I don’t know why I love you
Your face is a foreign food

Sometimes I just lock onto one piece of a song, usually a particularly nice turn of phrase in a set of lyrics, and that stands paramount in my mind as the reason why I like this song. I can get into everything else–the strident quality of the music, the guitar sound that’s both smooth and jagged, even what the song meant to me at the particular time it was released–but I’ll always come back to whatever that little bit that most captures me, most inspires me.

When I think of The House of Love’s “I Don’t Know Why I Love You,” it puts me right back in the college radio station I was at when it was released stateside at the front end of the nineties. This was one of my standby songs, the sort of thing I’d grad when the set needed the sort of little jolt that only a perfectly crafted pop single can provide. I think of the futility and confusion of the lyrics, the helplessness of the lovelorn that it describes. But most of all, I think of the couplet quotes above. The metaphor is unique, humorous and illustrates the point of the song in a succinct, satisfying manner. They may not be the most profound of lyrics, but they’re certainly memorable. I can hear the whole song by conjuring up those lines in my memory. Even all these years later, I’m still using that song to build playlists, even if they are only for the soundtrack that plays continuously in my head.

The House of Love, “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”

(Disclaimer: The album this song originally resides on appears to be out of print, and unavailable through other means involving the traditional avenues of commerce of the music industry. The song is posted here under that understanding. Should anyone with the due authority to request its removal make such a request, I will promptly and happily comply.)