"I Wanna Learn a Love Song" is a song written and performed by

Harry Chapin Harold Forster Chapin (; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy A ...

. The song was included on his 1974 album,

Verities & Balderdash ''Verities & Balderdash'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, released in 1974. (see 1974 in music). "Cat's in the Cradle" was Chapin's highest-charting single, finishing at number 38 for the year on the 1974 ...

. The song is about a guitar teacher who gives guitar lessons to a woman who is falling in love with him.

Background

The song is a true story about how Chapin met his wife

Sandra Chapin Sandra Gaston Chapin (born 1934) is an American poet/songwriter and activist. She is best known for her songwriting collaborations with her second husband, singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, and is also the mother of singer Jen Chapin. Marriages He ...

. The song starts out showing a guitar teacher who only has his guitar to "Keep his belly still". For each lesson, he got a "crisp ten dollar bill". The woman in the song says that she wants to play the guitar and hear her children sing with her. As the song goes on, he tried to teach her some chords, but she only wants to listen to him and his guitar. He can hear her husband In his den, "playing stud poker with the boys". Finally, she met him at the door when the "den was dark" suggesting her husband had left. Towards the end of the song, it is implied that he and the woman had sex. There was a significant change to the first verse when Harry performed live - the album "Greatest Stories Live" Is an example of this, where the second and fourth lines of the first verse are altered to a more "adult" version. Instead of "Lean and lazy/little bit crazy" the live version Is "Crass and Corny/Little bit horny" '' Cash Box'' called it an "intriguing short story" that "teaches us a lesson about life and love and it's eminently listenable," saying that it has a "great sing-along chorus and a big production."

Simple Song

Simple Song is an unreleased version of the song. It was removed from the album, Sniper and Other Love Songs. The song itself is very much similar to "I Wanna Learn a Love Song", with some lyrical changes and is sung in a much softer voice. The song was released in a 2004 double album with Sniper and Other Love Songs and Heads & Tales, but only to Europe. It included a total of 8 unreleased tracks (1 from Heads & Tales and 7 from Sniper and Other Love Songs).

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-End Charts

Other Uses

Donna Fargo Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People * Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), ...

created a version of the song with virtually the same lyrics, but from the woman's point of view. *

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...

covered the song.

References

{{authority control 1974 songs Elektra Records singles Harry Chapin songs Songs written by Harry Chapin Song recordings produced by Paul Leka