I consider this one of the most...honest? sincere? true? authentic?...maybe I'd just better echo the lyrics and call it "pure and simple" - love songs ever written. It's beautiful in the way that simple truth is, and its genius lies in the unaffectedness of its lyrics. It isn't at all what people think of when they say "poetic," but that's what makes it profoundly brilliant poetry.
I can kind of understand why people want to sing it at their weddings, because it has that utter genuineness that no other love song I know of really expresses. When I was in the throes of my (unrequited) high school crush, this was the song that ran through my head because the refrain seemed to say it better than any other words I knew. (I just avoided thinking about the last verse at the time - such is the power of love-inspired blindness! I guess that's what the "sing-it-at-our-wedding" folks are doing, too; but nowadays I consider the song's tragedy part of its intrinsic beauty, and I don't think you can really separate the two.)
I consider this one of the most...honest? sincere? true? authentic?...maybe I'd just better echo the lyrics and call it "pure and simple" - love songs ever written. It's beautiful in the way that simple truth is, and its genius lies in the unaffectedness of its lyrics. It isn't at all what people think of when they say "poetic," but that's what makes it profoundly brilliant poetry.
I can kind of understand why people want to sing it at their weddings, because it has that utter genuineness that no other love song I know of really expresses. When I was in the throes of my (unrequited) high school crush, this was the song that ran through my head because the refrain seemed to say it better than any other words I knew. (I just avoided thinking about the last verse at the time - such is the power of love-inspired blindness! I guess that's what the "sing-it-at-our-wedding" folks are doing, too; but nowadays I consider the song's tragedy part of its intrinsic beauty, and I don't think you can really separate the two.)