So when Stephen Merrit wrote one of the great love songs, it was for an album of 69 love songs, meant to be sung by four drag queens. He wrote the song, "The Book of Love," and it became beloved to those who had heard of the album or his band "the Magnetic Fields," even though it remained far from pop music success. The song is both witty and yearning and lovely. It is also written by an openly gay man, so fundamentalists Christians, please don't listen- you may be moved by it.
Of course, the album became an underground success, but when Peter Gabriel did a cover of "Book of Love" in 2004, it began to reach the mainstream. When that cover was used in the finale of "Scrubs," well, that made it explode into the limelight. And it's all over the place now.
But acapella groups have a way of finding these songs long before the rest of us, and here is last year's Harmony Sweepstakes champions singing the tune in a fantastic arrangement. Turn the speakers up, and call the wife into the room for it. And yes, it has been used for wedding proposals, which I am not sure if the author of the song would love or be annoyed with. Probably both....
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