote "Song For Whoever", which subverts the trope; the musician is writing songs to keep him in money ("I love the PRS cheques that you bring") based on whoever his latest girlfriend is - whose name he has conveniently forgotten.

* "Title of the Song" by Da Vinci's Notebook is a meta "love song". The songwriter started out intending to write a parody of a BoyBand song, and ended up parodying ALL boy band songs. Ever.
* Older/ Deader than you think: back in the 1800s Creator/AmbroseBierce commented:

and use too oft a big, big ----

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg My Lovely Horse]]" from ''Series/FatherTed'', a very silly appreciation of a horse created in-universe by Ted and Dougal, and as a real b-side by Music/TheDivineComedy.
** "Songs of Love" by The Divine Comedy (part of which, incidentally, was used as the theme for ''Father Ted''), is about a boy who sits in his room writing love songs while his peers are out chasing girls.
* Mildly parodied in Music/TheTurtles' "Elenore", which randomly juxtaposes straight Silly Love Song material with parental opposition and IntercourseWithYou themes, and includes the famous lines:

You're my pride and joy, ''et cetera''
** WordOfGod says that "Elenore" was written as a TakeThat against the ExecutiveMeddling of their record company, who wanted them to make more commercial hits like "Happy Together", when they wanted to move on to more progressive music and concept albums like ''Battle Of The Bands''. [[SpringtimeForHitler So they deliberately wrote]] [[StealthParody the most banal bubblegum pop song they could]], but it [[MisaimedFandom still was a big hit and a signature Turtles song]].
* Noah and the Whale had a little hit among indie-folk fans with the song "Five Years' Time". Why it's silly?
-->"I no longer feel I have to be James Dean..."
* Subverted and quite possibly {{deconstruct|ion}}ed by, of all people, Music/TaylorSwift with the song "Fifteen". A freshman girl in {{high school}} meets a boy that she feels is her true love, and she's already planning to marry him... and then he dumps her for another girl, breaking her heart. The song was based on the experience of Taylor's longtime friend Abigail Anderson, who is mentioned by name in the song and appears in the video.

You're from outer space

** If we're talking Buble, we have a whole plethora: "The Best is Yet to Come", "I've Got The World on a String", "Crazy Love", "All I Do is Dream of You", "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)", "How Sweet It Is", and "Moondance", just to name a few. Although all of those songs are covers.
* The tribute album ''IMissBuffyTheVampireSlayer'' ([[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer three guesses what it's a tribute to, and the first two don't count]]) is pretty silly overall, so its love song, "Kinda Wish D'Hoffryn Was My Boyfriend" is ''exceptionally'' silly.

* A common subject of parodies by Music/{{Weird Al|Yankovic}}, both specifically (e.g., "Addicted to Spuds" of "Addicted to Love") and generally (e.g., "I Was Only Kidding" and "You Make Me"). Some are silly love songs in their own right (''very'' silly love songs), while others are actually about a StalkerWithACrush or outright hatred for the other party.

* The Suicide Machines' "Sometimes I Don't Mind" gently parodies these: the first verse and the chorus both sound like a generic love song, which makes the second verse seem a little weird ("You lick my hands then I get a rash, but that's okay"), but in the third verse it becomes obvious that it's been about a ''pet dog'' the whole time ("You won't lay down, you'll hardly sit / I give you a bath when you smell like shit, but you don't mind..."). The joke is made more obvious by the music video, which follows the antics of a fursuited human behaving like a real dog.

* The Dutch group Jazzpolitie has the song ''Liefdesliedjes'' (''Love Songs'') in which they {{lampshade|Hanging}} most love song cliches. But the [[HypocriticalHumor refrain is still]]: "There's only one way to tell you [what I feel for you]... Love Songs... You should hear them..."

* Chériefm, a French radio station, offering in its site , several webradio speciliazed in various musical genres dont chérie love song ( its slogan "la webradio de l'amour" in english "the webradio of the love") and periodically "cheriefm romantic" its slogan ? "la webradio des amoureux" (in English "the sweetheart's webradio)

----

* Music/FrankZappa largely avoided writing love songs but when he did write them, he couldn't help parodying them. ''Music/FreakOut'' and ''Music/CruisinWithRubenAndTheJets'' contain perhaps the best examples. An outstandingly silly example is "Charva":

* Music/FrankZappa largely avoided writing love songs but when he did write them, he couldn't help parodying them. An outstandingly silly example is "Charva":

->''[[DeadHorseTrope You'd think that people would have had enough of]] [[TropeNamers silly love songs]].''\\
''[[UndeadHorseTrope But I look around me and I see it isn't so.]]''\\

''[[TropesAreTools And what's wrong with that,]] I'd like to know''\\

-->Moon-kiss-June-bliss.\\

* Played with by Australian comic, TimMinchin, at the 2008 Secret Policeman's Ball, where he sang a song that began by extolling the virtues of his lover, but then got to the chorus which went: "If I didn't have you ... then I'd probably have somebody else..." Still played fairly straight, as the song says that although he might have somebody else without her, he does have her, and that's special.
** Also subverted by Tim Minchin (several times) with ''Inflatable You''; a loving ode to an infatable doll. And ''You Grew on Me'', which compares his love to his partner as quickly worsening diseases.
*** And more. Tim seems to like his messed up love songs.

* Paul [=McCartney=]'s song "Silly Love Songs", as quoted above.
** It's technically by Music/{{Wings}}, but the misattribution is [[IAmTheBand not exactly wrong]].
* Similar to [=McCartney=]'s lampshading of this trope, PaulWilliams' "An Old Fashioned Love Song", as well as Three Dog Night's cover:

** It isn't ''that'' silly-- unless you watch him singing it [[TheMuppetShow with a trio of Muppet clones of himself.]]

* Most Broadway musicals include at least one Silly Love Song; ''{{Spamalot}}'' has one titled "The Song That Goes Like This", which explains how every Broadway musical contains at least one Silly Love Song.
* Probably one of the reasons why [[TheCure Robert Smith]] [[CreatorBacklash hates]] [[DaysOfTheWeekSong "Friday I'm in Love"]]. Even their most straightforward love songs like "The Love Cats" [[SillyLoveSong aren't that simple]].
* Don Johnson's "Heartbeat", while faring better than many actors-turned-singer albums, has been thoroughly roasted by the likes of ''TheAgonyBooth'' and legitimate music critics. Don sings well, but his lyricism and stage performance could've used a bit more polish.

* The ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' experiment ''OverdrawnAtTheMemoryBank'' has "Loving Lovers Love", sung by Pearl and Observer.

** [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Love Song"]] from Pippin.

** Played with in MyFairLady.
** Also subject to hilarity in TheRockyHorrorPictureShow.

Well I bought them all [[{{Lampshaded}} and now I'm writing worse]].

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg My Lovely Horse]]" from ''FatherTed'', a very silly appreciation of a horse created in-universe by Ted and Dougal, and as a real b-side by Music/TheDivineComedy.

* Subverted and quite possibly {{deconstruct|ion}}ed by, of all people, Taylor Swift with the song "Fifteen". A freshman girl in {{high school}} meets a boy that she feels is her true love, and she's already planning to marry him... and then he dumps her for another girl, breaking her heart. The song was based on the experience of Taylor's longtime friend Abigail Anderson, who is mentioned by name in the song and appears in the video.
* The MichaelBuble song "Everything" seems to fit with this trope.

He's a vengenace demon; don't wanna cross him.\\

* A common subject of parodies by Weird Al, both specifically (eg, "Addicted to Spuds" of "Addicted to Love") and generally (eg, "I Was Only Kidding" and "You Make Me"). Some are silly love songs in their own right (''very'' silly love songs), while others are actually about a StalkerWithACrush or outright hatred for the other party.
* The subject of the [[PaulandStorm Paul and Storm]] song, [[http://www.paulandstorm.com/lyrics/i-will-sing-a-lullabye/ I Will Sing a Lullabye]] (to your vagina).

* "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" from ''PhineasAndFerb'' is a parody of this. "Don't worry if you get lost, the lyrics are meaningless anyway."
* The Dutch group Jazzpolitie has the song ''Liefdesliedjes'' (''Love Songs'') in which they {{Lampshade}} most love song cliches. But the [[HypocriticalHumor refrain is still]]: "There's only one way to tell you [what I feel for you]... Love Songs... You should hear them..."
* {{Supertramp}} has a few. Notably, Give a little bit, Downstream, and Oh! Darling!
* Anything by Celine Dion. Oh, the {{Narm}}...

* "Baby" by Music/JustinBieber.
** All his other songs qualify, too.
* DeltaGoodrem's Believe Again is this UpToEleven, every possible instrument and happy musical quotation is in this song, so it may have lived in {{Narm}} almost entirely, if the verses didn't save it so much...The chorus for your reading pleasure:

* Hugh Laurie sang the love song "Mystery" in ''ABitOfFryAndLaurie''. It involved a girl he never met, whom he was almost completely incompatible with and that died over a decade ago. The mystery was why he was in love with her. And what tortured rhyme for "mystery" Hugh was going to come up with next. (Some examples: estuary, unsanitary, Port Authority.)

* Tricia Yearwood's "How Do I Live", the closing theme to ''Film/ConAir''. It was later made even sillier with an intentionally cheesy, SoBadItsGood cover by M.G. Bowman for ''{{Homestuck}}''.
* AxisOfAwesome - How to write a Love Song

* The opening lines of Selena Gomez and the Scene's "Love You Like A Love Song" deserve mention simply for lampshading the oversaturation.

* FrankZappa largely avoided writing love songs but when he did write them, he couldn't help parodying them. An outstandingly silly example is "Charva":

* Music/TheyMightBeGiants' "Pet Name" musically sounds like this, except that if you listen to the lyrics, you'll realize it's a song about a couple who are utterly sick of each other but mask it behind a sentimental facade.
** They do, however, have one straightforward example: "Another First Kiss." They themselves describe it as pretty much the only straight love song they've ever done, but in their typical style, it's a ([[WordOfGod their words]]) "Screw that" to the idea that you need to be young to be in love and instead depicts a [[HappilyMarried happy couple with history.]]
* JonathanCoulton's cover of "Baby Got Back". The Sir Mix-A-Lot original, not so much.
* Creator/MitchBenn has written a few of these, as well as {{Anti Love Song}}s. "Disgustingly in Love" is positive for the couple, if not [[SickeningSweethearts anyone around them]]; "My Girlfriend is an Alien" has the singer conclude that he doesn't mind; and "One of These Days" is so sincere it's barely funny at all.
* Chériefm, a French radio station , offering in its site , several webradio speciliazed in various musical genres dont chérie love song ( its slogan "la webradio de l'amour" in english "the webradio of the love") and periodically "cheriefm romantic" its slogan ? "la webradio des amoureux" ( in english "the sweetheart's webradio)
* Music/{{Extreme}} included ''Tragic Comic'' to keep their concept album "III Sides To Every Story" [[BreatherEpisode from getting too heavy]] (and bid for another pop hit). The accompanying video adds a cute nod to the TropeNamer, showing their bassist playing [[PaulMcCartney McCartney's]] signature guitar.

----

->''A sentimental song, that casts a magic spell,''\\
''[[AudienceParticipationSong They all will hum along]], [[ChewingTheScenery we'll overact like hell]]...''\\
''For this is the song that goes like this...''
-->-- '''Galahad and the Lady of the Lake''', ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}''

-->'''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Miles Antwier]]''': You can’t help but chuckle at the repetitive nature of Don’s songs. After all, we are “looking for a heartbeat”, but we also learn “the last sound love makes is a heartbreak” and also “when looking for love, it is a heartache away”. It is like filling out a [=MadLibs=] but replacing all nouns with either “love”, “heartache” or “heartbreak”.

* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg My Lovely Horse]]" from ''FatherTed'', a very silly appreciation of a horse created in-universe by Ted and Dougal, and as a real b-side by Music/TheDivineComedy.

* Music/{{Extreme}} included ''Tragic Comic'' to keep their concept album "III Sides To Every Story" [[BreatherEpisode from getting too heavy]] (and bid for another pop hit). The accompanying video adds a cute nod to the TropeNamer, showing their bassist playing McCartney's signature guitar.

* Older/ Deader than you think: back in the 1800s AmbroseBierce commented:

* Mildly parodied in The Turtles' "Elenore", which randomly juxtaposes straight Silly Love Song material with parental opposition and IntercourseWithYou themes, and includes the famous lines:

* TheyMightBeGiants' "Pet Name" musically sounds like this, except that if you listen to the lyrics, you'll realize it's a song about a couple who are utterly sick of each other but mask it behind a sentimental facade.

** Weirdly, while that may be ''half'' the point of the song, I personally heard it as Swift ''disowning her own earlier Silly Love Songs'' in the light of the fame those same songs brought her: "Back then I swore I would marry him someday, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine." In other words, the heartbroken girl eventually moves on, realizing that in the big picture, there are more important things to obsess about than catching whatever hunk happens by - even if she still has some emotional scars from the experience.
-->In your life\\
You'll do things\\
Greater than\\
Dating the boy on the football team\\
I didn't know it at fifteen

** If we're talking Buble, we have a whole plethora: "The Best is Yet to Come", "I've Got The World on a String", "Crazy Love", "All I Do is Dream of You", "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)", "How Sweet It Is", and "Moondance", just to name a few.
*** Although all of those songs are covers.

''Fifteen years come next January (jan-OO-ary)''\\

* Hilariously subverted by Sara Bareilles with "Love Song". The story goes that her producer told her that she was doing pretty well as an up-and-coming artist, but she still needed a big hit. "You need to write me a love song", said the producer. Sara, not liking this idea, decided instead to write a song ''about how she's not gonna write him a love song''. And now it's her SignatureSong. And now it's probably [[EarWorm stuck in your head]].

->''[[DeadHorseTrope You'd think that people would have had enough of]] [[TropeNamer silly love songs]].''\\

''[[TropesAreNotBad And what's wrong with that,]] I'd like to know''\\

-->-- '''[[Music/{{Wings}} Paul McCartney and Wings]]''', ''[[TropeNamer Silly Love Songs]]''

-->-- '''Galahad and the Lady of the Lake''', ''{{Spamalot}}''

When you turn on the radio and hear music with lyrics, at least nine times out of ten, the song will be a love song of some sort, either praising love and one's lover (or wished-for lover) to the high heavens, or singing about how much angst or anger love gone sour has caused. (These songs are sometimes indistinguishable from songs about IntercourseWithYou.) For some reason, there's always a market for even the silliest of SillyLoveSongs, making this an UndeadHorseTrope.

FrankZappa once noted that if popular music really could change or affect people, everyone would be in love.

Some performers write {{Anti Love Song}}s because they want to try something different. They never stop the deluge of SillyLoveSongs that fill the airwaves. And what's wrong with that? (A lack of variety, of course, but TropesAreNotBad all the time.)

This trope name was first coined by JohnLennon, who criticized [=Paul McCartney=] for always writing SillyLoveSongs. [=McCartney=] in turn wrote the song he gave the title to as [[TropesAreNotBad a rebuttal]].

** Weirdly, while that may be ''half'' the point of the song, I personally heard it as Swift ''disowning her own earlier SillyLoveSongs'' in the light of the fame those same songs brought her: "Back then I swore I would marry him someday, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine." In other words, the heartbroken girl eventually moves on, realizing that in the big picture, there are more important things to obsess about than catching whatever hunk happens by - even if she still has some emotional scars from the experience.