The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The mem’ry of all that
No, no they can’t take that away from me.
Same with “That’s Not Her Style”, which comes closest in
“Shameless” suggests this, and maybe a few other Billy Joel songs.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” has a merely adequately pretty woman:
A fair number of Bob Dylan’s songs to/about women don’t praise the woman’s beauty or love for him (“Just Like A Woman”, “Love Minus Zero”, “Tangled Up In Blue”, etc.)
Brad Paisley: It’s mentioned, but not the majority of the song
She’s a yellow pair of running shoes
A holey pair of jeans
She looks great in cheap sunglasses
She looks great in anything
She’s I want a piece of chocolate
Take me to a movie
She’s I can’t find a thing to wear
Now and then she’s moody
Woman - John Lennon
I came in to say “Annie’s Song”, but somebody beat me to it, so I’ll say “Lay You Down”, by Conway Twitty, which I find unbearably touching.
When a whole lot of Decembers
Are showing in your face
Your auburn hair has faded
And silver takes it’s place
You’ll be just as lovely
And I’ll still be around
And if I can I know that I’ll still love to lay you down.
It’s about real couple-love between two people.
Although she may not be the girl
some men think of as pretty
to my heart she carries the key.
A Fairytale Of New York, by The Pogues.
Also: Annie’s Other Song, by John Denver
Great choice!
*You’re a bum
You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy christmas your arse
I pray God its our last
*
…although he did call her “pretty” earlier in the song.
*You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I’ve kept them with me, babe
And put them with my own
Can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you*
Rush records the occasional love song, and they fit the OP:
We are secrets to each other
Each one’s life a novel
No-one else has read.
Even joined in bonds of love,
We’re linked to one another
By such slender threads.
Ghost of a Chance:
I don’t believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don’t believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state
I don’t believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there’s a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love
And make it last
You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome
Slave to the hormone, body and soul
In a struggle to be happy and free
Swimming in a primitive sea
You and I, we must dive below the surface
A world of red neon and ultramarine
Shining bridges on the ocean floor
Reaching to the alien shore
One you won’t have heard of… Melbourne by The Whitlams
She paints pictures on the wall
She eats all of the garden
And has an aversion to conviction
And she calls her dog “the bear”
*
Don’t Ever Change by The Crickets
You never wear a stitch of lace
And powder’s never on your face
You’re always wearing jeans
Except on Sundays
But don’t you ever change
No, don’t you ever change
I kind of like you
Just the way you are
Human Nature by IQ. It praises the relationship itself, describing the different phases of a relationship, and the fact that they’ve weathered the storms and their love is stronger for it.
Days of Love and Innocence
Days of love and innocence
when princes ruled the land.
You placed wild roses in my hair
and kisses in my hand.
Days of love and innocence
they never fade away.
If love can last for centuries
I’ll be your love today.
http://www.jacquelynbrown.com/days.html
Meat Loaf’s For Crying Out Loud, though there is a lot of sexual imagery there is other stuff as well:
For taking in the rain when I’m feeling so dry
For giving me the answers when I’m asking you why…
For taking in the sun when I’m feeling so cold
For giving me a child when my body is old…
For coming to my room when you know I’m alone
For finding me a highway and driving me home…
For pulling me away when I’m starting to fall
For revving me up when I’m starting to stall…
For taking and for giving and for playing the game
For praying for my future in the days that remain…
Ah but most of all
For cryin’ out loud
For that I love you
When you’re crying out loud
You know I love you
My Funny Valentine focuses on the lack of beauty/pretty/sexy/hotness.
When quoting a song, please don’t use more than about one verse. Thank you.
In Your Eyes/Peter Gabriel
IIRC he writes much of his stuff in the African tradition, of writing love songs with the double meaning that they could be addressed to God.
In your eyes/The light the heat
In your eyes/I am complete
In your eyes/I see the doorway to a thousand churches
In your eyes/The resolution of all the fruitless searches
In your eyes/I see the light and the heat
In your eyes/Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light, The heat I see in your eyes
Cheesy, but all love songs are :
So close, no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters
Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
A bit different :
Everytime we lie awake
After every hit we take
Every feeling that I get
But I haven’t missed you yet
Every roomate kept awake
By every silent scream we make
All the feelings that I get
But I still dont missed you yet
Only when I stop to think about it…
I hate everything about you
Why do I love you ?
Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
Show a little faith
there’s magic in the night
you ain’t a beauty
but hey, you’re all right
oooh, and that’s all right with me