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Is your idea of a "love song" an American songstress belting out her lungs and stretching out the word "love" to 58 syllables?

Is it an ex-member of Five murdering a 70's power-ballad? Is it "Angels" by Robbie? Or anything my Mariah Carey?

If so, please look away now.

Love is an essential ingredient in music and all relationships. Love is also an emotion. So here are the best ten emotionally-charged songs about love (and relationships) with an MEB (Most Emotive Bit) reference at the end of each track.
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**10. Gregory Isaacs: Night Nurse (1982) **
Currently being mercilessly pummelled by a wanky session singer on a radio advert for.....Night Nurse, this is the original and best. Isaacs, a respected roots reggae singer since the mid-70s, is on top form here in this enchanting story of a very accomodating lady who tends to Gregory's night time needs.

In a word: Class.

MEB: "Tell her it's a case of emergency/There's a patient by the name of Gregory".

Available on: Various: Reggae, I Am King
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**9. The Cure: Boys Don't Cry (1982)**
Blimey, another tune from the year of the World Cup in Spain and the start and end of the Falklands "conflict". This track, by Crawley's own one band goth movement is a rare departure from the usual bleak music the Cure were dishing up before they hit it big with The Love Cats a year later. Lovely high tempo stuff with jangly guitars. A young Morrissey may have been listening.

In a word: Brave

MEB: "I would fall down at your feet/And beg with you and then I'd plead", an unlikely but moving Cure lyric.

Available on: The Cure: Staring At The Sea (The Singles)
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**8. The Smiths: Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me (1987)**
I was going to give Mozza and the boys the night off but the look on Purple Lynnard's face when she reads another Smiths reference was too much of a temptation. This is a fabulously depressing song about not having anybody to love and so the idea behind the song, I guess, is that Morrissey's in love with the idea of being in love. A real heartbreaker and they don't need an orchestra and Nelly to bring on the tears. Romantic, poignant and, if you've ever been alone for a long period of time without someone to cuddle, very very true.
In a word: Isolated.

MEB: "No hope, no harm, just another false alarm"

Available on: The Smiths: Strangeways Here We Come
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**7. Nina Simone: Ain't Got No....I Got Life (1966)
This is love song but it's not a paean to a man, a woman or even an animal. It's a song about Nina's gratitude to, and love for, life. In it, she eschews material possessions and finds joy in the fact that she's alive and has all of her faculties. In 1960, three years after her worldwide hit My Baby Just Cares For Me was released, she signed away all her royalties to her publishers for $8000. This song celebrates that she doesn't need a jot of a fortune to enjoy life. She died penniless but happy in 2002.

In a word: Joyous

MEB: Her voice, just her longing, sad, poignant voice.

Available on: Nina Simone: The Masters
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**6. REM: Nightswimming (1992)**
Just Michael Stipe's crystal clear voice and a cello and piano. I looked at a few other reviews on this topic before doing mine and a lot of people have gone for Everybody Hurts which is a fine choice but I think this song eclipses it for sheer emotion. It's very simple and the song is about one perfect moment spent with the one you love (in this case a midnight skinnydip).

In a word: Sparse

MEB: "The photograph on the dashboard/Taken years ago"

Available on: REM: Automatic For The People
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**5. Lou Reed: Perfect Day (1972)**
Not the BBC mash-up from a couple of years ago to advertise themselves, but the original version done by the original grumpy man of rock from the original prototype "punk" group (Velvet Underground). So he comes up with a startlingly simple tale of the absolute, ultimate perfect day spent with his current love. How I laughed when I saw the BBC version: didn't anyone tell them Perfect Day is about heroin?

In a word: Ironic

MEB: The last chorus (including the kitchen sink)

Available on: Lou Reed: Transformer
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**4. James Brown: Please Please Please (1956)**
We're getting into genuine lump-in-the-throat territory now. James Brown's voice is unparalleled these days, so 49 years ago when he was 22 years old, he was in his prime and this constantly pleading ballad was his calling for years before he invented funk in 1970 with.....Sex Machine. The backing vocals are wailing, the music is mournful and the pace of a funeral courtege, but it's Brown's singing, urging, willing, that knocks it all into shape. ALmost 50 years old and it still bring a tear to the eye.

In a word: Sorrowful.

MEB: The first second when Brown sings the title acapella

Available on: James Brown: Live At The Apollo
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**3. U2: With Or Without You (1987)**
Songs that build and build into a slowburning climax alway put a lump in my throat and shiver down my spine. With the exception of last year's Run by Snow Patrol there's been nothing like this track for 18 years. Starting off gently with tuning fork guitars and a steady beat, the drums get louder, Bono gets shirtier and the guitar ding-dongs in all the right places leading to a fantastic zenith before fading off into the distance once the point is made.

In a word: Epic

MEB: The last battle between Bono and the guitars ("and you give" ding dong "and you give" ding dong "and you give yourself away/with or without yoooooou")

Available on: U2: The Joshua Tree
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**2. Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart (1980)**
How strange that the final two feature vocalists who are now dead. This song features strummed guitars and bouncy 80s synth but its the monotone vocals of Ian Curtis and his gorgeous lyrics that sets this song apart from so many others. Images of cold beds, flawed timing and horrible relationship routines permeate this song. Six months after this was recorded in 1979, Curtis took his life. In 1980, the record company released it and it became Joy Division's biggest hit.

In a word: Honest

MEB: "Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives/But love, love will tear us apart/Again"

Available on: Joy Division: Permanent
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**1. Elvis Presley: Suspicious Minds (1969)**
And the song that brings a lump to my throat every single time I've heard it is this song by the King. Gareth Gates, The Fine Young Cannibals and Candi Staton have all tried their utmost to ruin it, but from the jangly opening to the upbeat end (and false fade-out) this song - whilst not my favourite ever track - remains the one that affects me more than anything else ever recorded.

In a word: Heartbreaking

MEB: Elvis - close to tears - pleads with his jealous partner: "if an old friend I know/comes by to say hello/would I still see suspicion in your eyes". Then the trumpets go mad, the beat kicks off and Elvis goes into his huge chorus of "we can't go on together".

Available on: Elvis: Number 1s
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Thanks for reading, hope I haven't offended Mariah Carey fans. Both of you.

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