The Book of Love (The Magnetic Fields song)
| "The Book of Love" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Magnetic Fields from the album 69 Love Songs | |
| Released | 1999 |
| Recorded | April 1999 at Polar West, Mother West, Polar Mother, and Sonics |
| Genre | Indie rock, indie pop, lo-fi, baroque pop |
| Length | 2:42 |
| Label | Merge |
| Writer(s) | Stephin Merritt |
"The Book of Love" is a song written by Stephin Merritt and attributed to The Magnetic Fields, an American indie pop group founded and led by him. "The Book of Love" appears in Magnetic Fields' three-volume concept album 69 Love Songs containing 69 tracks described as "love songs", 23 tracks in each of the three volumes. The three-volume release was released in 1999 with "the Book of Love" appearing in volume 1 as track number 12.
Popularity
The song proved hugely popular and has been subject to various interpretations and recordings by musical artists, bands and sung by choirs in various arrangements. It is also increasingly played at engagements and weddings.
Versions
It was covered by the American indie band The Airborne Toxic Event in the live album All I Ever Wanted: Live from Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring Calder Quartet. The live recording was released on Island Def Jam Records.
The Croatian musicians 2Cellos recorded an instrumental version on their album In2ition.
Peter Gabriel version
| "The Book of Love / Not One of Us" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Peter Gabriel / Stephin Merritt | |
| from the album 'Scratch My Back / And I'll Scratch Yours' | |
| Released | 30 January 2010 |
| Recorded | 2009 |
| Length |
The Book of Love (3:53) "Not One of Us" (3:58) |
| Writer(s) | Peter Gabriel (Not One of Us) |
When The Magnetic Fields appeared at The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in January 2001 to play the whole of 69 Love Songs, they were joined by Peter Gabriel for an encore of "The Book of Love". He subsequently recorded the song for the soundtrack of the 2004 movie Shall We Dance.
Gabriel's version also appeared on his Scratch My Back album in 2010. Gabriel originally intended to release Scratch My Back and And I'll Scratch Yours simultaneously. However, as completion of the latter dragged out, it was instead decided to release a series of double A-sided singles with one song from each album every new full moon during 2010 on iTunes.[1] The first of such singles was actually "The Book of Love" — Gabriel's cover of a Magnetic Fields song, together with "Not One of Us" — Stephin Merritt's (The Magnetic Fields' frontman) cover of a Peter Gabriel song. The double A side single "The Book of Love" / "Not One of Us" was released on 30 January 2010.,[2] on the day of January 2010's full moon.[3]
On 17 April 2010 "The Book of Love" / "Not One of Us" as well as the follow-ups "Flume" / "Come Talk to Me" were also released on 7" vinyl to independent record stores.[4]
Track list
- Side-A: "The Book of Love" (Peter Gabriel) (3:53)
- Side-B: "Not One of Us" (Peter Gabriel featuring Stephin Merritt) (3:58)
Gavin James version
| The Book of Love EP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| EP by Gavin James | |
| Released | 2015 |
| Recorded | 2014-15 |
| Length | 14:21 |
| Label |
Good Soldier / Believe Sony (distribution) |
| "The Book of Love" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Gavin James | ||||||||||
| from the album Bitter Pill | ||||||||||
| Released | 2015 | |||||||||
| Format | CD single, digital download | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2014 | |||||||||
| Length | 3:15 | |||||||||
| Label | Good Soldier / Believe | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Stephin Merritt | |||||||||
| Gavin James singles chronology | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
In 2015, Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James recorded his version appearing on his EP single The Book of Love. The Book of Love EP contains four versions, the official radio track, and three remixes by Raffertie, by JOY (Rework) and Young Wonder.
The track appeared also in a 4 track EP by James called For Love and eventually was included on his album Bitter Pill.
The single charted in Belgium reaching number 10 on the Ultratop official chart. It also charted in the Netherlands both on Dutch Top 40 and Single Top 100.
Track list[5]
- "The Book of Love" (3:15)
- "The Book of Love" (Raffertie remix) (3:40)
- "The Book of Love" (JOY. rework) (3:43)
- "The Book of Love" (Young Wonder remix) (3:43)
Charts
| Chart (2014–15) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[6] | 10 |
| Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[7] | 22 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[8] | 35 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] | 31 |
"Il Libro Dell' Amore (The Book of Love)" by 2CELLOS feat. Zucchero
The song was translated into Italian as "Il Libro Dell' Amore" and rerecorded by Italian singer Zucchero accompanied by the Croatian duo musicians 2Cellos.
2Cellos had earlier recorded an instrumental version of the album on their album In2ition.
Chaps Choir version
On 30 April 2016, the Islington, London-based all-men Chaps Choir released its live version of "The Book of Love" as Side B of a Double A sided 7" vinyl single with Side A being "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" by Samantha Whates featuring Chaps Choir. Directed by musician Dominic Stichbury, the Chaps Choir version was recorded at the Union Chapel in Islington and released independently on 2016 Good Chap Records and available as a 7" vinyl and digitally.
In popular culture
- The Peter Gabriel cover version was featured in Scrubs during the series finale, "My Finale".
- It was used in the 2004 movie, Shall We Dance?.
- Gabriel's version was used in the American TV series South Park in the episode "Tweek x Craig".[10]
- In 2014, contestant Sequoia LaDeil sang it during the knockout phase in season 4 of The Voice of Germany broadcast on ProSieben and Sat.1
- In July 2015, Zoë sang it on the finale of the German The Voice Kids, a singing contest for children of 8 to 14 years old.
- In September 2015, Dutch contestant Jasper van Aarst sang it during the Blind Auditions of season 6 of The Voice of Holland becoming part of Team Anouk.
- It was featured on an episode of Rick and Morty.
References
- ↑ McCormick, Neil (11 February 2010). "Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back, CD review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ↑ "The Magnetic Fields: Realism". Petergabriel.com. 23 January 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ↑ SongFacts: "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel
- ↑ "2 'Scratch' 7-inch singles for Record Store Day". Petergabriel.com. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ↑ iTunes: The Book of Love EP
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Gavin James – The Book of Love" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Gavin James – The Book of Love" (in French). Ultratip.
- ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Gavin James search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
- ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Gavin James – The Book of Love" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- ↑ South Park Studios YouTube channel: Tweek x Craig