KISSA KISS KA

When I was in my 20s, the ultimate in a love song was a kiss. The crude desire of "Let's Spend The Night Together" came much later. Early on, The Beatles were content with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" but later advanced to 'Close your eyes and I'll kiss you' in "All My Loving", asking for just a kiss even while going away for quite a while.

The best 'kiss' song on my list is "Kiss Of Fire". Georgia Gibbs sang it first but the version that I love is Caterina Valente's. Her singing ignited the passion that the lyrics required. Listen to her sing, 'Give me your lips, the lips you only let me borrow, love me tonight and let the devil take tomorrow. I know that I must have your kiss although it dooms me, though it consumes me, your kiss of fire.'

An unforgettable song is "As Time Goes By" from the timeless classic movie "Casablanca". In fact, this song is No. 2 on the American Film Institute's 100 years...100 songs which is a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema of the 20th century. The 'kiss' connection- 'You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh, the fundamental things apply, as time goes by.' Sheer bliss.

Another popular oldie was "It's Been A Long Long Time'. A host of famous singers like Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Louis Armstrong sang it. Some lines, 'Kiss me once, then kiss me twice, then kiss me once again, it's been a long, long time.'

Louis Armstrong in his pleasant, cheery way asked for no more than "A Kiss To Build A Dream On" to let his imagination thrive upon that kiss and feed his hungry heart. 'Oh, give me your lips for just a moment, and my imagination will make that moment live...A kiss to build a dream on.' Our Hindi filmmakers were so taken up by this song that they copied it as "Kaisi Paheli Zindgani" for Sunidhi Chauhan to sing in "Parineeta". I must admit Sunidhi sang it very well and the song became a great hit.

Shirley Bassey burst on the music scene in 1959 with "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me". In the song, she starts out with 'I'd like to play a little game with you, a little game especially made for two. If you come close then I will show you how.' But soon the teacher becomes a pupil, 'You kiss so well my lips begin to burn, and I can tell I've got a lot to learn.' This song with its catchy lyrics was a popular number at parties in my younger days.

Don Everly was so stirred by a personal experience that he wrote a song, "(Till) I Kissed You" describing how one kiss could change a life forever. The song was a hit for The Everly Brothers. These lines tell it all:

"Never felt like this until I kissed you,

How did I exist until I kissed you,

Never had you on my mind, now you're there all the time....

Now I can't live without you,

Never knew what I missed until I kissed you, uh-huh,

I kissed you, oh yeah.'

"Sealed With A Kiss" was a song by Bobbie Vinton which probably is out of date because nobody writes a letter these days. But in 1972, it was a romantic thought-

"Though we gotta say goodbye for the summer,

Darling I promise you this,

I'll send you all my love every day in a letter

Sealed with a kiss."

Someone away from his loved one has fantasies of what he will do when he meets her. This is vividly emoted by the group "Exile" in "Kiss You All Over."

"When I get home, babe, gonna light your fire,

All day I've been thinkin' about you, babe, you're my one desire....

I want to kiss you all over and over again,

I want to kiss you all over 'til the night closes in,

'Til the night closes in."

And now, since I am writing this on a Sunday, it is appropriate to end with Melina Mercouri's hugely popular song we were all singing in my youth, "Never On A Sunday."

"Oh you can kiss me on a Monday a Monday a Monday is very good,

Or you can kiss me on a Tuesday a Tuesday a Tuesday in fact I wish you would,

Or you can kiss me on a Wednesday a Thursday a Friday and Saturday is best,

But never never on a Sunday a Sunday 'cause that's my day of rest."