From songs newlywed couples slow dance to at their wedding ceremony, to songs declaring one’s devotion to their significant other, the music genre of love contains a wide variety of music styles cherished throughout history. Each era of history has had its staple love songs that blow listeners away with their meaningful and unique lyrics. Every song has something in common: they all tell a story. When listening to love songs, whether as a hopeless romantic or as an individual truly in awe of someone, paying attention to lyrics is an experience like no other. Here are some of the best love songs throughout the years and the meanings behind their lyrics:
“Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Elvis Presley – 1961
The “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley, produced one of the most beautiful love songs describing the feeling of falling in love with someone. “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is a short song that stresses the overwhelming power of emotions, stating, “Wise men say / Only fools rush in / Oh, but I, but I, I can’t help falling in love with you,” meaning he knows that it is best to take action slowly when it comes to someone you admire, but his profound love forces it to play out otherwise, unable to stop himself from giving in to his emotions. In the main chorus, Presley creates a metaphor comparing his love to the constant flow of a river, establishing the certainty he holds for loving this person. Moreover, Presley nears the end of the song with the lyrics, “Take my hand / take my whole life too,” declaring his devotion and commitment. Overall, the infatuation one holds for their lover in the moment they feel their heart throbbing sums up the meaning of this timeless love song.
“Something” by The Beatles – 1969
Easily one of the greatest bands in history, the Beatles’ love songs do not fail to describe the feeling of love. A song Frank Sinatra deemed the greatest love song at the time, “Something” from the Beatles’ eleventh studio album “Abbey Road,” blends soft rock with lyrics dedicated to guitarist George Harrison’s love for Pattie Boyd, his wife at the time. Harrison began to write this song toward the end of recording for “The Beatles” studio album, yet he could not settle on the rest of the lyrics, causing the song to be pushed back. The song starts with, “Something in the way she moves / Attracts me like no other lover,” showing that Harrison knows there is something different about her, incomparable to any other feeling he has had. The ambiguity and more undercover meaning behind the remaining lyrics is what makes it such a great and well known love song, bringing larger emphasis to the dedication behind it. Harrison’s songwriting did not see much time in the spotlight, with this being his only piece to top the U.S. charts while in the band.
“From This Moment On” by Shania Twain – 1997
This song makes choosing music for a wedding just a bit easier, with its entirety resting on the love a newly married couple has for each other from that moment on the altar. Twain starts off the song with a testament to her love, saying she will always be there for her partner. The song itself sounds a bit like wedding vows, truly showing the everlasting commitment one longs for in a relationship. The lyrics, “I’d give anything and everything / And I will always care / Through weakness and strength / Happiness and sorrow / For better, for worse / I will love you / With every beat of my heart,” read like vows and lyrically expresses the love a bride and groom promise to give each other through the good and bad of their future together. The main chorus sets the scene, with the exact “moment” where a couple promises to be there for each other: “From this moment / As long as I live / I will love you / I promise you this / There is nothing / I wouldn’t give / From this moment on.” The repetition of “this moment” tells the listener that there will be one particular moment in life when they know they have found their person, whether that is in the present or in the future.
“Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay – 2014
The Coldplay hit, “Sky Full of Stars” uses an extended metaphor comparing one’s lover to stars, stating that loving this person is the brightest part of their life, lighting up a path of happiness. “Cause you’re a sky, ‘cause you’re a sky full of stars / I’m gonna give you my heart / ‘Cause you’re a sky, ’cause you’re a sky full of stars / ‘Cause you light up the path,” makes an emphasis to the enthralling and beautiful stars in the sky and relates them to exactly what the narrator sees in their lover. As the beat of the song begins to build up, the narrator announces one’s intense love for the other, saying that no matter what this person does, they will keep loving them. “I don’t care, go on and tear me apart / I don’t care if you do,” demonstrates immense passion, because the narrator does not care if this person hurts them, they are so madly in love and are willing to take any slight risk of rejection. Ultimately, “Sky Full of Stars” puts a listener in the mind of a person who is so madly in love, comparing their lover to the stars and defining unconditional love.
“You Are in Love” by Taylor Swift – 2014
If a pivotal moment in one’s love life was transformed into a song, “You Are in Love” by Taylor Swift would be the one doing the job. This hit song from Swift’s fifth studio album, “1989,” gives the listener a descriptive and imaginative series of events preceding the exact moment one falls in love, the day after and everything in between. As one listens, the small interactions and details such as, “Buttons on a coat,” “Light-hearted joke,” “Coffee at midnight” and “He says, ‘Look up,’” a scene is created to emphasize how one truly remembers every detail of the moment they fall in love, because it is an incomparable and unique feeling. Through these meaningful interactions, the love intensifies and the pair connects so much that, “You can hear it in the silence, silence, you / You can feel it on the way home, way home, you / You can see it with the lights out, lights out / You are in love, true love.” After spending a night together, the pair realize that they have found true love and declare their devotion to each other, eventually describing their happiness as “dancing in a snow globe,” giving them their own little world to cherish what they have.
“The One” by Kodaline – 2015
In my opinion, “The One” by Kodaline has some of the most beautiful lyrics to be written in a song. The poetic lines invite the listener on a journey describing the experience of finding a soulmate and the eternal love that accompanies it. Initially, the song announces the downsides of a relationship, such as disagreements, but makes it known that, “I’ll be yours completely, for better or for worse / I know, we’ll have our disagreements / Be fighting for no reason, I wouldn’t change it for the world,” shedding light on the common arguments any healthy relationship experiences, yet the love they have overpowers all of it. The speaker brings the listeners back to the first day he met his lover, feeling nervous yet having a feeling he would never let them go. The chorus, “You make my heart feel like it’s summer / When the rain is pouring down / You make my whole world feel so right when it’s wrong / That’s how I know that you are the one,” is a beautiful representation of love; the kind of passionate speech one would make in a romantic rain scene in a movie. Even throughout the challenges in life, the speaker uses a simile to show that this person, like summer, brings warmth and life, making him feel alive and content amidst the rain symbolizing the hardships faced. Finally, the lyrics, “Life is easy to be scared of / With you I am prepared for / What is yet to come / Cause our two hearts will make it easy / Joining up the pieces / Together making one,” confesses that the speaker is ready to face life alongside his significant other, and somehow, all those fears go away when they are together as one. While describing this person as “the one” for him, they ultimately “make one” as they will never part ways.
“Everywhere, Everything” by Noah Kahan – 2022
A more recent love song, Noah Kahan’s “Everywhere, Everything” from his album “Stick Season” captures a beautiful and powerful sentiment of loving someone in the face of challenges and mortality. The song touches on the fragility of life, and how unexpected turns could bring an end to everything, yet love will still remain indestructible. Kahan’s lyrics, “We didn’t know that the sun was collapsing / ‘Til the seas rose and the buildings came crashing,” introduce the topic of hardships that the individuals in this relationship did not foresee. Following this, Kahan writes “Everywhere, everything / I wanna love you ’til we’re food for the worms to eat / ‘Til our fingers decompose / Keep my hand in yours,” which in itself is a lyrical masterpiece that encapsulates the power of love in the face of death, wanting to spend every last minute together even if that means until they are “food for the worms to eat,” and holding hands during their last moments. This song is a testament to loving someone until “death do us part,” as well as cherishing life and living in the present; the world is full of events beyond our understanding and its unpredictability should push us to just live in the moment with those we admire.
