You’ve lost that loving feeling .”

“She’s got eyes of the bluest skies .”

“And I will always love you .”

Start with a thesis: love. To know what love is, one must also know the antithesis: hate. The result of these conflicting opposites creates a synthesis: life.

Early 19th century German philosopher, Georg W.F. Hegel developed this model (dialectic) to explain and question the nature of reality. Hegel summarized that historical progression is the result of conflicting opposites and that these create a struggle between an actual and potential world.

So how does this relate to the love song?

The love song has endured century upon century of evolution but still retains an innate sense of longing. Psychologists and philosophers say we are all in search of love on one level or another. It exists in a universal form, as erotic desires but also as cynical convolutions meant to spite one another. In considering Hegel’s model, the function of the love song is to further the progression of life by attempting to attain “true” love . whatever that is.

Associate professor of music David Stuart points out how the love song is not just a product of the rock `n’ roll era.

Latin song texts in the manuscript Carmina Burana from the Benediktbeuren monastery date back to 13th century medieval times.

However, far from being filled with deep religious fervor, many of the poems detail the torrid activities and erotic yearnings of the poets.

“Sic mea fata” (Hail, bountiful Venus!) from Part III characterizes this precisely: “I would be happier than Jupiter if the one whom I desire would pity me, if just once I could kiss her lips, if for just one night I could sleep with her.”

Stuart remembers taking an English literature class in which they were discussing poetry. In the class, great poetry was something that told you something you already knew but did it in such a way that brought the common emotion to a new level.

“You sort of relive this sort of experience over again,” Stuart explains. “What happens with love songs is you get that combined with music, and the two things together really make it stick in your head.

“There’s the sentiment and the hook of music that makes this perfect music,” he adds. “It makes people say, `Gee, that’s kind of like love, isn’t it?’ “

The love song has been written in about every genre imaginable. Some genres have immersed themselves in love while others have entirely avoided it.

For example, goths in the ’80s reveled in the belief love was something that existed only in theory. England’s token sad bloke, Morrissey, had kids running for tissues over his morose tunes during his tenure with the Smiths.

Though some may see bands like the Smiths and the Cure as nothing but over-indulgent manic depressants, Morrissey summarized one important aspect of the human experience in “How Soon Is Now?”

Crestfallen, he moans “I am human and need to be loved/ Just like everybody else does.”

Musician and author Nick Cave views the love song in an equally dismal fashion. Cave was asked to prepare a lecture for the Vienna Poetry Festival in 1998 and chose the love song as his topic.

In “The Secret Life of the Love Song,” Cave recounts his personal evolution with the love song, coming to the conclusion that all love songs are innately sad.

Early in the lecture, Cave says we all experience an inexplicable longing, an un-named and enigmatic yearning of the soul known in Portuguese as “saudade.”

“The love song is never simply happy. Those songs that speak of love without having their lines ache or sigh are not love songs at all, but rather hate songs disguised as love songs,” Cave says.

“The love song must resonate with the whispers of sorrow and echoes of grief.”

Nick Cave has obviously studied the works of Leonard Cohen closer than, say, the likes of Pat Boone or Whitney Houston.

But the love song eludes genre bias and even Cave sees the idea of the terror of love “in a piece of mindless innocuous pop music” as an intriguing concept.

Mark McMillon, singer/guitarist for the Ohio-based punk band Rod, views the love song in pop music as safe.

“All modern pop lyrics are cheesy,” McMillon says.

“People need something accessible. The mainstream doesn’t want to have to figure out the hook of a song or look deeper into the meaning.”

When asked what his favorite love song was, McMillon humorously replied, “I’m trying to think of a Carpenters song,” but then answered “Dear Lover” by Social Distortion concluding, “it’s a song for all lovers.”

And all lovers seem to have a song. How often has the line, “Oh honey, they’re playing our song,” been said?

“I think most of all is it’s a shared experience thing,” Stuart explains. “That part of human nature is so important.

“The song can make you feel like, `Hey, I’m not the only one.’ The poignancy of that kind of pain is wonderful.”