Love Songs, Part II

Though it didn't take long to make a list of Love Songs, there was still quite a bit of thought in it.

A few notes to preface the list:
1. It had to be about love. Not about getting dumped by love, or having your love unreturned, or yearning for love, etc., but about actually being in love with someone who loves you back. This took out a lot of songs, even songs I totally love, like Yaz's "Only You" - because the love is lost - or Brandi Carlile's "Have You Ever" - because while I find it a love song, there's nothing really about love in there.
2. I had to like the song and really know the song. So there are some love songs that are pretty classic ("God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, or Van Morrison's "Have I told you Lately that I love you?", for example) that I know vaguely but as a pure song aren't really my favorites.
3. The Cheese Factor. I teeter fairly dangerously on this cliff, because any love song can be beautiful and still cheesy - either from violins playing or by being so overplayed it loses its power or just the pure lyrics - but in the end this killed Dan Fogelberg's "Longer" and Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" and a few other songs.

So without further ado....

As mentioned - freebie - Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes. The only song in my whole iTunes library I give 5 stars to. Or, as a friend said, the one song made two careers. (Peter Gabriel's & John Cusack's.) I'd argue Peter Gabriel was already made, but it certainly placed him into legendary iconic god status.

1. Anniversary Song by the Cowboy Junkies. A beautiful song about the simple pleasures of being with someone else. "Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful as a face in the crowd that lights up just for you? Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful as when you wake by the side of that boy or that girl who has pledged their love to you? Well I've known all these things, and the joys that they can bring, and now every morning there's a cup of coffee and I wear your ring."
2. Perfect Moment by Darden Smith. I think you have to have been around the block a few times to appreciate this song. It's about how you have to get to a certain place in your life before you're really able to have that perfect moment and really connect to someone else. "Lucky that we did not meet, ten years back on the street. So many pages yet to turn, so many dreams still to burn, Oh but I don't cry for the wasted years, Or the twisted roads that got me here. I have been to the end of the earth and I know what standing still is worth."
3. It Must Be Love by Madness. Sheer joy of love from a band much better known for their happy-go-lucky ska tunes... this one was just a celebration.
4. Power of Two by the Indigo Girls. "If we ever leave a legacy, it's that we loved each other well." I had a definite tendency toward songs where love had lasted, and this song is about two people with great respect and love for one another who are more than they would be because of each other. YES!
5. This is Us by Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris. A couple looking back on their love, from their wild days, to being married, to having a child, to celebrating their anniversary with their family. Another tale of love that has lasted.
6. True Companion - Marc Cohn. Teetering dangerously on the "cheese" cliff (it's a crumbly cliff, and slightly stinky), this song makes it for me because of the intensity of his voice and his emotion. I think the very fact that it's a guy being so gushy carries tremendous power: guys don't do that. But he's so overwhelmed by love, he lays it all out there.
7. Annie's Song by John Denver. Likewise teetering on the cheese cliff - yes, there are violins in this song - and influenced at least in part by my being an Annie. But this was Denver's true love, and gorgeous imagery of the outdoors and love.
8. With Arms Wide Open - Creed. My last selection that teeters on the cliff of cheese. I always thought this song was about a guy who screwed up ("it seems my life is going to change") and got nailed for it ("I hope he's not like me, I hope he understands..."). But it appears that I simply couldn't understand the lyrics: he's singing about finding out he's going to have a baby and standing in awe of creating new life. He's embracing it with arms wide open. That's not only love, it's a leap of faith.
9. Have a Little Faith in Me - John Hiatt. One of the most powerful aspects of love is that when you start tackling the toughest and most intimate subjects you can think of, and the other person still loves you, all kinds of things become possible. That's what this song is about for me - seeing that fear, risking letting the other person in, and having that risk be rewarded.
10. One Step Closer to You - Michael Franti & Spearhead. As an aside, perhaps my favorite album ever - the more you listen, the better it gets. Another song about being hurt, but risking love anyway.

"I let go of my broken dreams
I let go to the mystery
And I believe in the miracles
I believe in the spiritual
I believe in the one above
I believe in the one i love
& take one step closer to you
I just take one step closer to you
Even when i've fallen down
My heart says follow through
I take one step closer to you."

Pink sings backup vocals on this song.Well, there you have it. My top 10 (11) love songs. Enjoy!!