ABSTRACT
Love is an affective state that has the capacity to engender a multitude of further, related affective states, and there is a love song (indeed, often many) for every one of those states, including the indeterminately large number that lack a name. A very plausible hypothesis to be explored at length in this essay is that inasmuch as the experience of love in its myriad different forms, moods, and vicissitudes is so widespread, it is likely that love songs serve a nearly universal function, namely to express the many diverse affective states that love engenders in its various configurations, moods, circumstances, and moments—the songs approaching each of these phenomena from varying, distinct angles.
