Love – Alone again or

“Alone again or” is a song by the American rock band Love.

it was released in 1967 and it is the opening track from the album Forever Changes. it was written by band member and guitarist Bryan MacLean. the band Love had this mix of folk rock with a touch of psychedelic elements in their music, like a lot of other bands that defines the 60s’.

The lyrics of the song seems at first like a simple love song, a guy singing for a girl he misses and waiting for her to come back to him. but there is this feeling of uneasiness mixed with optimism in the song lyrics that you can find throughout most of the album’s lyrics. each of the three verses ends up with the sentence “and I will be alone again tonight my dear” that gives off this feeling of melancholy and uncertainness.

Lyrics :

Yeah, said it’s all right
I won’t forget
All the times I’ve waited patiently for you
And you’ll do just what you choose to do
And I will be alone again tonight my dear

Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear

Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear

I think my favorite thing about the song beside the lyrics is the  horn instruments in the bridge. the song begins with a guitar riff that resembles flamenco style and accompanied by orchestra. in the bridge there is this brass and horns section that really caught me off guard the first time I heard it.

also the flamenco style guitar in the song was written as tribute to Bryan’s mother who was a flamenco dancer.

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The album is part of the baroque rock/pop genre that emerged in the mid 60’s. some artists started incorporating elements from classical western music into their music. they wanted to recreate the same melancholic sound the baroque music of the 17-18 centuries. the musical arrangements of the baroque pop scene gave the foreground to non typical rock instruments.

some other examples of similar songs are the Beatles “Elenor Rigby” and the Beach Boys “God only knows”.

Forever changes is one of my favorite albums ever and maybe the best of the 60’s for me. the band and album never got any commercial or critical success during its early years, only decades after the album was released it got the recognition and popularity it deserved. today Forever changes is considered as classic 60’s album and for me the album that best defines the decade.