Love Song (Simple Minds song)

{{Short description|1981 single by Simple Minds}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}

{{Infobox single

| name = Love Song

| cover = Simple Minds Love Song Single.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Simple Minds

| album = Sons and Fascination

| B-side = This Earth That You Walk Upon (instrumental version)

| released = 7 August 1981{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=dream giver redux {{!}} press releases {{!}} sons and fascination {{!}} schoolhouse management letter |url=http://www.simpleminds.org/sm/press/saf/sm1.htm |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=www.simpleminds.org}}

| recorded = July 1981

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = *Electronic rock{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/18/simple-minds-10-of-the-best|title=Simple Minds: 10 of the best|date=18 March 2015|website=the Guardian}}

• electro funk
• disco{{cite book|title= Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983|first=Richard|last=Evans|date= August 6, 2024|chapter= 1981.4|page= 305|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-915841-45-2

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}}

| length = {{unbulleted list|5:04 (Album/12" version)|3:51 (Single edit)|4:14 (1992 remixed version)}}

| label = Virgin

| writer = Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes, Brian McGee and Mick MacNeil

| producer =

| prev_title = "The American"

| prev_year =

| next_title = "Sweat in Bullet"

| next_year =

}}

"Love Song" is the seventh single released by Scottish band Simple Minds. It was issued by Virgin Records in August 1981, one month before the release of its parent album Sons and Fascination. The B-side is an instrumental version of "This Earth That You Walk Upon", which later appeared on the album with newly recorded vocals. Despite a sticker appearing on the 12" single promising an 'extended version', all 12" releases around the world featured the 5:04 album version.

The song is reportedly an ode to the close bond between Europe and America: "a relationship that's lasted across the centuries, through good and bad times, a "Love Song" between two continents."{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/love-song-mt0011748274|title=Love Song - Simple Minds | Song Info | AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}} Its sound marked the beginning of a shift away from the band's early experimental phase towards a more accessible and commercial "pulsating electronic rock".{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/18/simple-minds-10-of-the-best|title=Simple Minds: 10 of the best|date=18 March 2015|website=the Guardian}}

The song was written and demoed in early 1981 and was tried out live on their Canada/US Tour in March 1981 before the recording sessions for the album had begun. It has since been performed on most of the band's subsequent tours.{{cite web |url=http://www.simpleminds.org/sm/songs/ead/ls1.htm |title=Love Song |publisher=Dream Giver Redux}}

"Love Song" became Simple Minds' first single to enter the UK Top 50 - peaking at #47 in August 1981. It was more successful in Sweden and Australia, where it climbed into the Top 20.

A music video for the song was shot. It is set in a nightclub and features a storyline of Jim Kerr as a DJ and the band members annoying other guests and getting into fights. At the end other guests are unable to leave the club until Kerr has finished the track and he then leads the band out of the club.{{cite web |url=http://www.simpleminds.org/sm/videos/saf/ls1.htm |title=Videos: Love Song |publisher=Dream Giver Redux}}

In 1992, a slightly remixed version of the song was released to promote the band's Glittering Prize 81/92 compilation, backed with "Alive and Kicking". This re-release finally sent "Love Song" into the UK Top 10, where it reached #6.{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/28243/simple-minds/|title=SIMPLE MINDS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company|website=www.officialcharts.com}}