NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2000--In anticipation of the first Valentine's Day of the new millennium, ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) has announced ASCAP's most-performed love songs of the Twentieth Century. The list features the five most-performed ASCAP love songs of each decade since 1910. All the listed songs are standards, many of them with lyrics that have become part of the everyday speech of generations of Americans, some of them recorded by hundreds of artists. A copy of the list is attached.
Commenting on the list, ASCAP President & Chairman Marilyn Bergman said, ``Speaking as a songwriter, one of the greatest challenges in writing a love song is finding a way to say 'I love you' that hasn't been said before. Some of the most enduring songs in American popular music have met this challenge. From 'You Made Me Love You' to 'Just the Way You Are' to 'I Swear,' these songs have formed the soundtrack for generations of lovers.''
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the world's largest performing rights
organization, with over 90,000 composer, lyricist and music publisher members.
ASCAP's repertory spans the entire spectrum of music, from pop to symphonic,
rock to gospel, Latin to country, jazz to rhythm and blues, to film, television
and musical theatre. ASCAP is the only performing rights organization whose
Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and publishers, elected by the
membership.
ASCAP'S MOST-PERFORMED LOVE SONGS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
song titles followed by songwriter name(s)
1910's
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1. "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)"
Joseph McCarthy, James Monaco
2. "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" Nat Ayer, A. Seymour Brown
3. "Moonlight Bay" Edward Madden, Percy Wenrich
4. "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" Leo Friedman, Beth Slater Whitson
5. "Peg o' My Heart" Alfred Bryan, Fred Fisher
1920's
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1. "Tea for Two" Irving Caesar, Vincent Youmans
2. "It Had to Be You" Isham Jones, Gus Kahn
3. "Stardust" Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish
4. "Someone to Watch Over Me" George & Ira Gershwin
5. "Baby Face" Harry Akst, Benny Davis
1930's
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1. "As Time Goes By" Herman Hupfeld
2. "I Got Rhythm" George & Ira Gershwin
3. "Blue Moon" Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
4. "Night and Day" Cole Porter
5. "I Only Have Eyes for You" Al Dubin, Harry Warren
1940's
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1. "That Old Black Magic" Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer
2. "Blueberry Hill" Al Lewis, Vincent Rose, Larry Stock
3. "Mona Lisa" Raymond Evans, Jay Livingston
4. "The More I See You" Mack Gordon, Harry Warren
5. "Since I Fell For You" Buddy Johnson
1950's
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1. "Unchained Melody" Alex North, Hy Zaret
2. "Misty" Johnny Burke, Erroll Garner
3. "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"
George C. Cory Jr., Douglass Cross
4. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing"
Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster
5. "Fly Me to the Moon" Bart Howard
1960's
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1. "The Look of Love" Burt Bacharach, Hal David
2. "For Once In My Life" Ronald Miller, Orlando Murden
3. "Love Theme from The Sandpiper (The Shadow of Your Smile)"
Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster
4. "My Girl" Smokey Robinson, Ronnie White
5. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" Burt Bacharach, Hal David
1970's
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1. "The Way We Were" Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch
2. "Feelings" Morris Albert, Louis Gaste
3. "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" Stevie Wonder
4. "Just The Way You Are" Billy Joel
5. "You Are So Beautiful" Bruce Fisher, Billy Preston
1980's
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1. "Up Where We Belong"
Jack Nitzche, Buffy Ste. Marie, Will Jennings
2. "Lady" Lionel Richie
3. "Endless Love" Lionel Richie
4. "I Just Called to Say I Love You" Stevie Wonder
5. "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" Peter Cetera, David Foster
1990's
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1. "I Swear" Gary Baker, Frank Myers
2. "How Do I Live" Diane Warren
3. "Because You Loved Me" Diane Warren
4. "Baby, Baby" Amy Grant, Brian Keith Thomas
5. "Unbreak My Heart" Diane Warren
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