"Love Alone" is a calypso ballad about the abdication of British King Edward VIII, who was crowned on January 20, 1936 and abdicated on December 11, 1936. During his short reign, he caused a constitutional crisis by seeking to marry Wallis Simpson, a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin informed Edward that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England and the people would not tolerate Simpson as queen. As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church of England and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings. Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. He remains a controversial figure, but many were sympathetic to him because he abdicated for love. Edward had visited Trinidad as Prince of Wales and the press there followed his story closely. Soon after the abdication, in February 1937, Lord Caresser recorded the first version of "Edward VIII" or "Love Alone," which became an instant calypso hit. The melody was taken from an old-time kalenda, or stick fighting chant. The lyric was later used as the centerpiece for a calypso drama at the Village Vanguard, New York. The song remained popular for years. Alan Lomax recorded Gerald Clark and his Invaders, including The Duke of Iron, Lord Invader and Macbeth the Great, performing the song at Town Hall, New York, in December 1946, just a few days after the tenth anniversary of the abdication. I learned this from a paperback book of folk songs that I found in the mid 1960's folk boom. The book has since been lost but I still remember the song.