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The Book of Love (The Magnetic Fields song)

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Wikipedia article




"'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 on Magnetic Fields' three-volume concept album '69 Love Songs', which contains 69 tracks described as "love songs", 23 tracks in each of the three volumes. The three-volume album was released in 1999, with "the Book of Love" appearing in volume 1 as track number 12.

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 London's Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in January 2001 to play their album '69 Love Songs' in its entirety, they were joined by Peter Gabriel for an encore of "The Book of Love". He later recorded his own cover of the song for the soundtrack of the 2004 romantic comedy film 'Shall We Dance?' His cover has since been featured in film and television, such as in the 'Scrubs' episode "My Finale" and the 'South Park' episode "Tweek x Craig".

Gabriel's version appeared on his 2010 album 'Scratch My Back'. 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 Gabriel's cover of "The Book of Love", together with Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt's cover of Gabriel's song "Not One of Us". It was released on 30 January 2010, on the day of January 2010's full moon.[http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=18357 SongFacts: "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel]

On 17 April 2010, "The Book of Love" / "Not One of Us" as well as the follow-ups "Flume" / "Come Talk to Me" were 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



{{Infobox song

| name = The Book of Love

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Gavin James

| album = Bitter Pill

| released = January 2, 2015

| recorded = 2014

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length = 3:15

| label = Good Soldier / Believe

| writer = Stephin Merritt

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

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| misc =

}}

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'[https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/the-book-of-love-ep/id976325801 iTunes: 'The Book of Love' EP]

#"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)

#"The Book Of Love" (Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix) (3:49)

'Charts'

'Year-end 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 and the Croatian duo musicians 2Cellos on the 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.

[https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-book-of-love-cheryl-bentyne-telarc-records-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php "Cheryl Bentyne: The Book Of Love", review by C. Michael Bailey ]

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.

Atle Pettersen version

On 12 November 2019, Norwegian pop artist Atle Pettersen released "Juletid" ("Christmas Time") on digital platforms with new Christmas-themed lyrics in Norwegian.

Mike Doughty version

Mike Doughty released Golden Delicious on February 19, 2008, which included "Book of Love" as an "[iTunes Only (Magnetic Fields Cover)]", track 12, with only acoustic guitar, piano and vocals, very true to the original.

Mishima version

The Catalan band Mishima included a version in Catalan, "El llibre de l'amor", in its 2022 album "L'aigua clara" (Crystal Clear Water).

In popular culture



*The Peter Gabriel cover version was featured in 'Scrubs' during the series finale, "My Finale".

*The Peter Gabriel cover version was also used in the 2004 movie, 'Shall We Dance?'.

*Gabriel's version was used in the American TV series 'South Park' in the episode "Tweek x Craig".[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhIS8pZ8CQk South Park Studios YouTube channel: Tweek x Craig]

*In 2014, contestant Sequoia LaDeil sang it during the knockout phase in season 4 of 'The Voice of Germany' broadcast on ProSieben and Sat.1

*It appears in the 2014 movie ' Extraterrestrial'.

*In July 2015, Zo sang it on the finale of the German The Voice Kids, a singing contest for children of 8 to 14 years old.

*In September 2015, Dutch contestant Jasper van Aarst sang it during the Blind Auditions of season 6 of 'The Voice of Holland' becoming part of Team Anouk.

*James Patrick Stuart performed the song during the Nurse's Ball on the American soap opera 'General Hospital'

*The Magnetic Fields version was used in episode 7 of season 2 of the Netflix show 'Friends From College' in 2019.

*The comedian Arthur Smith performs a version of it during 'Syd', his 2019 show about his late father.

*It appeared in its original form in "Get The Picture" (sn. 3, ep. 5) of Fox's 'Lethal Weapon'.

*It is also the source of the title of the film in which the song is prominent, 'Book of Love' starring Simon Baker, Frances O'Connor, and Gregory Smith.

*Title of Nicola Yoon's young adult romance 'Instructions for Dancing' taken from the song.

References



Category:The Magnetic Fields songs

Category:1999 songs

Category:Songs written by Stephin Merritt

Category:Baroque pop songs

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