Love songs. We’re all a bit partial to playing a love song every now and again. And it’s not like there’s a lack of them. Here’s a list of 10 love songs I believe everybody should include on their iPod or MP3 player. Spread a little love and happiness around the world and look them up on Spotify.
Who’d have thought a song about Dice would be lovely?
Finley Quaye/William Orbit, Dice.
‘‘Nothing can compare, to when you roll the dice and swear your love’s for me.’’ This song’s about taking chance with love. It’s like rolling the dice and not knowing what will happen. It’s all very well keeping up your guard and building walls around you, but if you do that, you’ll never experience love. And nothing compares to being told that the person you love, loves you right back.
Shane McGowan. Attractive. On the radio.
The Pogues, Love You ‘Till The End.
‘I just want to catch you if I can.’ An under-rated love song. The man is in love with the girl and he wants to do anything he can to make her happy. He tells her how he will love her ‘till the end. What more does anybody want?
The Eels. Purveyors of melancholic love songs
The Eels, Fresh Feeling.
‘You don’t have a clue, what it is like, to be next to you.’ Simple, honest words; much like the whole of the song, really. The orchestral music makes the song a lot more powerful. You can imagine it playing in the background as you’re sat having a picnic in the summer with the one you love. No words need to be said, just a look and a smile.
Simon and Garfunkel, wouldn’t make it on X Factor today.
Simon and Garfunkel, Dangling Conversation.
‘You’re a stranger now unto me, lost in a dangling conversation.’ This song tells of the slow dissolution of a relationship. The couple both know what’s happening, but don’t know how to stop it. They’ve both withdrawn into their own worlds, like ‘couplets out of rhyme’. A love song because it sings of what once was.
Every list has to have a Beatles song in it
The Beatles, Long, Long, Long
‘‘So many tears I have wasted.’’ Being a hardcore Beatles fan, I found it amazingly difficult to pick which song should be included in the Top 10 Love Songs. There are simply too many to choose from. But, Long Long Long is another under-rated, haunting, love song. The ‘you’ George Harrison sings about is God. About losing sight of God, but then regaining it, and wondering how could he have ever have lost it. I include this in the Top Ten, because it’s about the struggle of searching for something you’ve wanted for so long, and when you find it, you’re so happy. Complete.
She’s singing about how to nab a French President.
Carla Bruni, Quelqu’un m’a dit.
You don’t need to speak the language to take something from this song. The French President’s first lady sings of a man she still loves even though they’re no longer together. Out one night at a party she’s told that he still loves her. It’s this one bit of information that keeps her going. ‘Serait-ce possible alors?’ (Could it be possible?). I’m sure many people can relate to this. When a relationship has broken down, you can’t help but hope that a glimmer of love still exists. And it’s this thought which keeps you going.
Not your normal love song crooner
Buddy Holly, Everyday.
‘Love like yours will surely come my way.’ Ah, Buddy sings of the love he feels for a girl, how everyday it’s growing, and he asks her does she feel the same way.
Love songs - Brummie style!
Noah and the Whale, 5 Years Time.
‘‘I look at you and feel it’s the happiest I’ve ever been.’’ A modern, feel-good love song. The singer sings about his relationship and how it’s the happiest he’s ever been. Yet, he can’t help and wonder where it’ll be in 5 years’ time. If he and his lover will still be speaking, or if she’ll prove him wrong, and it’ll last the test of time. But, no matter what happens, he’ll always remember the pretty good times they had together.
Italians, they know about love like we know about Eastenders
Umberto Tozzi, Ti Amo.
I’m loving the foreign love songs. This song is an Italian classic from the 1970s. Now, I’m not fluent in Italian, but I know that Ti Amo means I love you, and boy, does this man love the girl. He has it bad. He thought that she loved him and feels betrayed over the fact she left him. This song is almost worthy of being the first dance at a wedding. If you don’t understand the lyrics, just listen to the tune.
Of course, love, as sung by an emphysema ward.
Number 1: It had to be on this list.
Serge Gainsbourg, Je t’aime… mon non plus.
This has to be the ultimate of love songs. With lyrics such as ‘’Je vais et je viens, entre tes reins’’ ( I daren’t write its translation), and the asthma-attack like noises in the middle part of the song, how can this not put you in the mood for love? Banned in many European countries, denounced by the Vatican, this song will be long remembered. If you don’t get anything from the song itself, at least you’ve learnt how to say I love you in French.
