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October 31, 2011
10. Percy Sledge, "When A Man Loves A Woman" (1966)
Lyrically, "When a Man Loves a Woman" covers the full range of sentiments about love and the human condition, in just under three minutes. Love hurts. Only love can break your heart. It's a thin line between love and hate. Love stinks. Love is like a heatwave. Love is like oxygen. My world is empty without you. Love to love you baby. When you look in the dictionary under "L" for love song, Sledge's timeless classic ballad could be the only definition. — Bruce Warren, of WXPN
Listen: Percy Sledge, "When A Man Loves A Woman"
9. Elvis Presley, "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" (1961)
"Take my hand / Take my whole life, too" — what two-line entreaty packs more of the selflessness and devotion of true love than that? But there's trepidation here as well: the very human fear of being consumed by something so wonderful and inevitable. And Elvis's performance is gold. — A.H.
Listen: Elvis Presley, "Can't Help Falling in Love With You"
8. Beatles, "Something" (1969)
Love can be full of doubt, but sometimes all we have to do is take a good look at our partners and realize that no matter what happens, the present we have is the most beautiful time of all. This may be a fairly literal translation, but I say, "Testify, Brother Harrison!" The future is uncertain, but the song's emotional swell tells us that today the answer is yes. — Linda Park, of SXSW
Listen: Beatles, "Something"
7. Etta James, "At Last" (1961)
If you mention this song at a party, at least one couple — probably more — will yell, "That's our song!" Its universal appeal may lie in its simplicity: if you've ever been in love, you can relate to the lyrics. — Confusion, of Pigeons and Planes
Listen: Etta James, "At Last"
6. Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made To Love Her" (1967)
This song, cowritten with Wonder's mother, is a true story. It's a delightful, rambunctious, two-and-a-half minutes that tell the tale of childhood sweethearts who passed the test of time. Is there anything sweeter than love that endures? — Linda Park, of SXSW
Listen: Stevie Wonder, "I Was Made To Love Her"
5. Ben E. King, "Stand By Me" (1961)
Writing about "Stand By Me" — in its devastating simplicity — almost seems superfluous. They don't make songs of devotion much purer or more spine-tingling than this. — P.S.
Listen: Ben E. King, "Stand By Me"
4. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (1967)
Ignore its overuse in feel-good movies, and focus on the pure, searing emotion in the vocals and the soaring, complex arrangement — if this song isn't a portrait of true love, then I don't ever want to know what is. — A.H.
Listen: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
3. Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (1967)
Gerry Goffin and Carole King's lyrics about finding purpose and joy through love are heartfelt on their own. Add in vocals from the Queen of Soul, and you have a love song for the ages. — K.H.
Listen: Aretha Franklin, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"
2. The Beatles, "In My Life" (1965)
Beyond the unforgettable six-note guitar entry and Bach-inspired piano bridge of "In My Life" are some of the most moving lyrics ever written. The simple reflection on the past, and the love of one person who brings it all together, transcends time and makes you reflect on what really matters. — Lydia Simmons, of Sunset in the Rearview
Listen: The Beatles, "In My Life"
1. The Beach Boys, "God Only Knows" (1966)
Two friends danced to this song at their wedding, and it was one of the most romantic things I've ever witnessed. We all felt a little more love that night as the lights twinkled down on us and Carl Wilson made us all ponder a moment over who we'd be without our partners on that dance floor. The joy mixed with melancholy sentiment in the lyrics captures perfectly what it is to be connected in this life. — Linda Park, of SXSW
Listen: The Beach Boys, "God Only Knows"
Commentarium (84 Comments)
This is good; really good.
I'd trade any of the Beatles picks for "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
doesn't really fit what they're talking about in the intro.
Really? I considered that, but I think it does. Maybe a bit more innocent a romance than most of the others, but definitely something you could play for someone you're in a relationship with saying, "This is how I feel about you." And I think its innocent glee is what makes it stand out amongst other love songs.
"Please say to me you'll let me be your man" = they're not in a relationship yet, at least by our reckoning.
The fact that he refers to her as "my love," or is saying that he loves her, to me would indicate that they are in a relationship. But I can see where you're coming from, so, fine.
fuck yes
Yes! Yes! Yes! "Something" was the other Beatles song!!!
A singer guy by the name of Francis Sinatra was of the opinion that "Something" was the greatest love song ever written.
I like the choices, but the Crystals' 'Then He Kissed Me' and the Ronettes' 'Be My Baby' really need to be mentioned.
Two great additions, I agree.
These are good! Ah, the quaint days before being "my main bitch" became a term of endearment.
Ah, the quaint days when public racism was still permissible...oh wait, looks like that's still happening!
How do you figure?
Well, the use of "bitch" as a general or affectionate term for a woman was popularized in rap, a primarily poor black art form.
On the other hand, if Dea was complimenting the above list, she is clearly not denigrating the many contributions of black artists to the field of saying "I love you."
Thanks, nope! That's a really good point actually. I concede...mostly.
I still think (white) people tend to separate black people and their music into good (60s/70s) and bad (everything after). Or more bluntly, acceptable and unacceptable. Which completely trivializes the legitimacy of rap/hip-hop as a voice to the contemporary black experience and leads to condescension and moralizing. Yeah the music can be rude and politically incorrect sometimes, but if that's how they feel, they are more than entitled to say so. Censorship doesn't do anything except make insecure white people feel better. People (again: mostly white) need to remember you don't need to approve of every aspect of an artist's personality and history to enjoy their work. If that were the case, I'd be missing out on great works of art by Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, D.W. Griffith, and many others.
I picked a good day to wear my "I LYKE MYKE" button.
I thought this was a great list. Honestly not really sure how or why you got where you did from my comment, but in any case, let me attempt to clarify. My point was not to idealize the 60s socially or even musically. There's obviously some good music being made today, including rap, hip-hop, love songs, and rap/hip-hop love songs. I do think good love songs -- which I would define as the authors did -- "songs you could play to your current squeeze immediately after saying, "Steve/Miriam, this song explains my feelings for you, which may be nuanced but are ultimately positive," and not expect to sleep on the couch" -- are a bit harder to come by these days. If my boyfriend called me his main bitch, he would be sleeping on the couch. I don't know any woman (of any race or musical tastes) who would melt over being called that. It just doesn't give us the warm fuzzies, you know? I'm not a musical expert, but I can't say I've ever heard any songs of any genre sung by women where they use the term "bitch" in a positive way or as a term of endearment. I don't think that language has morphed in a way that has made the word benign, let alone a term of endearment, as it seems you are arguing. Actually, I would say that being called a historically (and currently) derogatory term applied exclusively to females and being told to shut up and accept it because the (male) user *obviously* meant if affectionately, jeez, why do you get so upset about being dehumanized (remember: bitch = female dog) is pretty sexist. I just tried to think of a comparable term for men to give you an example of how it would come off, but could't because there really aren't any words applied exclusively to men to demean them, which I think says something. Anyway, don't mean to start a long or aggressive internet argument here, but I think if there is a word that has been used to oppress or demean a group of people, that group should be the ones to decide if and how the meaning of that word changes, who can use it, etc. (see the different meanings and evolution of the N word in different contexts and by different people).
Oh, and totally agree on this! Makes a lot of people miss out on some good and often insightful music.
@Dea: There are definitely women that have used the word "bitch" in an affectionate sense, or, more commonly, just a general term for women that isn't intended to be insulting. (I can't think of one off the top of my head; my first thought was 'My Bitch Bad,' but it's actually 'My Chick Bad.') If you find it derogatory and insulting, that's fine. Most people would agree with you. But there is definitely a difference in race and socio-economic usage of the word "bitch."
@Myke: I would say people are just as prone to making that declaration about white people music. (60's/70's music was the real deal, now it's all asinine shit about partying and getting drunk!)
Well look at this, I agree with all of you! Don't worry Dea, I understand where you're coming from now. Looks like I misinterpreted the intent of your comment, sorry. As far as pop music's evolution, I think you're somewhat correct, but there are some pretty earnest little pop tunes floating around even to this day; Bruno Mars built a career out of it, even, and the ladies love him for it. As for the darker side of male-female relations, you're right in claiming Bitch to be pretty inherently chauvinistic, if not outright misogynistic in some cases. I don't think it necessarily has to connote disdain and superiority, but there's no doubt that it often does, certainly enough that you can make a pretty fair generalization about it. Either way, I'm glad to see you're not just trying to attack black music. I see that so often that I just tend to assume anything remotely disparaging toward black music is racist. My mistake :).
And you're also right nope, though I think white music needs less defense as it has a long and well-established history of quality. Black music has been suppressed and undercut practically since it was born.
To make a play on words, rap is not a "primarily poor black art form" but to me the absolutely worst black art form. And yes I do get the inherent paternalism in the fact that many a white guy like me prefers the blues, where black people lament their lot, to rap, where they get off their collective asses and stand up for themselves in a sometimes aggressive way.
What makes you say that, GeeBee? That's an honest question. There's as much musical prowess in rap as there is in any other genre. Rappers also have to think of rhymes and make rhythms, much like white people (and blues artists). Sure some rap sucks, but that's true of any genre. The best rap (and there's plenty of it) is just as worthy of recognition as blues or jazz or R&B, in my opinion.
Don't really know. I just doesn't float my boat. Much of it seems as much musical to me as the ramblings of the mentally ill on the street. All that high-speed rhyming to me seems like a party trick, one that has gone on way too long.
OMG YES Someone willing to be unfairly being called a racist for standing up for sweet tunes and soft romantic lyrics.Name one rap song you'd listen to over a romantic dinner you were hoping to open a sweet gals heart ??
The thing about this list is I feel like they got all the artists right but none of their best love songs, just their most popular.
OK Nerve, well D. Lots of good ones on the list. In ThugPatience's book, Sam Cooke's best love song is You Send Me.
No Al Green? Come on white hipsters - Get real.
Given that Al Green's didn't have his first hit until 1970, that seems uncalled for, probably-also-white probably-also-hipster. Maybe it is actually you who should get real?
You got me. I didn't notice the "60's". Nasty has overreacted. I apologize.
@Buck - Au contraire, mon ami méchant. I believe that Buck has overreacted, not Nasty. Nasty was operating true to form.
Touché mon frére.
"You're all I need to get by" - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Recorded while Terrell was suffering from a brain tumor that would ultimately take her life. Can't listen to that w/out getting choked up.
This is one of your better lists
Agreed. Can't wait for the 70's.
and the list for the 80s and the 90s and the 00s!
Can we have this as a double CD?
Great list, but definitely missing "Never My Love" by The Association.
Great song!
Yes Hell Yes!!!!!!!! My favorite songs are here Something and God only knows!!!!! Great job guys!
Finally, a good list! Sweet Thing was a great choice, Something was sort of expected (I would have gone with If I Fell or I Will, personally), and I'd was thought of In My Life as more of a mid-life crisis, existentialist sort of tune, but ok. Consider With a Girl Like You also.
If I Fell doesn't really fit our criteria, but I Will is a great one.
"Days" by the Kinks is a terrific love song -- sure it's a reflection of one's love post-breakup (which might nix it, given the criteria), but really: "I'll thank you for the days/those endless days/those sacred days/you gave me." The narrator really knows what, er, the power of love is.
You guys do realise that "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5 was released in 1969, don't you?
see intro
@nope - are you a dude? I just have NEVER encountered a woman of any race who loved being called a bitch. It's usually not great to rely on anecdotal evidence but for real...
(being called a bitch by their partner, or even "my bitch"). Friends and joking are different, but it only has romantic associations as far as being called someone's property does...
No, I am not a dude. Nor I would I say I love being called a bitch. I was just pointing out that the use of the word "bitch" outside of an insult is primarily amongst black people. (I don't think "my bitch" implies property any more than "my man" does; most terms of endearment have an aspect of possessiveness, that doesn't inherently make them derogatory.) I would say that there are contexts in which "bitch" is affectionate or just a general term for women, neither affectionate nor insulting. That's really all I'm trying to say.
Perhaps the best way to think of it is the neither-affectionate-nor-insulting way. So calling someone a "sexy bitch," or "my bitch" could be compared to a "sexy lady" or "my lady." The only thing that make the word "bitch" more insulting is social context, which can vary from person to person.
To back this up, girls were all over David Guetta's "Sexy Bitch" a few years ago (the one with Akon). It was like an anthem for them. The song even talked about trying to find a way to describe an attractive girl without being disrespectful. Of all the possible word configurations, Sexy Bitch was what Guetta and Akon chose. So clearly it is a matter of context. That's not to say it wasn't almost universally negative in the past and that it still can be today, but I like nope's point about "my man," which is pretty analogous to "my bitch" these days.
Keep in mind this is all from a male perspective, so I may be missing out on the actual experience of being unironically called someone's bitch, but I still maintain that the tide is turning.
Also, who can forgot the elegant, heartfelt "Smack My Bitch Up" by the Prodigy. I have yet to meet a white woman that doesn't love that song.
Any man or woman (especially a man) that calls me a bitch should expect to loose some teeth. If a man refers to me as "his bitch", he should also expect to loose his balls. This is not a sign of the tide turning. It's a sign that misogyny still rules. In hip hop, "bitch" has become a catch-all term, where the easy girl down the street is a bitch because she has no self-respect, but your actual girl is also your "main bitch". For whatever reason, there is a level of hierarchy among the "bitches". Either way, women did not create this system themselves, it was decided by men. My point, songs (of any genre) with women running around calling themselves bitches in a positive light are rare. Any human being that thinks there is something cute or amazing about equating women to a different species of animal is a f*cking idiot.
I hate to bring it here, but this argument could be applied to the use of Nigger by black people. Nigger was undeniably created as a word to demean black people, and now it's been enthusiastically co-opted by that same race.
Now, let's be clear here: I am not defending the word Bitch, nor do I even use it myself. I'm just saying that a word can have negative connotations at first and slowly lose its edge over the years. This does not mean every use of the word Bitch is friendly or affectionate (much like Nigger, to this day), nor does it mean every woman should be proud to be called a Bitch. I'm just saying it's not automatically considered an insult anymore. There are exceptions. And as someone up above said, it's up to each individual woman to decide if they want to 'reclaim' the term or not. If they do, cool. If not, perfectly understandable. It's not my place to tell any woman what she should allow herself to be called.
I don't recall hearing black people refer to themselves as "niggers"... There are plenty of blacks out there offended by the n-word regardless of how what letters are added/dropped, just like there are scores of women out there that are offended by the word bitch. Just because a few people in a group like to be objectified, does not mean the whole group should be insulted as well. How about we just stop calling others stupid names, geez...
Wait... you've never heard a black person refer to themselves or another black person as a "nigger"? I mean, without a doubt there is a class aspect to it as well (a poor white person is more likely to use the term than a rich black person), but it's not uncommon.
And what people like GoThere seem to be missing is that neither me nor Myke are arguing that you NEED to like being called a "bitch," that everyone ought to be called a "bitch," or that you have no right to get offended by whatever offends you. Merely that to some people, in some contexts, it is not objectifying or derogatory.
Black people did not decide to be "niggers," gay people did not decide to be "faggots," women did not decide to be "bitches." But when those words are reclaimed, that's a good thing, an empowering thing -- it takes the ability to objectify and demean away from the words, it doesn't further their power. The words themselves have no intrinsic power, only the weight you give them.
TL;DR: Bitches all up in my shit.
Yeah seriously. I hate to keep stoking this fire, but I find it hard to believe you've never heard a black people use the word Nigger in a non-derogatory way. It's hardly some obscure piece of slang. Class is also a factor, as nope pointed out, but it's a pretty common feature in contemporary black culture.
But anyway, there's no defense of objectification here. I'm just saying that language evolves and is full of nuance. That's all. This really is a nice article, so I hate to see it being swallowed up in this nitpickiness (my fault, I'm aware, though I do think this is a debate worth having. Just not here).
**black people, no need for that 'a.' I need to proofread more.
Sonny and Cher--I Got You Babe. Duets get extra points.
Oh hell no. That song is an earworm for the ages.
"I Was Made to Love Her" is probably my favorite R&B/Soul song. I can't listen to it without getting a little teary-eyed. I can only imagine how much love you can feel for someone in order to express wanting to build your world around them. Swoon...
I would possibly also add "Love Gone Bad" by Chris Clark.
It's a shame, Nerve posts a really cool article and some asshole trolls try to make it negative. Tsk tsk...
The inclusion of "Killing Me Softly" by Roberta Flack would have made this list a bit juicier.
Killing Me Softly was 1971. Hence not the 60's.
I'd replace In My Life with "And I Love Her," myself.
Dylan has much better love songs than Lay Lady Lay imo (e.g., I Want You, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, To Ramona,)
What, are Supremes too pop for this list? Second biggest act behind the Beatles, the classic Motown sound. "Someday We'll Be Together" is a masterpiece.
"I still think (white) people tend to separate black people and their music into good (60s/70s) and bad (everything after)."
I'm black and I pretty much do the same thing. 90's rap was good though. You gotta wonder where mainstream rap can go from here.
Mainstream anything sucks. I'm big on dubstep but I don't listen to Skrillex or Bassnectar. The early 00s is when dubstep was good, and I'm always quick to make the distinction when I say "I listen to dubstep." But yeah, good rap's still being made. You just don't hear any of it on the Top 40.
I think it's kind of interesting how the Top 40 has fallen in people's opinion over the years. I mean, this whole article is a celebration of popular love songs, many of them Top 40-ers themselves. But now everyone knows not to trust anything that plays on the radio. Was it always this way? Did everyone hate the songs in this article when they first came out? Will we see an article celebrating Ke$ha and Katy Perry in a decade or two?
Thank G*D you included the Righteous Brothers in your Best Love songs from the sixties. Now I won't have to stop looking at Nerve.
Knights in White Satin.
How is "Piece Of My Heart" not here? Nobody's sleeping on the couch after hearing that one. Rough, crude, dysfunctional, certainly not PC, but it's love, and powerful, and qualifies as "great" in most everybody's book. Janis epitomized the 60's and when this song came out we were absolutely stunned - and never really got over it.
It's a breakup song. A "take me back" song. A great song, but not a song of love between two people.
Great list. Hard to argue with any of the songs on this list!
um, you DO realize that Elvis did not write "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"? You would think that the writers deserve some credit! The song was written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss.
All the way from England with a typically English suggestion of pure teenage-hand-holding-coy morality. Manfred Mann 'doo wah diddy diddy'. Conjures up first love and fairgrounds to me. 1964 I believe, when I was a mere stripling.
Missing some serious propers for the works of great song-writers - Kris, Carole, Joni, Stephen and a whole lotta Motown,
No Led Zeppelin's "Thank You"?
Bee Gees "To Love Somebody"
yes. me like that one too!
"God Only Knows" is good, but I like "I Can Hear Music" better.
Wow! Great thiknnig! JK
Smack-dab what I was liookng for-ty!
Wow, that's a really clveer way of thinking about it!
You missed four from the 1964 London stage production of Robert and Elizabeth, based on the story of the poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning: I Said love, You Only to Love Me, I Know Now and Escape me Never. Doesn't get any better than those.
To have not one mention of KIND WOMAN by Buffalo Springfield tells me none you got near Golden Gate Park in the 60s . LOL
I wish "As" by Stevie Wonder was on this list. "Until the day that 8x8x8 is 4...I'll be loving you always"