"The Book of Love" is a song written by

Stephin Merritt Stephin Raymond Merritt (born February 9, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the songwriter and principal singer of the bands the Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. He is ...

and attributed to

The Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel '' Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as fr ...

, an American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

group founded and led by him. "The Book of Love" appears on Magnetic Fields' three-volume concept album ''

69 Love Songs ''69 Love Songs'' is the sixth studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released on September 7, 1999 by Merge Records. As its title indicates, ''69 Love Songs'' is a three-volume concept album composed of 69 love songs, all w ...

'', which contains 69 tracks described as "love songs", 23 tracks in each of the three volumes. The three-volume album was released in 1999, with "the Book of Love" appearing in volume 1 as track number 12.

Versions

It was covered by the American indie band

The Airborne Toxic Event The Airborne Toxic Event is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2006. It consists of Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Adrian Rodriguez (electric bass, backing vocals), Daren Ta ...

in the live album ''All I Ever Wanted: Live from Walt Disney Concert Hall'' featuring Calder Quartet. The live recording was released on

Island Def Jam Records The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordi ...

. The Croatian musicians

2Cellos 2CELLOS (stylized 2CΞLLOS) were a Croatian cellist duo, consisting of classically trained cellists Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. Signed to Sony Masterworks since 2011, they released six albums. They played instrumental arrangements of wel ...

recorded an instrumental version on their album '' In2ition''.

Peter Gabriel version

When the Magnetic Fields appeared at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in January 2001 to play their album ''

'' in its entirety, they were joined by Peter Gabriel for an encore of "The Book of Love". He later recorded his own cover of the song for the soundtrack of the 2004 romantic comedy film '' Shall We Dance?'' His cover has since been featured in film and television, such as in the ''Scrubs'' episode " My Finale" and the '' South Park'' episode " Tweek x Craig". Gabriel's version appeared on his 2010 album ''

Scratch My Back ''Scratch My Back'' is the eighth studio album (and fifteenth album overall) by English musician Peter Gabriel, his first in eight years. It was released in February 2010. The album, recorded at Air Lyndhurst and Real World Studios during 2009, ...

''. Gabriel originally intended to release ''Scratch My Back'' and '' And I'll Scratch Yours'' simultaneously. However, as completion of the latter dragged out, it was instead decided to release a series of double A-sided singles with one song from each album every new full moon during 2010 on iTunes. The first of such singles was actually Gabriel's cover of "The Book of Love", together with Magnetic Fields frontman

's cover of Gabriel's song "Not One of Us". It was released on 30 January 2010, on the day of January 2010's full moon. On April 17, 2010, "The Book of Love" / "Not One of Us" as well as the follow-ups "Flume" / "Come Talk to Me" were released on 7" vinyl to independent record stores. Track listing #Side A: "The Book of Love" (Peter Gabriel) – 3:53 #Side B: "Not One of Us" (Peter Gabriel featuring Stephin Merritt) – 3:58

Gavin James version

In 2015, Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James recorded his version appearing on his EP single ''The Book of Love''. ''The Book of Love'' EP contains four versions, the official radio track, and three remixes by Raffertie, by JOY (Rework) and Young Wonder. The track appeared also in a four-track EP by James called ''For Love'' and eventually was included on his album '' Bitter Pill''. The single charted in Belgium reaching number 10 on the

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

official chart. It also charted in the Netherlands both on Dutch Top 40 and

Dutch Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

. Track listing #"The Book of Love" – 3:15 #"The Book of Love" ( Raffertie remix) – 3:40 #"The Book of Love" (JOY. rework) – 3:43 #"The Book of Love" (Young Wonder remix) – 3:43 #"The Book of Love" ( Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix) – 3:49 Charts Year-end charts Certifications

"Il Libro Dell' Amore (The Book of Love)" by 2CELLOS feat. Zucchero

The song was translated into Italian as "Il Libro Dell' Amore" and rerecorded by Italian singer

Zucchero Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...

and the Croatian duo musicians

on the album '' In2ition''.

Cheryl Bentyne version

Cheryl Bentyne covered "The Book of Love" on her 2006 album ''The Book of Love'', accompanied by gospel singer Mark Kibble.

Chaps Choir version

On April 30, 2016, the Islington,

-based all-male Chaps Choir released its live version of "The Book of Love" as Side B of a double A-sided 7" vinyl single with Side A being "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" by Samantha Whates featuring Chaps Choir. Directed by musician Dominic Stichbury, the Chaps Choir version was recorded at the Union Chapel in Islington and released independently on 2016 Good Chap Records and available as a 7" vinyl and digitally.

Atle Pettersen version

On November 12, 2019, Norwegian pop artist

Atle Pettersen Atle Pettersen (born September 5, 1989 in Skien) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter from Skien and lead singer of the band The Scheen.

Mike Doughty version

Mike Doughty Michael Ross Doughty ( ; born June 10, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and author. He founded the band Soul Coughing in 1992, and as of '' The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns'' (2016), has released 18 studio albums, live albums, and ...

released Golden Delicious on February 19, 2008, which included "Book of Love" as an " Tunes Only (Magnetic Fields Cover), track 12, with only acoustic guitar, piano and vocals, very true to the original.

Mishima version

The Catalan band

Mishima Mishima may refer to: Places * Mishima, Fukushima, a town in Fukushima Prefecture * Mishima, Kagoshima, a village in Kagoshima Prefecture * Mishima, Niigata, a town in Niigata Prefecture * Mishima, Shizuoka, a city in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan ...

included a version in Catalan, "El llibre de l'amor", in its 2022 album ''L'aigua clara'' (''Crystal Clear Water'').

In popular culture

*The Peter Gabriel cover version was featured in '' Scrubs'' during the series finale, " My Finale". *The Peter Gabriel cover version was also used in the 2004 movie, '' Shall We Dance?''. *Gabriel's version was used in the American TV series '' South Park'' in the episode " Tweek x Craig".South Park Studios YouTube channel: Tweek x Craig
/ref> *In 2014, contestant Sequoia LaDeil sang it during the knockout phase in season 4 of ''The Voice of Germany'' broadcast on ProSieben and Sat.1 *It appears in the 2014 movie '' Extraterrestrial''. *In July 2015, Zoë sang it on the finale of the German The Voice Kids, a singing contest for children of 8 to 14 years old. *In September 2015, Dutch contestant Jasper van Aarst sang it during the Blind Auditions of season 6 of ''The Voice of Holland'' becoming part of Team Anouk. *

James Patrick Stuart James Patrick Stuart is an American actor, currently portraying Valentin Cassadine on the daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he received three consecutive Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Dram ...

performed the song during the Nurse's Ball on the American soap opera '' General Hospital'' *The Magnetic Fields version was used in episode 7 of season 2 of the Netflix show ''Friends From College'' in 2019. *The comedian Arthur Smith performs a version of it during ''Syd'', his 2019 show about his late father. *It appeared in its original form in "Get The Picture" (sn. 3, ep. 5) of Fox's ''Lethal Weapon''. *It is also the source of the title of the film in which the song is prominent, '' Book of Love'' starring

Simon Baker Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor in television and film, as well as a director. He is known for his lead roles in the CBS television series ''The Mentalist'' as Patrick Jane and ''The Guardian'' as Nicholas Fallin ...

, Frances O'Connor, and Gregory Smith. *Title of Nicola Yoon's young adult romance ''Instructions for Dancing'' taken from the song.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Book of Love The Magnetic Fields songs 1999 songs Songs written by Stephin Merritt Baroque pop songs Pop ballads