Top 10 Love Songs > Reviews (56)

Well this is an interesting op to write and I’m not sure how to proceed as the real question here is how does one define a love song ??

Now this question can have many answers and if you asked 1000 people I dare say you would get 1000 different answers as I think that the idea of what a love song is by definition relative to the individual.

So I am torn between several options really. Do I write about songs that are about love whether that be falling in or out of love ?? Do I write about songs that make me recollect my past loves and the people that I loved ?? Or alternatively do I write about songs that I just find beautiful, that make me emotive and touch me on a personal level ??

See my quandary here !!

After considering my options and as I said that this is somewhat relative to the individual I have decided that I am going to write about my top 10 songs that touch me on a personal level for whatever reason.

After my 10 things I hate op I think that this is a good one to write so that I can show that I do have a heart ( kinda ) and I am about more than just rage and hate !!

Okay first up is ……

How Come The World Won't Stop …… Anastacia
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Okay this track is actually quite new to me, as I have only had this a few months now. The track is off Anastacia’s Freak Of Nature album and as soon as I heard it from the first time it became my favourite track on the whole album.

The lyrics of the chorus are……

How come the world won’t stop spinning now that you are gone.
I know every end has beginnings but this one’s so wrong.
How can the seasons keep changing since you disappeared.
Tell me how come the world won’t stop, how come the world won’t stop.

Chances are we have all been there at some point in our respective lives. Someone you have loved has passed away and you sit there and wonder why the world carries on as though nothing happened. Sometimes its hard to imagine life without that person you love and in many ways it would be preferable for the world just to cease to be without them in your life.

This song reminds me of all the people I have loved and lost over the years and I am grateful for that as for as long as I can remember these people and recall what they meant to me then there is still a part of them left for me to hold onto.

Hands …… Jewel
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Jewel has a voice that could tempt angels from the heavens. Soft, warm and soothing. The chorus while good and has meaning is not what makes me emotive. There is a line that is repeated several times during the beginning of the bridge that goes …

In the end, only kindness matters.

The idea of what the track is trying to convey is that although you may be just one person and although you cannot solve everything for everyone the act of trying is important and that, like the line says, in the end, only kindness matters. It doesn’t matter if our actions actually help those around us as long as our motives were pure and our intent was of kindness. Not everything we do goes according to plan as we all know but the act of showing kindness is often good enough to let people know you care and sometimes that is all that is needed.

I doubt that anyone can say that there has never been in a time in their life when they felt alone and in these times sometimes all we really need to know is that someone, anyone actually cares.

By Your Side …… Sade
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I have always been a fan of Sade as long as I can remember. Even when I was just a child in my earliest recollections I can recall hearing her songs and always being touched at some level by them. By Your Side is all about letting that someone special in your life know your feelings for them and always being there no matter what, no matter how bad it gets. The chorus for this track goes …

Oh, when you’re cold, I’ll be there, hold you tight, to me.
Oh when you’re alone, I’ll be there, by your side, baby.

I guess in a way this song is about reassurance, about affirming the belief that the person whom you love is always going to be there for you and in return you will always be there for them.

Valentine’s Heart by Tanita Tikaram
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Valentines Heart is one of my most personal songs even though I do love almost every track that Tanita Tikaram has recorded. For those of you that have not read my op on the 10 things I miss most about my childhood this song for me about a girl called Chloe who I lost on the Twelfth of February 1990 two days before Valentines Day. Since that day, over 12 years ago Valentines Day is a day that I have come to dread because I never feel more alone than I do on that day. It has only been a few years since I have been able to go to her grave but I always return on Valentines Day because I have never stopped loving her. The lines in the song that carry the most meaning are …

If I could have held you, once more in that light.
It’s nothing to you but it keeps me alive.
Like a Valentine’s Day.
It’s a Valentine’s heart anyway.

Although sometimes when it is bad I would like to forget what it was like to hold her in my arms when she died there are other times when I want to remember. I know that sounds somewhat odd but sometimes it’s all I have left and even feeling the loss and pain that the memory recalls is better than not feelings anything or only being able to feel the emptiness inside. Sometimes I play this track late at night when I sit alone in the dark because it reminds me of all the good times we shared too. It reminds me of the one time in my life that I actually looked forward to Valentines Day even if what happened made it the second most painful day on my yearly calendar.

The line … “ It’s nothing to you but it keeps me alive. “ hold more meaning for me than the rest as in many ways for me this is often how I feel and although it often hurts to remember in someway I also draw strength from it and this allows me to face another day without her as I can always see her face in my mind.

I can honesty say that I don’t think I have ever been able listen to this track without having to wipe away a tear afterwards. Chloe was and will always be my Valentines Heart !!

Wish It Would Rain Down by Phil Collins
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I am starting to wonder now if I should have asked Ciao! to add a category for the 10 most depressing songs for the reader of the op !! With this in mind I apologise if I am starting to depress any of you but in my defence I have to say that some of these songs are about love that I have felt or feel so I hope you can see why they are relevant to the op.

I wish it would rain down over me !!

There are two reasons why I have chosen this song for this op and why indeed this song also has personal meaning to me. The idea of the song is about wishing that the rain would hide the tears we shed for whatever reason it is that we are crying so that we can mask from view our tears from the world around us and the people in our lives. Often that which pains us on the inside is hard to keep hidden from the people in our lives even when we want to keep it locked away as each persons pain is a personal thing and is not easily understood by others. Some days being able to mask this is the only way we can go through life and some days are harder than others. Although people mean well by attempting to understand or help in times when we cannot hide the part of us that cries for whatever reason this part of us is not easy to share nor can it be easily understood by others as each persons pain is a deeply personal thing. I think we all have days that we wish it would just rain down upon us so that could hide the tears we shed.

This song also reminds me of the day I first found enough courage to visit Chloe’s grave eight years after she passed away. Although I cannot recall much of that day as I was emotionally a mess I can recall that it never stopped raining and in many ways I was grateful for that rain as I sat there and poured my heart out. In a way the weather reflected my emotional state I guess.

Flown Away …… Lene Marlin
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Although there are other musical instruments used in this song the one that is the most apparent during certain parts is the Piano and for some reason I have always found that this alone can make a song mean so much more that it otherwise would. However saying that the lyrics of this song also hold a lot of meaning too and none moreso than at the end which are …

The present like I've never seen it before.
Is this the right place to stay.
Please my wings fly me away.

Obviously each person will read different meanings into a song so I can only say what it means to me even though what it means to you may differ.

To me this is about the times in your life that your life has gone in a direction you didn’t want, the times in your life you feel alone or you cannot think of a reason to continue. At these times we often wish the world would open up and swallow us and save us from having to endure the life we have and don’t want. In this case it is having wings that could fly you away from your life, maybe to a better life or maybe to the end of your life.

Either way this is a powerful and emotional song that I feel we can all relate to at points in our respective lives, some moreso than others granted but I think that we all have at least once wished to just be able to leave our lives behind and fly away.

Angel …… Sarah McLachlan
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Although Sarah has a beautiful voice there is something more inherently beautiful about it when she sings only accompanied by her piano playing and Angel has no other instruments in it whatsoever.

Once again this is a personal song for me and was listened to many many times repeatedly at several stages of my life. Although it is very easy to find personal meaning in nearly all of Sarah’s music none have more meaning to me than Angel. The lyrics of the chorus are …

In the arms of an angel.
Fly away from here.
From this dark cold hotel room.
And the endlessness that you fear.
You are pulled from the wreckage.
Of your silent reverie.
You're in the arms of the angel.
May you find some comfort here.

For me this symbolizes all the times that I have sat in darkness and lived in my memories of when Chloe was alive. Although other songs that have some personal connection to Chloe nearly or always end up with me crying this song has the opposite effect and makes me smile. This for me has never been about the loss or pain but rather about the happiness and love that I felt when we were together. It’s about the dream that that day never happened and the life we could have had together. Sometimes I can imagine not being here and just being someplace else and I can see her as real as life. I can talk to her and hold her and just be at peace for a while for in the arms of my angel I do find some comfort in my life.

Take These Broken Wings …… Mr Mister
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Okay chances are some of you now are thinking … CHEESE !! but I wanted to add this to the list for the message that the song portrays. There are probably very few of you reading this that doesn’t remember this track but for all those that may be a little too young here are the main two lines in the chorus …

Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free.

This is a song for all that have had their heart broken which often feels worse than any physical pain you can imagine at the time. But saying that this is also about trying to heal and the resurrection of love even if the object of your love is different. This is also about reaching out to the people around you to gain strength and solace in your time of need and allowing them to help you heal.

Although this is now a fairly old song the message remains and can easily be related to by a wide range of people in different emotional states from the newly broken hearted to those that have already started the healing process to those that have found another love and are learning to fly again.

Roads …… Portishead
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If I had to choose one word to describe this song it would be “ Haunting !!

“. Throughout the entire track there is an echoing bass note that reverberates filling the atmosphere with a melancholy that is best suited for quiet nights in darkness when alone. I have often wondered if I listen to this song because I am depressed or whether I am depressed because I listen to this song. There seems to be no real answer to this question even though I have often wondered.

Although the lead singer of Portishead doesn’t particularly have a voice that the majority would describe as beautiful there is a loneliness and despair in her during this song unlike any I have heard and that is part of the attraction for me. I think we all often listen to music that mirrors what we are feelings.

The song is about emptiness and the lack of love or anyone to love, it’s about being emotionally drained past any point of repair and in many way just lying down and accepting what ever is thrown at you because there is no strength left to fight. It’s about the resignation of loss and she sings as though she herself is crying.

Even though it is in many ways a depressing song the music and indeed her voice combine to make this one of the most beautiful tracks in my eyes although Samuel Barber’s Adagio For Strings would always be a winner over this it doesn’t have any lyrics as it is a classical piece and therefore cannot be classed as a song and therefor also cannot be included in this op.

Still …… Lionel Ritchie
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Sometimes when I am in the mood for something soft and soothing I will add all my Lionel Ritchie tracks to my play queue and just chill to one of the few male voice that I consider to be able to sing not a good ballad but a great ballad. I was really torn here as to which I should choose for this op out of the Lionel Ritchie I have. Of the three I narrowed it down to, Sail On, Still and Stuck On You, I finally came to choose Still for several reasons. Because of its neutrality in that it is neither a happy song nor a depressing song I find that it easy to listen to when in a wider range of emotion states although the message of what the song is about still carries the same weight regardless of my emotional situation.

Although the song is essentially about loss there is a balance in that the lyrics point to the fact that even after losing that special person and even after all the mistakes were made there is still love and that is the one thing that had never altered.

For me this is about endurance and keeping strong to the feelings you have for someone no matter how things turn out and also about my personal belief that if you ever truly love someone you never stop loving them even if you are no longer with that person.

It Can’t Rain All The Time by Jane Siberry
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I still find it slightly amusing that that for an eternal pessimist I do sincerely love this track, which, by definition, is an optimistic song. It can’t rain all the time promises that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that there is hope even though sometimes we cannot see it.

This track was used on the movie The Crow which is where I first heard it and subsequently upon the soundtrack album which is how it ended up in my music collection and into this op.

The track starts with Jane talking the lyrics of …

We walk the narrow path, beneath the smoking skies.
Sometimes you can barely tell the difference between darkness and light.
Do you have faith in what we believe?
The truest test is when we cannot, when we cannot see.

Now this part is particularly powerful as it refers to believing that no matter how bad things seem, retaining the faith that things will get better and there is that light in so much darkness.

This is followed up with the chorus which is …

It won't rain all the time.
The sky won't fall forever.
And though the night seems long,
Your tears won't fall forever.

Once again rain and tears are placed side by side and the songs tries to give you hope that even though at that point in time you may not be able to see past the tears there will come a time when the tears will stop as will the rain and the sun will shine once again. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that this is true but sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of this and in that give you some small degree of hope even when all hope seems to be lost.In closing I just want to say that although a lot of these tracks are what a lot of people would consider depressing and melancholy they are still about love either having love, losing love or looking for love. In life there is little more powerful than falling in love.

If you have it, hold onto it.

And if you are still waiting, keep looking !!