Ignored             Obscured              Restored

I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who.  Who wrote the Book Of Love?

The Monontones, 1957

I know the answer.  Lots of people.  But the first in the rock and roll era were members of the R&B/Doo-wop group, the Monotones – Warren Davis, George Mason, and Charles Patrick.

This popular song went all the way to #5 on the Billboard pop chart and has been included on the soundtracks of several “period” films, including American Graffiti and Stand by Me.

Fast forward through the ‘60s and ’70s to 1980 when British pub rock band Rockpile released their only album, Seconds of Pleasure.  The disc included the upbeat “When I Write the Book”, penned by Nick Lowe.

Seconds of Pleasure was one of the best albums of 1980,  so if you haven’t heard it, check it out.

Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello had a long-standing relationship, coming from the same music scene in England.  So it should come as no surprise that Costello credited Lowe for influencing him to write his “Everyday I Write the Book” (1983).

Included on Costello’s Punch the Clock, and released as a single, “Everyday…” was his first recording to make it into the US Top 40.

In the ‘80s, Fleetwood Mac also embraced the topic.  Their follow-up to the commercially disappointing Tusk was Mirage (1982), which included the track “Book of Love.”

“Book of Love” is a deep track, written by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut, who produced Mirage and other Fleetwood Mac albums.

In 1999, the Magnetic Fields (Stephin Merritt) released 69 Love Songs, one of which was another “Book of Love.”

This one is a lovely, introspective ode to the simple things that make us love someone.  It was later covered by Peter Gabriel on the album Scratch My Back (2010).

I have a feeling we should expect more books to be written in the years to come.

Enjoy… until next week.