With their 1979 album Machine Gun Etiquette, the Damned were going out of their way to differentiate themselves from their peers in many ways, such as writing a sappy song dedicated to a special someone during a time when punk bands generally only wrote angry and/or political songs.
But Love Song doesn’t exactly boast the most romantic lyrics around, so it can be read more as a facetious dedication to people concerned about a band singing songs called “Born to Kill” and “Stab Yor Back” – then immediately follow it up with a single calling on people to “Smash It Up”.
Plus even with its silly lyrics, the guitars remain aggressive and the overall song is played a bit faster than your average love song.

Adding on to the irony, when combining the band’s name and the song title (as on the cover art for the single, and in the weekly charts when it became their first top 40 hit), one might read it as “the damned love song”.