5 Classic Love Songs Inspired By The Romance Of Spring

What illuminates the rejuvenating power of spring better than a classic love song? Set aside the renewed need for lawn work and the onslaught of hay fever-causing pollen; nature's reawakening comes with a dazzling dose of romance that calls for a sunny soundtrack to match the moment.

It's rare these days to find songs that single out spring as a cause for amorous celebration, but it was a big deal back in the day. April in particular seemed to be a focal point, ripe as that month is with opportunities for picnics and park strolls. And with spring months being a favored time for weddings, the soul-stirring music of the solstice season puts a rosy spin on all the love drifting through the air.

If you haven't considered the finest classic love songs inspired by the charm and joy of springtime, here's a catalog of titles that illuminate the post-winter warm-up and its power to cast a love spell over the unwitting romantic in us all. So, pop a Claritin and read up on the season's sweetest love songs.

That honey-voiced crooner Pat Boone gave lovers and piners one of the finest love themes of the 20th century with his version of "April Love." It may be considered a bit slurpy and overly sweet by more staid music fans, but it's a Valentine to the pure spirit of springtime romance for those who keep an open mind and a receptive heart. It also delivers a caveat for those who dare to let an amorous springtime lass steal their attention: "But April love can slip right through your fingers / So if she's the one, don't let her run away."

The 1957 song was actually the theme from the film of the same name, which starred Boone as a ne'er-do-well who falls for future Partridge matriarch Shirley Jones when he's sent to live with his Kentucky kin. The song was a big winner for Boone, topping the Billboard charts in December 1957 and garnering an Oscar nomination for best original song. It became one of the crooner's signature tunes, though over the years it's been re-recorded by other swoon-worthy singers like Connie Francis and Johnny Mathis.

A snappy jazz tune with a sprightly beat is just the thing for turning up the audio sunshine at springtime, and that's exactly what you get with "Spring Cleaning" from Fats Waller. Not only does it get your finger snapping and your shoulders shimmying, it also puts a dollop of high-spirited romance in your heart. You don't even need to be in love to appreciate the joyous message told in its creative metaphors, delivered in the jazz great's distinctive vocal style — a voice so entrancing that Al Capone actually kidnapped Waller to play at his birthday party!

What makes this love song so special is the way it visualizes spring cleaning in preparation for a season of romantic activity. "I'll polish the leaves, make 'em green again / Shake out the trees, change the scene again / Spring cleaning, gettin' ready for love." It's modern poetry, a strikingly clever way to illustrate the natural changes taking place, while taking credit for getting the world spiffed up in anticipation of a new wave of love. Waller sounding like a buzzing trombone as he happily sings out his intentions gives the song a bebop lilt that feels simultaneously quaint and timeless.

If you don't have a Frank Sinatra song on your springtime love tune playlist, do you even know romance? There's nobody in the music world who could better express the stirring feelings that the season brings about than Ol' Blue Eyes himself. And in his version of "It Might as Well be Spring," an Oscar-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein composition from the 1945 musical "State Fair", finding your true boo is akin to nature returning to full bloom. You may not have wanted to meet Sinatra in real life, but having this lulu of a love song coming through your radio was a springtime romance wish come true.

As the title states pretty darn clearly, this song does not take place in spring. Instead, it connects Sinatra's fizzy feelings of new love to the busy commerce of a world coming back to life, the proper season for the giddy goodness a budding romance brings. "I am starry-eyed and vaguely discontented," Frankie sings, "Like a nightingale without a song to sing / Oh, why should I have spring fever / When it isn't even spring." We know why, and so does he. By the final line, he admits that the vibrant stirring of his heartstrings is so distinct, there's only one time of year appropriate for such longing. And with love like that in the air, it definitely might as well be spring, no matter what time of year it strikes.

Ah yes, the hopeful strains of "Chapel of Love" from the Dixie Cups offer more than just wishful romance and goo-goo eyes passed between paramours hoping their love will go the distance. This song skips right to the good stuff and plants wedding vibes directly into the lyrics. It's a step-by-step treatise about how ripe springtime is for sweet matrimony and the celebration that follows.

The song makes no bones about describing weather and the state of nature from the moment the first verse kicks off: "Spring is here, the sky is blue, whoa / Birds all sing as if they knew / Today's the day we'll say 'I do' / And we'll never be lonely anymore," the Cups chime. They make it sound as if this union is as natural as the cheery, hopeful conditions of the very planet. The chorus is one of the most memorable sing-song declarations of love ever launched into the pop music sphere.

Listeners agreed with the sentiment, sending the song to No. 1 for three weeks in 1964, and did so by knocking none other than The Beatles and their classic "Love Me Do" from its perch at the top of the charts.

Who could resist the notion of spending the sweet season in one of the world's most romantic cities, even if it's only for the length of a song? And when you have a jazz power couple like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald or a vintage songstress like Rosemary Clooney at the helm, "April in Paris" becomes a voyage of sheer romance, enticing enough to turn cynics into believers and remind everyone that springtime is for lovers.

The world was introduced to this lilting classic in the 1932 musical revue "Walk a Little Faster." Since then, numerous versions by many artists have cropped up in the near-century since it was written by Yip Harburg and Vernon Duke. What crooner worth their salt wouldn't love to wrap their vocal cords around silky lines like, "I never knew the charm of spring / Never met it face to face / I never knew my heart could sing / Never missed a warm embrace / Till April in Paris"? It's the ultimate springtime love song, sending all who hear it back to a golden age of bliss, no matter where they are when it plays.