“Look of Love” (Lesley Gore)

Our classic “love” song of the day for Valentine’s Week is one with a common title. The tune is “Look of Love” by Lesley Gore—and it’s not ABC’s “The Look of Love” (yesterday’s classic song of the day) or Dusty Springfield’s “The Look of Love” (another former classic song of the day). No, this one has a slightly different title (no “The”) and it was the one that came first.

Lesley Gore’s “Look of Love” was written by the ace Brill Building songwriting team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Jeff and Ellie were the premier songwriters of the Girl Group era, and “Look of Love” has a definite Girl Group feel to it. It’s a terrific tune, as one might expect from those two masters, given a powerful performance by the then-eighteen year-old Ms. Gore.

Mercury Records released Lesley Gore’s “Look of Love” single in December of 1964 and the song went to #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the following year. It wasn’t her highest-charting single (“It’s My Party,” “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” “She’s a Fool,” “You Don’t Own Me,” “That’s the Way Boys Are,” “Maybe I Know,” “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” and “California Nights” all charted higher), but it’s still a hell of a track. Like most of Ms. Gore’s songs, this one was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones, then kind of starting out on his illustrious career.

So here’s your daily bonus video of the day, recording star Lesley Gore belting out her latest record, “Look of Love,” live on the January 31, 1965, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. She was an extremely confident and compelling performer, as you can tell from this clip. I could watch this one all day long.