Theme From Love Story (Love Story Soundtrack Version)
The score for Love Story was written by Francis Lai, and the company that published the music for Paramount felt that the track heard over the opening and closing credits, which was titled "Theme from Love Story", needed lyrics.[5] Michael Sigman, son of lyricist Carl Sigman, recalled that his father was asked to provide the words and received "a synopsis of the script and the lead sheet of the music. The story was schmaltzy, but the music inspired words that expressed the sadness beneath the schmaltz."[5] The initial set of lyrics his father wrote mirrored the storyline of the film from the perspective of the male protagonist, who describes a woman who enters his life ("So Jenny came") and then "suddenly was gone."[5] Paramount executive Robert Evans "thought the lyric was a 'downer.' Further, he couldn't abide the phrase 'Jenny came,' believing it too sexually suggestive for a mainstream audience. He demanded a rewrite,"[5] and this upset Carl. "At first, justifiably proud of the fine lyric he crafted, he was angry and felt like refusing to do a rewrite. But the next day he cooled off and, pacing around his living room, said to his wife, 'Where do I begin?' and the new lyric was launched."[6]
Theme From Love Story (Love Story Soundtrack Version)
Although inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Swift felt the play could have been "the best love story ever told" had it not been for the tragic ending in which the two characters die.[14] She thus made the narrative of "Love Story" conclude with a marriage proposal, which she deemed a happy ending the characters deserved.[14][15] Swift wrote "Love Story" on her bedroom floor in approximately 20 minutes, feeling too inspired to put the song down unfinished.[11] According to Swift, the song represents her optimistic outlook on love, which is inspired by her childhood fascination with fairy tales.[15] Looking back on "Love Story" after she released her seventh studio album Lover (2019), which is about her first experience of "love that was very real", Swift said the track is "stuff I saw on a movie, like Shakespeare, like stuff I read mixed in with some like crush stuff that had happened in my life".[16]
The lyrics of "Love Story" narrate a troubled romance between two characters, drawing from the lead characters in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.[27] According to psychologist Katie Barclay, the song explores feelings of love in the contexts of pain and joy.[28] "Love Story", save for the final refrain, is narrated from Juliet's perspective.[1][29] In the verses, Juliet tells the story of hers and Romeo's challenged courtship, of which her father disapproves.[30] The first verse introduces Juliet in a scene; "We were both young when I first saw you / I close my eyes and the flashback starts, I'm standing there / On a balcony in summer air", referencing the balcony scene in Act II, scene ii of Shakespeare's play.[1] In the refrains, which alter slightly as the song progresses to accompany the narrative, Juliet pleads for her love interest to appear; "Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone / I'll be waiting / All there's left to do is run".[28][29]
Some critics were more reserved in their praise, taking issue with the literary references. In a four-stars-out-of-five rating of the song for the BBC, Fraser McAlpine deemed the Shakespearean reference not as sophisticated as its premise and the lyrics generic, but praised the production and wrote; "It's great to see a big pop song being used as a method of direct story telling".[27] Musicologist James E. Perone commented; "the melodic hooks are strong enough to overcome the predictability of the lyrics".[44] Jon Bream from the Star Tribune deemed the single inferior to Swift's debut country-music single "Tim McGraw" (2006) but commended the production as catchy.[22] In a Slant Magazine review, Jonathan Keefe was impressed by Swift's melodic songwriting for creating "massive pop hooks", but found the references to Romeo and Juliet "point-missing" and The Scarlet Letter "inexplicable". Keefe deemed the lyrics lacking in creativity and disapproved of Swift's "clipped phrasing" in the refrain.[45]
Newsweek felt the film was contrived[12] and film critic Judith Crist called Love Story "Camille with bullshit".[14] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "I can't remember any movie of such comparable high-style kitsch since Leo McCarey's Love Affair (1939) and his 1957 remake, An Affair to Remember. The only really depressing thing about 'Love Story' is the thought of all the terrible imitations that will inevitably follow it."[15] Gene Siskel gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that "whereas the novel has a built-in excuse for being spare (it is told strictly as the boy's reminiscence), the film does not. Seeing the characters in the movie ... makes us want to know something about them. We get precious little, and love by fiat doesn't work well in film."[16] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote, "I found this one of the most thoroughly resistible sentimental movies I've ever seen. There is scarcely a character or situation or line in the story that rings true, that suggests real simplicity or generosity of feeling, a sentiment or emotion honestly experienced and expressed."[17] Writer Harlan Ellison wrote in The Other Glass Teat, his book of collected criticism, that it was "shit". John Simon wrote that Love Story was so bad that it never once moved him.[18]
In the 3rd episode of the seventh series of Peep Show, Jeremy attempts to participate in a book club discussion about Wuthering Heights without having read it. Confident in the knowledge that Wuthering Heights is a love story he decides to compare it to the film Love Story.
"Transference: A Bipolar Love Story" tells the tale of Katarina, a Norwegian nurse in London, who embarks on a passionate affair with a fellow immigrant nurse that suffers the consequences of unresolved mental health issues from the lovers' secret pasts. A film of introspection, desperation and ultimately hope, well represented in the soundtrack by such artists as Nico Dyl, Somer Bingham, Emily Einhorn, Stella Talpo, Jonathan Kerrigan and Alex Cortiz.
The video begins with Swift seeing a guy sitting under a tree in the present day, played by Justin Gaston.[3] Then, there are some video scenes alternating flashbacks and present scenes, which appear to be an allusion to Pride and Prejudice. Swift, dressed in a ball gown, is seen singing outside a castle while she is waiting for her version of Mr. Darcy. She is singing and some scenes alternate with the past, where she is dancing during a gala with a gentleman. The "love story" ends with the gentleman's arrival and the video comes back to the present. The boy is seen getting up and they approach each other. The video won CMA Award for Music Video of the Year on November 11, 2009.
However, the story of Romeo and Juliet is intended to be considered a tragedy as opposed to a love story. There are some who feel the song misrepresents the original ideals of the story and creates a widespread miseducation of classic literature. 041b061a72