Perfect Love

Album: Marc Cohn (1991)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song tells the story of a couple whose love sustains them while the world changes around them. While it affirms Cohn's faith in love, it also reflects his beliefs that America is headed downhill socially and politically. In his 1992 interview with Q magazine, he explained that his favorite lyrics on the album are: "They worked one summer together/at the '64 World's Fair, They met Robert Kennedy there/ Well that was right before the fall." Said Cohn: "That's the season and the Fall with a capital 'F'. It's about my brother and his wife. It was a love story happening when America was falling apart at the seams. The assassinations, Vietnam, the race riots. Even when you were six or seven you felt it. To me now those people dying, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, was the beginning of the end for America. The first thing that opened my eyes about where America was going was when I was 13 and I campaigned for George McGovern. I went to this shopping mall outside Cleveland collecting money - and I got spat on. Just a kid and they spat on me! It's been a long time since there's been anybody who I've felt has spoken to me on any kind of level at all, politically, socially. That's very scary. It's strange such a young country should feel so old with the people we have coming in and out of office."
  • Why are the couple in this song hearing voices singing "it's a small world after all?" Because the popular Disney song "It's A Small World" was written for the 1964 World's Fair. And you know it's impossible to get that song out of your head once it burrows in.

Comments: 1

  • Volker from Hamburg"Loosely based on the arc of the love affair between one of my older brothers and his wife. The song follows them from Shaker Lake (in Cleveland where my family is from) to Rockaway Beach (where my sister-in-law grew up) to the '64 Worlds Fair (they really DID meet Robert Kennedy there), all the way to an autumnal country lane... somewhere in New England let's say." Marc Cohn on Facebook
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The Devil

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The DevilSong Writing

Just how much did these monsters of rock dabble in the occult?

Michelle Branch

Michelle BranchSongwriter Interviews

Michelle Branch talks about "Everywhere," "The Game Of Love," and her run-in with a Christian broadcasting network.

Gary LeVox

Gary LeVoxSongwriter Interviews

On "Life Is A Highway," his burgeoning solo career, and the Rascal Flatts song he most connects with.

Marc Campbell - "88 Lines About 44 Women"

Marc Campbell - "88 Lines About 44 Women"They're Playing My Song

The Nails lead singer Marc Campbell talks about those 44 women he sings about over a stock Casio keyboard track. He's married to one of them now - you might be surprised which.