Annie's Song by John Denver

"Sometime In the Morning" by the Monkees

Oh, and "As We Go Along", also by the Pre-Fab Four.

Well, if ya wanna talk about The Monkees, how about, "I Want To Be Free"?

Bolero (used in the movie "Ten" [no words, though])
Music Box Dancer - Frank Mills (also - no words)
You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker

Harmony - Elton John
Maggie May - Rod Stewart

Which version of "I Wanna Be Free"? I prefer the original version, the faster one.

"Maggie May"? That's a little perverse. not much. Just a little.

How 'bout Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Reminiscing", "Lady" and "Happy Anniversary" by the Little River Band? Let's see, what else can I think of? "Help Me Rhonda" by the Beach Boys. "Close to You", the Carpenters. "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone (Though I hate it!). A wedding perenniel is Chicago's "Colour My World".

Some songs that are not as romantic as people think: "Happy Together" the Turtles. The band pointed this out. This is not about an actual relationship, it's a guy fantasizing about one. "Imagine me and you/I do."

"Every Breath You Take" - The Police. Sting is really shocked that this is played at weddings. It's about a guy being really obsessive with his girl. Almost a stalker.

"Sad Eyes" - Robert John. About a guy who's been cheating on his wife/girlfriend. The wife/girlfriend is returning and the guy tells his mistress that it's over. Amazingly, he tells "I never used you/You know I really cared." YOU WERE CHEATING ON YOUR WIFE/GIRLFRIEND! Of course you were using the person you're singing to!

""Every Breath You Take" - The Police. Sting is really shocked that this is played at weddings. It's about a guy being really obsessive with his girl. Almost a stalker. "

You're absolutely right.

As for my nomination, it has to be "Song For Whoever" by The Beautiful South. One of the funniest love songs ever.

Another possibility is "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits.

"Unchained Melody" - Righteous Brothers

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that yet. However, my favorite would have to be "Something" by the Beatles.

How about "You and I" or "Lately" by Stevie Wonder?

The Girl You Want - Devo (yerf-yerf)

Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water.

"Sad Eyes" - Robert John.
Yeah, I like this song. Oftentimes I don't listen closely enough to just what a song is saying, only if I can hear the lyrics clearly or not. This guy (amongst many others) once did a remake of the Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". The link is some background on the song that I'd just found while searching for "Wimoweh", which was the title some people recorded it as, such as folksinger, Pete Seeger.

Speaking of which, how about separate boards for Folk, Hard Rock, Rock, Pop, Metal, Country (Old, New, Bluegrass, etc.), Oldies (or perhaps one each for 50s, 60s, 70s, 90s and today's, since there's already one for the 80s), Dance, International, Rap, Hip-Hop (I despise those last two but maybe there's enough others here who like them enough to post about), Classical and Instrumentals, like from the 50s, 60s and 70s, since many great instrumentals came out during those eras, i.e. Green Onions, anything by Duane Eddie, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Classical Gas, The Entertainer (theme from the movie The Sting). Anyway, those are the only music topics that immediately come to mind.

Oops! My bad. I forgot that there's already the Favorite Classic Rock/Oldies Music board. Fifty lashes with a wet noodle for me now, I guess.

Supposedly, Art Garfunkel wrote the third verse to "Bridge". If you listen to it, it doesn't quite match the rest of the song thematically. Paul Simon's been pissed about that for years. I've also heard that the song could be a reference to herion. |shrugs| It's not my favorite Simon and Garfunkel song anyway. (That would be "The Sounds of Silence".)

"Angels" By Robbie Williams

>>The Girl You Want<<

I only mentioned Girl U Want because it is the closest song DEVO ever came to being called a "love song". (I could be wrong ... I currently only own "Devo - Greatest Hits" ... I need to aquire a copy of "Devo - Greatest Misses" to have a better knowledge of their musical depth)

BTW - I believe the song You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker not only doesn't have the word "love" in it's title, but isn't mentioned in the lyrics either!

You Make Me Feel Brand New
Betcha By Golly Wow
You’re a Big Girl Now
Let’s Put It All Together
You Are Everything

(I would include Stone in Love With You, but alas – it has LOVE in the title)

Would The Long and Winding Road fall into this category?

I'd say so.

"Lady" by Kenny Rogers
"Let's Hear It For the Boy" - Deniece Williams
"I've Had the Time of My Life" - Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
"Key Largo" - Bertie Higgins
"Romeo's Tune" - Steve Fobert
"On and On" - Stephen Bishop
"Slow Dancin' (Swaying to the Music)" - Johnny Rivers
"Easy" - The Commodores

I'd say "Three Times a Lady" by the Commodores, but it's actually a tribute to Lionel Ritchie's mom. But it is frequently taken to be a love song.

Hey! Where are the ladies' choices for "best romantic song without the word 'love'"?

Some more

"When I Need You" - Leo Sayer
"I Need You" - America
"The Air That I Breathe" - The Hollies
"Summer Breeze" - Seals and Croft

Bread's contributions ...

If
I Wanna Make It With You
Everything I Own
Diary (a slight stretch ... but hey, a nice tune)

"Little Wing" Jimi Hendrix...Wel I think so at least...

If You Leave Me Now - Chicago

"Longer" - Dan Fogelberg

"You Stay With Me" - Ricky Martin

"Into the Night" - Benny Mardones
"You and Me" - Alice Cooper
"How You Gonna See Me Now" - Alice Cooper

I would list my favorite song by Coop, "I Never Cry", but I'm not too sure it meets the criterion.

"The Humpty Dance" - Digital Underground
Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-A-Lot

You're a hopeless romantic, Captain.

How about Spinal Tap's "Sex Farm"?

Total eclipes of the heart.

"She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby

"Atomic Dog" by George "The Funkmaster" Clinton

Seriously, though. "This Kiss" by Faith Hill, or "The Girl Can't Help It" by Journey.

Benn, how about "Only Women Bleed"? ;-)

"Wonderful Tonight" by Clapton.

Do you know what "Only Women Bleed" is about, BF? No, not that. It's about battered women. Hardly romantic.

I gotta laugh at the suggestion of "Wonderful Tonight". Not at you, goog, or the song per se. I just know how Slowhand was inspired to write the song. He and his wife were going to a party, and were running late. Patti couldn't make up her mind about what to wear. She asked if the outfit she had on looked good. Eric to hurry things along, basically said, "Yeah, fine, you look wonderful. We're late." Despite its origins as a brush-off, it's become one of the most romantic songs in the rock and roll era.

Dangblastit!

I didn't mean to use THAT Alice Cooper song (which Bob Dylan wrote, if I remember correctly)! I was tired when I posted. I might as well have posted "You're All I Need" by Motley Crue!

(For those of you who don't know, "You're All I Need" is from the point of view of a guy who stabs his girlfriend to death in order to keep her from leaving him. Its my absolute least favorite Crue song.)

Uhhhh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, BF, but Coop wrote that with Dick Wagner. I just checked the credits on The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper box set.

I have my albums confused again, possibly. I do know that Alice Cooper did record a Bob Dylan written song. Someone I knew back in high school was a big, BIG Alice Cooper fan and played it for me (on a cassette player). That was more than 12 years ago, though.

Could you be thinking of "Just Like a Woman" by Bob Dylan?

Thought of these two:

"You Don't Have to Be A Star (To Be In My Show)" - Marylin McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.
and
"Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" - Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.

They are also guilty pleasures.

I've been letting this percolate in the old noggin for a while to see what would rise to the top. I've heard a lot of genuinely moving ballads through the years, some may even be too obscure for most folks to relate to (I remember when I suggested Tish Hinojosa's "Every Word" to my then-fiance for our wedding song, I got the old "you have got to be kidding" look. Then she heard it and the cynicism was gone, though we did eventually go with something else. At least I got to play a role in choosing it )

Here's what I've come up with-

"Dimming of the Day" by Richard and Linda Thompson, a nice moody one that'll just envelop you when the lights are low. "You pull me like the moon pulls on the tide"- well said, Richard.

Blah. I can think of precisely two romantic songs of any type that I like. Only one of them doesn't have the word love in is title. That one is "Forever Yours," from the soundtrack of the Broadway musical "Once On This Island." (Er, the first part, before the God of Death shows up and starts making deals.)

The song I forgot to mention is Send Me An Angel. I think its pretty romantic.

Don't remember the name of the band. I think it was Reel Life (?). They did a remake of the song several years after they first did it, and the remake became a big hit.

Also, Melt With You by Modern English. The original, not the version the group did when they reunited a few years ago.

God, I miss the `80's!

Real Life was the band that did "Send Me An Angel".

I love "I Melt With You".


The Eighties were good, but I miss the late Seventies.

I believe A Little Bit More by Dr. Hook is a quintessential love song without the word "love" in the title the same as Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful is ...

However, due to this discussion board's propensities ... maybe it should be
A Little Nit More ...

"Spanish Harlem Incident" by Bob Dylan (later by The Byrds)

Kiss and Say Goodbye – The Manhattans

I had to meet you here today
There’s just so many things to say
Please don’t stop me ‘til I’m through
This is something I hate to do.

We’ve been meeting here so long
I guess what we’ve done wasn’t wrong
Please darling don’t you cry
Let’s just kiss and say goodbye.

(couldn't decide if this tune fit here - or under guilty pleasures)

You want a lady's opinion? Okay:

Beautiful Gordon Lightfoot

Unforgettable Nat King Cole

Hello Again Neil Diamond

Your Song Elton John

Lady In Red Chris DeBurgh

If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful (not certain who sings this, but it was my sister's wedding song. )

You've Got a Way Shania Twain

Kathy's Song Simon & Garfunkel

Lady the Kenny Rogers version (yes, I know it was already mentioned)

Still the Commodores

Livin' la Vida Loca Ricky Martin (guilty pleasure, especially when accompanied by the video )

I'll Have to Say 'I Love You' in a Song Jim Croce

I'll Have to Say 'I Love You' in a SongJim Croce

Sorry, that one doesn't count. I believe that the word "Love" appears in the title.

Ooops. Got a little carried away there. Sorry. (But I still think it's a sweet song.)

That's OK, eh?

Just the Way You Are-Billy Joel

Funny, how that song's become a romantic anthem over the years.
Not that the lyrics can't be taken as a sweet expression of unconditional love. But Billy Joel originally wrote it in an effort to save his first marriage, and if you listen close to the original recording you can hear a distinct 'I'm trying here, but I don't think it'll do much good' quality to his performance.

As for Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are. Romanticism is a reflection on the listener. If I would expect a slap if I said, "I don't want clever conversation...I love you just the way you are." (You can be a dolt/ as long as you have big breasts/ I love you just the way you are.)

Wow, so there have been far too few mentions of The Beatles here...

Let's start off with "In My Life," by the Beatles.
Somebody already sniped "Wonderful Tonight." Good call.
"For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her," by Simon and Garfunkel.

And for everyone's info, Paul Simon wrote all the words to "Bridge Over Troubled Water." He wrote the first two verses and added the third later. The third verse (which is not about heroin) does tie in thematically with the other two, in that he's saying, "I'm here for you, so let's go out and kick some @$$..."

>>For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her

Good call. This one contains some flat-out beautiful imagery:

And when you ran to me, your/Cheeks flushed with the night/We walked through heathered hills/Of juniper and lamplight/I held your hand...

<Sound of the males in the audience scratching their heads in bewilderment...>

I've always thought this the most beautiful of S&G's songs, though often overlooked.

To move away from rock, how's about:
TILL THERE WAS YOU
THIS NEARLY WAS MINE
IF I WERE A BELL
SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU
BECAUSE OF YOU
DULCINEA (from "Man of La Mancha")
STARDUST
MOONLIGHT SERENADE
BODY AND SOUL
CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS
YOURS IS MY HEART ALONE
MY SHINING HOUR
BAUBLES, BANGLES AND BEADS

Can't We Be Friends

? Doesn't sound very romantic to me. (The others are great, tho.)

Technically, "Can't We" is about the loss of romance, keeping a stiff upper lip yet trying to hold on as she/he moves
away from you. Good renditions by Betty Carter & Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong. Which reminds me:
ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?
I HAVE DREAMED
ONE HAND, ONE HEART
KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE
MY HEART IS SO FULL OF YOU (from "The Most Happy Fella")
SOME ENCHANTED EVENING
ONE BOY (from "Bye Bye Birdie")
MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY
IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT
HEY, THERE (you with the stars in your eyes...)

An extremely obscure, extremely wonderful song by "Devo" called "I Desire".

Well, here I am at woik on Thanksgiving, there's nothing happening at my usual web site, and I have
no woik to do for a few minutes. So all I can do is think of more songs:
MY ROMANCE
MIDNIGHT SUN
WE KISS IN A SHADOW
ALWAYS
HAPPINESS IS A THING CALLED JOE (from "Cabin in the Sky")
I REMEMBER YOU
YOU'RE THE TOP
COME SOFTLY (anyone remember The Fleetwoods?)
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC
WINTER WAS WARM (from "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol"!)

And finally:
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS
YOU'VE GOT POSSIBILITIES
AIN'T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
MAKE BELIEVE (from "Showboat")
FROM THIS MOMENT ON
PERFECTLY MARVELOUS (from stage version of "Cabaret"; deleted from movie)
BLUE MOON
IF THIS WORLD WERE MINE
MARCELLA
AN ORDINARY COUPLE (from stage version of "Sound of Music"; deleted from movie)

I'll fill-in a few more references to Gary B.'s post ...
TILL THERE WAS YOU (from "The Music Man")
THIS NEARLY WAS MINE (from "South Pacific")
IF I WERE A BELL (from "Guys and Dolls")
SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU (based on the other songs in this list, probably NOT the Gun's 'N Roses song!)
BAUBLES, BANGLES AND BEADS (from "Kismet")

Derf, you are correct, sir! I've never heard Guns 'n Roses, so it's the old song, made popular by the Skyliners. And I'll fill in more blanks:
YOU'VE GOT POSSIBILITIES (from "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman)
ALWAYS (by I. Berlin; deleted from "The Cocoanuts," which starred the Marx Bros.)
MARCELLA (by Brian Wilson, I think, appears on Beach Boys album CARL AND THE PASSIONS/SO TOUGH)
WE KISS IN A SHADOW (from "King and I")

"SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU (based on the other songs in this list, probably NOT the Gun's 'N Roses song!)" - Derf

"I've never heard Guns 'n Roses, so it's the old song, made popular by the Skyliners." - Gary B.

Guns N' Roses did indeed cover the Skyliners' song on theit "The Spaghetti Incident?" album (arguably the worst album G n' R ever did.)

In 1982, Blue Oyster Cult's lead guitarist, Buck Dharma, recorded a cover version of "Come Softly". It's just him and his wife on vocals. Disc I of The Buck Dharma Archive has the demo version of it.

Another female perspective:

Book of Days, Enya-just a great song
Something, Beatles-self-explanatory
All the Way, Frank Sinatra-(I like how Celine did this on her greatest hits cd)-obvious
Un-break My Heart, You Mean the World to Me, Just Another Sad Love Song, Toni Braxton-Duh
The Reason, Tell Him*, It's All Coming Back to Me Now, Power of Love, Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion (oops) *Duet with Streisand-yup
I'll Make Love to You, On Bended Knee, Boyz II Men (whoopsy)-used to be nuts about 'em
Closer, Nine Inch Nails (oh, wait...wrong kind of "romance" :D)-aww, yeah

Hanging By A Moment - Lifehouse
Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N Roses
Wherever You Will Go - The Calling

Ya know, they're nohere near my favorite group (despite the stereotype). But I'm kinda particular to N Sync's God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You.

"Ya know, they're nohere near my favorite group (despite the stereotype)." - Mikey

You mean, in reality, you're a 10-14 year old girl?

(Sorry, Mikey. No offense intended. I honestly couldn't resist saying that. )

It Was a Very Good Year -Frank Sinatra
Rainy Day People -Gordon Lightfoot
Five Days in May -Blue Rodeo

And a few wonderfully poignant songs about romantic loss:

These Dreams -Jim Croce
Honesty -Billy Joel
And So it Goes -ditto
If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot
Laughing -Burton Cummings
Stay (I Missed You) - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

Some more that now spring to mind:

"More Than Words" - Extreme
"Here, There and Everywhere" - The Beatles
"Against All Odds" - Phil Collins [*not* the Wastelife & ME-riah Carey version...]
"Tears in Heaven" - Eric Clapton (whoever said love songs had to be about a man and a woman?)
"Lola" - The Kinks (ditto )
"(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" - Bryan Adams (#1 in the UK, seemingly for ever, yet surprisingly it has stood the test of time very well...)
"Nothing Compares 2U" - Sinead O'Connor (one of my all-time favourite love songs - Sinead just tells it like it is)

Excuse me for one second, please....

Oh, speaking of Bryan Adams, there was a legendary story of a British couple who wanted "the theme from Robin Hood" to be played at their wedding as the bride came down the aisle. Naturally, they meant the the Bryan Adams soundtrack that was #1 for 16 weeks in the UK, from the Robin Hood film starring Kevin Costner [spine shivers as I recall THAT accent]. However, the organist misinterpreted the request, so, on the big day, the music started playing - except it was the theme tune from the Robin Hood ITV series popular in the 1950s (i.e. "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen...")

[Source: another long-lost TV programme, "That's Life!"]

So anyway...

I don't find "Lola" to be a particularly romantic song...

However, getting back to the board theme...

"Babe" - Styx. Of course, I have some personal bias here... when this song came out, my GF was getting ready to go away for a year as an exchange student, so it had a bit of direct meaning to me...

I've recently have gotten a 45 (newly made at that!) of "A Very Good Year" performed by Dallas' own Reverend Horton Heat. It was pretty good. Of course, on The Simpsons, Homer did a parody of the song; "Pretty Good Beer".

While we're on the subject of Burton Cummings and songs about love lost(like we really were), there's his big, hit classic, "Stand Tall". Still one of my all-time favorites.

"Lola". Ray Davies has given so many different stories on what supposedly that song is about: it is a true story that happened to him, that happened to a friend he knows, or something he witnessed in a bar.

"Nothing Compares 2 U" of course, is a Prince composition (who finally reclaimed his real name this year). He released a live version on his The Hits/B-Sides compilation set.

When I was seventeen,
I drank some very good beer,
I drank some very good beer I purchased
With a fake ID,
My name was Brian McGee,
I stayed up listening to "Queen",
When I was seventeen...

Yet again, me:

"Nothing Else Matters," Metallica (give it a listen!)
"Come What May," Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge
"Wicked Game," Chris Isaak (not 'love you' romantic, but a HOT, STEAMY song...the way it's sung)
"Unforgettable," Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole
"Angel of Mine," Monica (sent the MP3 to my boyfriend...he liked it)
"Everlasting Love," Gloria Estefan (very upbeat, very Gloria)

"What a Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
(I'm a sucker for that one!)

Another one to add to the pile: "Fields of Gold" - Sting. Perhaps his best love song, and one of his best solo efforts.

I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold

AA!!!!

Sven, you beat me to that one!

Yeah, I love it. It's gorgeous:

Do you remember me
When the west wind moves
among the fields of barley

Feel her body rise
When you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold

And I'm shocked! I don't see "Time In a Bottle," Jim Croce, on here!

"Fields of Gold" was recently used in an advert (sung by a different person) for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, to signify good days past and loved oned long gone. The advert I saw was really sweet too, (people looking in the mirror seeing visions of a lost parent, etc.) one of the better ones as far as pleas for people to donate money to charitable causes go.

And speaking of Gordon Sumner, rather shockingly his "Every Breath You Take" (discussed waaaaaay back at the start of this board) is currently being used to advertise one of the UK's biggest building societies [I won't say which one]. They'll be watching us, indeed....

Hey, CC, good catch! How I missed Time in a Bottle I don't know - likely because most of Croce's stuff is about romance gone wrong.

In its own off-the-wall way, Train's Drops of Jupiter is about as romantic a song as I've ever heard. Ditto the Barenaked Ladies' Call and Answer.

And in a flat-out twisted way, there's BNL's I'll Be That Girl:
If you will not have me as myself
Perhaps as someone else
perhaps as you
I'll be worth noticing
Then even a eunuch won't resist
The magic of a kiss
From such as you...

Uh, CC, Gloria Estafan's song, "Everlasting Love" has the word "love" in the title, so it's not eligible for this this list. (Sorry. Just being nitpicky.)

Yeah, yeah...:p

Back atcha, CC.

Mariah Carey, "Underneath the Stars."
Also her cover of Journey's "Open Arms."

from her last good album, Daydream. You *must* hear the last track on it, "Looking In." Especially in proper context with the other songs on the album. It's beautiful, and lyrically wonderful.

Reaching way back;
"They Can't Take That Away From Me" by George and Ira Gershwin

Our romance won't end on a sorrowful note,
Though by tomorrow you're gone;
The song is ended, but as the songwriter wrote,
The melody lingers on.
They may take you from me, I'll miss your fond caress.
But though they take you from me, I'll still possess.

The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The memory of all that
No, no, they can't take that away from me

The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off key
The way you haunt my dreams
No, no, they can't take that away from me

We may never, never meet again
On the bumpy road to love
Still, I'll always, always keep the memory of

The way you hold your knife
The way we danced till three
The way you changed my life
No, no, they can't take that away from me
No, they can't take that away from me

We may never, never meet again
On the bumpy road to love
Still, I'll always, always keep the memory of

The way you hold your knife
The way we danced till three
The way you changed my life
No, no, they can't take that away from me
No, they can't take that away
Can't take that away
Can't take that away from me

How about "Ready Or Not" by After 7?

After 7 were an R&B/pop group in the early '90's, and "Ready Or Not" is one of my all-time favorite "slow" songs.

I keep a list of them and add to it when I am reminded of a slow song I like!

Also, "I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders reminds me of the love between two people. It's another one of my favorite slow songs!