Top Ten Songs About Love
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to compile a list of my top ten favorite songs about love. I say songs about love and not love songs, because not all of these songs are the types of songs I would put on, say, while I’m cooking a romantic dinner for Robert tonight. I also think some of them are reflective of this point in my life, and although some of these will likely always be staples for me, others are because of things that have happened to me recently.
They also are, of course, very much based on my taste in music and my musical knowledge.
Feel free to add your own favorite songs about love in the comments… I love hearing new music and what other people think about music.
I had a difficult time knocking some out, and I’m a little iffy about a couple of these.
I’m not putting them really in any particular order simply because it’s not possible for me to be that decisive about it, but they are at least in rough order leading up to my absolute favorites.
“Be Be Your Love” by Rachel Yamagata- To me, this song seems to be about young love, when you want to be in love, but everyone tells you that you can’t. I think it’s also about a longing to be in love, of not having yet possessed it but of loving the idea of it.
“Never Felt This Way/Butterflyz” by Alicia Keys- Again, this song is more about brand new love and feeling it for the first time. I especially think “Butterflyz” perfectly illustrates how you feel when you’re in love. You just have this excited feeling in the pit of your stomach and you feel like you could fly. It’s both a wonderful and a scary feeling at the same time.
Never Felt This Way/Butterflyz
“Your Body is a Wonderland” by John Mayer- OK, so this is the cheesy pop song on my list. Hee hee. This song for me is just about being in complete awe of someone, though more in a physical way. It’s about just being in complete amazement that “hey, this person is hot and *I* get to be with him/her.”
“I’ve Just Seen a Face” by The Beatles- Of course the Beatles were going to be on this list. This song is definitely more of a love at first sight sort of song. It also captures a feeling of love happening at just the right time (as in when they sing, “If it had been another day, I might have looked the other way…). I think for a lot of people, it is really a matter of timing.
“Something” by The Beatles- This song is about the things you just can’t explain about the person you love. There is something indescribable that you seen in the person you love that perhaps other people can’t see. I also like that this song doesn’t try to make any assertions about the future of a love affair. The love could grow, or it may not. Only time will tell.
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis- This is the song Robert and I used for the first dance at our wedding. To me, this song was very reflective of us, because everyone was always telling us not to rush into things when we were young, but it all just felt like it was meant to be. We couldn’t stop the way we felt about each other. This song is so tender. I’ve heard a couple remakes of this song, particularly by Ingrid Michaelson, that I’ve enjoyed, as well.
“Being Alive” from “Company” by Stephen Sondheim- For those of you who haven’t seen this show, I would strongly recommend renting this performance on Netflix. This song is in no way a love song, but it is about love. It’s a very real song about what being in love means. When someone is truly in love, they are extremely aware of being alive– of all the little nuances. Being in love isn’t always pleasant, but it’s worth it. (Note, the actual song starts at about 45 seconds).
“And So It Goes” by Billy Joel- My high school choir used to sing this song every year. It’s one of the few pop songs I think has been successfully adapted for choir. The first time I ever realized what this song meant was back when I first thought I experienced love in high school. I was listening to it, and I had a moment when the meaning of it hit me, and I cried for about 15 minutes. When you really, truly fall in love, you give yourself completely over to that person: every last bit. You have to open yourself up for the deepest hurt in order to experience the greatest happiness.
“Ordinary People” by John Legend- This song has spoken quite powerfully to me lately. I don’t know if I really quite understood it until this last year. This isn’t a song about blurry-eyed, infatuated love. It’s about that time after the honeymoon phase when the relationship becomes work. You can no longer take each other for granted, and you have to accept the other person for who they are, with all their faults.
“Wonderful tonight” by Eric Clapton- I think everything about this song is absolutely perfect. The sweet croon of the guitar, the sense of awe woven through Eric Clapton’s voice and the lyrics. This song captures perfectly the feeling you get when you’re with the person you love and you’re just basking in everything about them. I think this feeling comes once your love has matured and deepened, a very different feeling you get when you are first in love.
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