B-side "You Can't Go Back" Format 7-inch single Genre Country, pop | Released December 1973 Recorded October 1973 Length 2:50 | |
"A Love Song" is a song written by Kenny Loggins and Dona Lyn George, first released by the folk-rock duo Loggins & Messina in 1973 on their album Full Sail. Country artist Anne Murray covered the song later that year for her album of the same name.
Released in December 1973, Murray's version became a major crossover hit early in 1974. In her native Canada, it topped all three singles charts: the overall Top Singles chart, the Country Tracks chart and the Adult Contemporary chart. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart and just missed the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 12. The song fared even better there in the adult contemporary market — it became Murray's third chart-topper on Billboard's American Hot Adult Contemporary Singles chart. (In Canada, it was her seventh No. 1 on both the country and adult contemporary charts.) This was Murray's second Loggins & Messina cover, having charted with her version of their "Danny's Song" the previous year.
Later cover versions include Dar Williams, Jonathan Rayson and Kenny Loggins.