I read an article this morning that argued the archetypical shameless, soppy love song has gone out of fashion, and the sad part was I kind of agree. Sincerity doesn't seem to really be in-style any more. If you look at the Hot 100, it's got plenty of songs about lust and late nights and drunken debauchery and anger, but there just isn't a lot of romance climbing the charts. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless you're someone like me who loves a good heart-on-your-sleeve, lighter-in-the-air love song.
So I decided to dig through my music library and pull out what I think are the greatest love songs ever written. My criteria was as follows...
The song had to be addressed to someone. It didn't matter if it was in first-person or third-person, but there had to be a single person this song was being sung to.
It had to be about being in love with that person. Songs about yearning for someone or about the idea of love in general didn't count. The singer had to be looking at someone saying, "I'm in love with you," although hopefully not that bluntly.
The tone of the song had to be at least relatively sentimental. I wasn't trying to categorically block out any harder rock songs, but those don't usually move me in the same way as a slower tune.
It had to be well-known and generally accepted as a great song. I wasn't trying to dig into the discount rack anywhere to pull these out. I'm not bold enough to declare some 1960s B-side as the greatest love song ever written. There had to be a general consensus around how amazing the song is.
It had to be freaking good. I had to want to whisper, "Wow," when the song ends.
This is where I landed. In no particular order...
1. "God Only Knows" - The Beach Boys
Any "Best Love Songs" list that doesn't include this song is borderline invalid in my opinion. You'll notice a trend across this list that I think the best love songs are a little clumsy because that's exactly what love is. It's not polished and suave and perfectly tied up in a bow. It's clumsy and confusing and pure and beautiful. "God Only Knows" is all of these things and more. It's probably the song on here with the fewest number of words, but Brian Wilson makes them all count and arranges a tapestry of sounds behind it that makes the words feel even more precious. And I'm not sure there's a singer in the world that could have fit the innocent tone of this song better than Carl Wilson. There's hardly a better 3:00 of music recorded in history.
2. "Your Song" - Elton John
Part 2 of The Clumsy Trilogy. "Your Song" is the sound of a man who opened his mouth in front of his partner, totally lost his train of thought, and then just had to keep speaking to avoid the awkward silence. But the lyrics feel so sincere and honest, and Paul Buckmaster's strings arrangement complements this fragility gorgeously. This was only the first hit of a ridiculously illustrious career for Elton John, but I'm not sure he ever reached this level of earnestness again.
3. "The Luckiest" - Ben Folds
Part 3 of The Clumsy Trilogy. I'm not sure there are any lyrics ever written that feel more like love to me than "The Luckiest." Much like "Your Song," "The Luckiest" is chock-full of self-deprecation and awkward internal monologue and half-baked ideas, but that's what makes it feel so genuine. It's a mix of reflections and theoreticals and thought experiments that shouldn't really be romantic, and Ben Folds admits this in the song. But it all comes across with a sincerity that few do better than Ben Folds, and before you know it, your heart is totally captured by this messy jumble of what-ifs.
4. "You're Still the One" - Shania Twain
"You're Still the One" has the same nostalgic quality as "Dancing Queen" by ABBA where it feels like a long-lost memory from the moment it comes on. The first three songs I listed here all seem to come from narrators that are pretty insecure with their feelings, hence why they're so clumsy. "You're Still the One" isn't like that. It's the sound of someone feeling perfectly comfortable and content with their feelings and ready to express them in the most assured way possible, and the result is stunning with every listen. It's absolute pop perfection, a statement which can also be said about...
5. "Thinking Out Loud" - Ed Sheeran
Even though the genesis of this list was an article lamenting the lack of soppy love songs in the charts nowadays, Ed Sheeran is the exception. It was a tossup on this list between this song and "Perfect," but "Perfect" feels a bit too much to me like someone trying to write the "perfect" love song. "Thinking Out Loud" just is. When I say it's "pop perfection," I mean that it's not just extremely catchy, but it's emotional without being cheesy, it's economical while still having room to breathe, and the vocal performance is downright expressive as hell. Out of all the pop songs of the 2010s, I expect this one to stand the test of time as well as any.
6. "She's Always A Woman" - Billy Joel
"She's Always A Woman" might not even qualify as a love song in some places, as you don't really know if the narrator is obsessing over this woman or ridiculing her or just honestly naming off random things that he observes about her. And in all actuality, the last option is correct, and that's what makes this song so touching. It feels like Billy Joel is so in love with this woman that he's just listing random things about her, and it doesn't actually matter whether it's a romantic trait or not because he loves her entire person. It doesn't matter whether she's throwing shadows or hiding like a child or just taking care of herself. Billy Joel loves her for it, and that's sweet.
7. "Wonderwall" - Oasis
It's kind of a shame "Wonderwall" has somewhat devolved into an internet meme because at its core, it's an absolute top-tier piece of songwriting, and anyone that doesn't buy that should try their hand at the Ryan Adams cover to have their mind changed. In classic Noel Gallagher style, the actual lyrics themselves are somewhat nonsensical in places, but it doesn't matter because they always still feel romantic and charming even if they technically mean nothing, and they always flow so effortlessly with the melody. And for as much as Liam Gallagher's voice might get mocked by some non-fans, the vocal performance on this track is so delicate and utterly iconic that it virtually takes over the entire song. Liam's vocal is "Wonderwall." As a side note, if I was choosing purely my favorite love songs of all time, "Slide Away" by Oasis would absolutely be a top-three choice for me, but I didn't think it passed the "general consensus" test that I spoke of in the intro.
8. "Here, There And Everywhere" - The Beatles
I could have very easily picked "Something" by The Beatles for this list, and that probably would have been the higher ranked song by most fans, but I'm partial to this Paul number. Much like "You're Still the One," there's a subtle confidence in "Here, There and Everywhere" that makes it feel so relaxed and soothing. Its nonlinearity gives it the same whimsical feeling of love too as it drifts in and out of different sections, almost like a beautiful Beethoven piece. At less than two-and-a-half minutes, it's the shortest song on this list, but boy does it pack a punch in the time it has...
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.
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