Feb 3, 2011

Life's Soundtrack - Love Songs

<Love Conquers All>
Photo by Amarie and the i-Studio Flickr group

I had today's post written and ready to go, then I remembered Valentine's Day is just around the corner.  As a person facing yet another solo Valentine's, I'm looking for a reason to get in the spirit of the holiday.  Let's put together a Love Song playlist.  This one should be easy - love seems to be the most popular topic in music.  Let's try and include all kinds of love: new love, sweet love, sultry love, love found and even that elusive love eternal.

Our goal - a playlist so full of love that even a Valentine-Scrooge like me can get into the holiday.   For those of you not celebrating Valentines Day - I'm guessing even without a holiday there are always reasons to want a great playlist full of love songs.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
Bill Wither's - Ain't No Sunshine
Ray LaMontagne - Let it Be Me
Elvis Costello - She
Sarah McLachlan - I Love You
Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You
Dixie Chick's - Cowboy Take Me Away

I am so grateful to you all for your help with last week's list - Little Ones.  You came up with some amazing songs and I can't wait to share it with my niece.  I've loved listening to it and I'm sure she will too.  I'm excited to see which of the songs she picks up on and can't wait to see your musical tastes develop.  

To hear the playlist click on the sideways triangle in the middle of the embedded player above.  To skip to the next song or go back to the previous one click on the < or > on either side of the player.

Thanks to all of you for your comments and suggestions - every week I walk away having heard a new song or artist and adding them to my every growing list of favorites.  Don't forget to share your favorite love songs in the comments.

12 comments:

Amarie said...

Ah, I love Bill Withers - classic! Thank you for using my photo to represent these beautiful songs :-).

Anna said...

Jamie,
Thanks for making our lives richer with your music choices! Wow, my "little girl" is now an amazing college student. How fast time passes!

Maureen said...

I really enjoy listening to the play lists on my computer when I work on photos late at night.
I'm not sure if these songs are what you are looking for, but they are two of my favorites. I narrowed it to these two songs to use as the song for our first dance at our wedding reception.
Natalie & Nat King Cole - Unforgettable
and
Let's stay together by Al Green

Kelli said...

Jamie,
Another great play list - love it!
I posted some suggestions - but am having trouble with my internet.
Ugh!
I too, am a Valentine's bah humbug, except I got married on Valentine's Day. (One way to be sure you always have a valentine I guess!)
There are so many great love songs - I can't wait to see/hear them all.
Here are some off the top of my head:
Love Song - Tesla
Crystal - Fleetwood Mac
Would You Go With Me - Josh Turner
Me and Charlie Talking -Miranda Lambert
Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits
Have a great week!
Kelli

Unknown said...

Hello Jamie!
I'm a bit of a Valentine grinch as well. But I am a sucker for a good love song!

Shameless-Garth Brooks
Something-The Beatles
Wonderful Tonight-Eric Clapton

Love the thought of someone singing these songs to me! And I would also like to be:

Somebody's Chelsea-Reba

Have a great week!
Trudi

IVYALLOVER said...

Ahh Jaime another great list! You are amazing thanks for sharing these I am a total sucker for love songs *sigh*

blue elephant photography said...

love the playlist! we actually don't have "country" songs genre in the philippines but we have the love songs genre =) I like:
More than Words - Extreme
I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
Happy Together - The Turtles
Melt with You - Modern English
Here, There, and Everywhere - The Beatles

kelly@thebluemuse said...

you do such a great job with these lists... i think one of my favorite love songs is Tracy Chapman's The Promise
can't wait to listen next week!

Sassy said...

This is my favorite blog post each and every week. I so look forward to it! Thank YOU!

bee said...

Ah... love... so many beautiful songs that come to mind.

Jamie, I know you love Pearl Jam. One of my all-time favourite songs by them is "Wishlist". There are lines in that song that just make me melt into a giant puddle on the floor... "I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on...". SWOON.

Two of the greatest love songs for me are by R.E.M. The first is "Be Mine". The simplicity of the chorus "You and Me..." combined with the complexity and beauty of the verses. SWOON. And then there's "At My Most Beautiful"... where he is talking about her sleeping and says "I count your eyelashes, secretly. With every one whisper I love you..." (Now I'm SERIOUSLY swooning).

Oh... and Josh Ritter... I think you like him too, Jamie... his song "Good Man", which may be a love song about his girl or his guitar (I'm not sure, but also not sure it matters)... um... now I'm really swooning... oh dear.

Oh....... but wait... there's Ron Sexsmith... Foolproof... which, you might think when you start listening is a song about shutting yourself away from love... but wait until the end, and I think Ron will surprise you...

And then... there's Bloc Party's Ion Square, where the chorus contains a line from my favourite love poem by e.e. cummings... "I carry your heart..." (I recommend checking out both the song AND the poem).

(Do you notice I seem to be drawn to love songs by men with guitars? Hmm.)

Just to show that I like female singers too, I think the Cranberries "Dreams" is one of the loveliest songs about love that I have ever heard.

Anyway... as you can see, I *may* be a hopeless romantic... as such, I am REALLY looking forward to doing lots of swooning over next week's playlist!

-Bee

Prairie Girl Studio said...

hi jamie!

what a brilliant mix for the 'little ones' ... : )
i say they should be playing these in school hallways during lunch hour ... uplifting and positive ... : )

just one song for your love song list ...
our song always ...
after twenty years ...

crosby stills nash and young
our house
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUADeRYIwW0

much love to you ~
xo
pg

Lori said...

Thank you! Love it.