Released September 7, 1999 Label Merge | Length 2:42 Writer(s) Stephin Merritt | |
Recorded April 1999 at Polar West, Mother West, Polar Mother, and Sonics Genre Indie rock, indie pop, lo-fi, baroque pop | ||
"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.
Contents
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
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. 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., on the day of January 2010's full moon.
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.
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
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
- "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
"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.
Cheryl Bentyne version
Cheryl Bentyne covered "The Book of Love" on her 2006 album The Book of Love, accompanied by gospel singer Mark Kibble.
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.