TCB

Chris Isaak

Love Is All Around

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, "TCB" asked local musicians the simple question, "What's your favorite love song and why?"

Darin Murphy: Rodgers & Hart's "Where or When" (performed by Bryan Ferry): "This song describes perfectly, and in so few words, the way that love can feel so fresh, and yet so familiar that it seems like déjà vu. Ferry's delivery is breathtaking."

Eric Unusual, the Cruel & Unusual: Devo, "Snowball": "A metaphoric beauty from one of the masters of the love song. I'm a dork!"

Adrienne Sneed, the Tuna Helpers: Peter Cetera, "The Glory of Love" (from Karate Kid II): "Duh. This is the first song I learned to play on piano. I felt like such a beautiful person when I performed this song that my eyes would water in amazement for myself. I also wanted to get in that girl's kimono."

Jennifer Ellen Cook: Chris Isaak, "Wicked Game": "The wistful guitar and his heartbroken voice capture the saddest sort of love. On the same album is 'Spanish Eyes,' which has a trumpet solo that's the most bone-marrow sexy thing I've ever heard."

Rachel Staggs, Experimental Aircraft/the Swells: Black Tambourine, "Black Car": "Jangly distorted guitars and lyrics like, 'I watch you, but you don't see me. I touch you, but it's in my dreams.' Sad, but lovely."

Ethan Azarian, Orange Mothers: Mike Nicolai, "Awkward Love": "I love the line about 'Love's got egg on its face.' I really like his whole dry delivery, and that song sums up love when you're 18 or 19, drunk, and stumbling around."

Alice Spencer, Victrola: Harry Nilsson, "I'll Never Leave You": "Musically, it's incredible. The chords and the melody hit me where it hurts. It's super sappy and over the top. It captures that vulnerable thing about love."

Karen Poston, the Crystal Pistols: Rodney Crowell, "After All This Time": "Its lyrics are subtle and call for a little theorizing, and its melody is simple and enduring. I hear it these days and still think, 'What a great song.' I'm a sucker for an unresolved love story."

Christina Marrs, Asylum Street Spankers: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness": "Otis is so cool. What more can I say?