After two days of internal debate, I’ve decided to go ahead with this post, bracing myself for the inevitable embarrassment I’m no doubt subjecting myself to on several fronts.

First, the song in question is by Gavin Rossdale, specifically, “Love Remains The Same” (as you might have guessed by the image at right). Rossdale, you’ll recall, was the lead singer and guitarist for Bush, a multi-platinum-selling ’90s rock group that, while not lambasted on the level of say, Creed, wasn’t exactly held in the highest regard among critics. Today, Rossdale is probably best known as the husband of the fab-abbed Gwen Stefani and father of Kingston and Zuma (and 20-year-old fashion model, Daisy Lowe).

Second, “Love Remains The Same” isn’t exactly a spankin’ new tune. The song appears on Rossdale’s solo debut, WANDERlust, released over a year ago in June 2008. In fact, “Remains” was the first single from the album, peaking at #27 in October.

Third (and very much to my chagrin), I heard “Love Remains The Same” on Monday night while listening to Delilah. You know, the radio request and dedication show featuring tortuous relationship stories about couples that are clearly better off apart and sappy love songs selected to soothe the heaviest of hearts? See, I usually listen to WXRT at bedtime, but Sunday nights are Jazz Transfuzion time and sweet dreams it does not bring. So I inched the dial a step to the right, landing on WLIT; when my alarm went off the next morning, I could easily get back to Lin Brehmer before slamming the snooze bar.

Head to the pillow, a song came on that I didn’t know, and after a minute or so, deemed it worth Shazam-ing. And that’s how I discovered it was “Love Remains The Same” by Gavin Rossdale. With that brief mystery solved, peaceful slumber must have been quickly mine, as I don’t recall hearing a single peep from Delilah. Point, me.

So all possible embarrassments aside—Gavin Rossdale, year-old song, Delilah—”Love Remains The Same” is still a decent tune in the light of day, a soaring (sappy) rock-pop ballad that goes down easy. I can certainly understand the song’s appeal to women of a certain age (and me?), and the video appears to have been designed with the same soccer-mom target in mind. Watch as Rossdale cooks, showers, and kicks around a soccer ball (on a basketball half-court):

In December, Rossdale issued a second version of “Love Remains The Same,” accompanied by classical guitar. The stripped-down mix is a miss, proof that his song is best when it remains the same.

Purchase Gavin Rossdale – “Love Remains The Same” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.