Love in Music: 7 Songs For 7 Lovers
Every song is a love story
When I was younger I had a theory that behind every song — EVERY song — was a love story. It’s a theory that was probably true in my small world of cheesy 90’s pop music, and though I grew to learn this wasn’t the whole story, it still remains that love is a prominent theme behind the music of all decades and all genres. Few love stories can be told without the soundtrack that played in the background of them, whether that love is big, small, old, young, reciprocated or unrequited. Here are some of my favourite love songs of all time, and the different kinds of lovers they speak to.
The Long-Distant Lovers (“Ocean & A Rock” by Lisa Hannigan)
This modern folk song by Irish singer Lisa Hannigan is an ode to faraway lovers, the ones with a love bigger than the physical distance between them. The lyrics read like poetry, delivered through Hannigan’s sweet voice to a lover across the pond. She talks of how love can connect beyond the physics of time and space, how it can consume thoughts and daily tasks like drinking coffee or doing the washing, and how love in itself is a kind of home.
I spoon you into my coffee cup
Spin you through a delicate wash
I wear you all day
I wear you all dayThoughts of you warm my bones
I’m on the way, I’m on the phone
Let’s get lost, me and you
And ocean and rock is nothing to me
The Newlywed Lovers (“Matrimony” by Gilbert O’Sullivan)
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s distinctive voice is an emblem of the 1970’s pop scene. “Matrimony” is a song that came from this era, and in it, Gilbert tells the tale of a marriage that puts true, simple love in the place of the spectacle it often becomes. It’s a happy, upbeat love song that encourages dancing and silliness without losing its romantic sentiment.
You and me are all that matters
Disregard the rest
Trust your soon to be old man
He knows what is best
Very shortly now there’s going to be
An answer from you
Then one from me
That’s matrimony
The Unrequited Lovers (“Martha” by Tom Waits)
One of the most romantic voices of all time comes in the form of Tom Waits, a singer of jazz and blues, and a poet who breaks hearts with his words. Martha is a heart-wrenching tale of unrequited love, where old Tom Frost calls Martha after years of separation to talk about the love they once had before they went their separate ways. Older now, the old lovers are married to other people and accepting that their love, though still there, was never meant to be.
And those were the days of roses
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows
We’d packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day
The Young Lovers (“Say You Won’t Let Go” by James Arthur)
One of the most modern songs on the list comes from 2012 X-Factor winner, James Arthur. This song lends an air of nostalgia to the young lovers, the ones who met on dancefloors and in smoking areas, sloppy-drunk off Jaeger and the thrill of a new romance. Though much of those romances fall into the category of one-night stands and short-lived flings, some stand the test of time and evolve into big, real love.
I met you in the dark, you lit me up
You made me feel as though I was enough
We danced the night away, we drank too much
I held your hair back when
You were throwing up
The Shakespearean Lovers (“Romeo & Juliet” by Dire Straits)
Shakespeare said that “love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is wing’d cupid painted blind.” It is this Shakespearean kind of love that lingers in the background of many great love songs, including Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits. This song is a modern retelling of the classic play, replacing Shakespearean language with lyrics like, “You and me babe, how about it?”
I can’t do the talk like they talk on the TV
And I can’t do a love song like the way it’s meant to be
I can’t do everything but I’d do anything for you
I can’t do anything except be in love with you
The Gay Lovers (“Forrest Gump” by Frank Ocean)
Up until recently, it’s fair to say that hip hop was a genre mostly dominated by straight men. Then in the early noughties Frank Ocean burst onto the scene with a soul-infused hip hop album, Channel Orange, which contained tender songs of unconditional love. In an open letter, Ocean confirmed the song Forrest Gump was written about a man he fell in love with when he was nineteen. In few sweet words, the song explores the familiar depths of love and longing.
My fingertips, and my lips, they burn
From the cigarettes
Forrest Gump you run my mind boy
Running on my mind boy
Forrest Gump
All The Lovers (“So Long, Marianne” by Leonard Cohen)
Like much of Leonard Cohen’s poetic music, So Long, Marianne is a song that cannot be confined to one type or one ‘lover.’ It explores long-distant love, unrequited love, young love, growing-old love, idyllic love, messy love, and all the love in between. Marianne Ihlen to Leonard Cohen was all these things. They met in the 1960s on the Greek Island of Hydra and thus begun a love affair that remained until Marianne’s death in 2016. Just before her death, Cohen wrote her a letter that said “I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. […] I’ve never forgotten your love and your beauty. But you know that. […] Safe travels old friend. See you down the road. Love and gratitude.” Leonard died three months later, and I don’t think there’s a doubt in the world that they are together somewhere now.
For now, I need your hidden love
I’m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was braveSo long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again
And a few more that deserve a spot on the list . . .
“The Voyage” by Christy Moore
“If You See Her, Say Hello” by Bob Dylan
“Just Like Heaven” by The Cure
“Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way” by The Streets
“Who’d Have Known” by Lily Allen
“Too Late To Turn Back Now” by Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
“Do You Remember” by Jack Johnson
“September Song” by JP Cooper
“Calico Skies” by Paul McCartney
“I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You” by Tom Waits
“Still In Love With You” by Thin Lizzy
“I Don’t Know” by Lisa Hannigan
“A Rainy Night In Soho” by The Pogues
Happy Valentines Day!
