“Lovesong” by The Cure gets high marks from me.
For a long time I held that Unchained Melody was the greatest.
However, there’s a nagging feeling that k.d. lang’s Constant Craving (more as a mood piece than lyrically) or, perhaps even moreso, Sarah McLachlan’s Sweet Surrender are challenging it in my personal hierarchy.
Sailboat
Dance Me To the End Of Love.
The tension, the danger, the passion the…love.
Elton and Bernie can bite me
“Somewhere” from West Side Story has to be up near the top.
My picks:
Till There Was You - Beatles version - written by Meredith Wilson
And I Love Her - Lennon/McCartney
Unforgettable - Nat King Cole (Not sure who wrote it.)
Neither are the greatest–that one’s too hard to decide–but my votes go to the Dave Matthews Band’s “When The World Ends” and Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now”.
And, of course, all you need is love. 
I really like Your Song as well.
For my money, Reservations by Wilco is right up at the top of the list.
*I’ve got reservations
About so many things
But not about you.
Not about you. *
Oh, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. I’m most familiar with Johnny Cash’s version from the Man Comes Around album, and it just makes my heart ache.
The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars
Were the gifts you gave to the dark
And the endless sky
My love
Ok, one more nomination. You’re My Only Home by The Magnetic Fields
I will stay if you let me stay
And I’ll go if you let me go
But I won’t go far away
Because you’re my only home.
I think Your Song is quite perfect, for all of the reasons mentioned here - mostly the humbleness of the singer. It always does choke me up.
I think Ben Folds’s The Luckiest is sort of a new version of “the best love song ever” with the same sort of humbleness and “song about writing a love song” feeling to it.
*I don’t get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here
And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest*
I know more people who like this song than I know Ben Folds fans, which is odd to me. It seems like a standout song for him.
[QUOTE=jsgoddess]
My vote for the greatest love song (greatest song really) goes to “Stardust.” Especially as performed by Nat Cole.
[/QUOTE]
OK. Accord, Delete all previous posts I may have made, and respectfully submit that this thread is over. You’re right. Nat King Cole’s Stardust totally owns the category. I can’t imagine otherwise than that it always will.
Although it’s not as poignant and well written as “Your Song”, I always liked Climax Blues Band’s syrupy “I Love You”.
Eh, I’ll go for Something Changed by Pulp.
My SO sent me a love songs mix CD and “Your Song” was on it, so this song is special to me. But I still can’t say it’s a great love song. I mean, there is the line
but in the lines preceding it, he reveals he doesn’t actually know what color his beloved’s eyes are. :dubious: This has bugged me since the first time I heard the song years ago.
I can’t say what I think the greatest love song is, but I am fond of “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge, “Amazed” by Lonestar, and “I’ll Still Be Loving You” by Restless Heart.
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Actually, as the most realistic love song to date, I have to nominate Charles Aznavour’s “You’ve Let Yourself Go”.
I can’t quote the full lyrics here, but the excised middle part is a laundry list of all the little annoyances and negligencies and such that any couple has with each other after a while. And yet, by the end, the song has come back to the point that they still love each other very much, despite all the commonplace detritus that builds up.
[/QUOTE]
My favorite in this genre is John Prine’s “In Spite of Ourselves”:
[
[QUOTE=John Prine and Iris DeMent (duet)]
. . . . .
[John:] She thinks all my jokes are corny
Convict movies make her horny
She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs
Swears like a sailor when she shaves her legs
She takes a lickin’
And keeps on tickin’
Never gonna let her go.
[Iris:] He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey
He’s a wacked out weirdo and a lovebug junkie
Sly as a fox and crazy as a loon
Payday comes and he’s howlin’ at the moon
He’s my baby, don’t mean maybe
Never gonna let him go
[Both:] In spite of ourselves
We’ll end up asittin’ on a rainbow
Against all odds
Honey, we’re the big door prize
We’re gonna spite our noses
Right offa our faces
There won’t be nothin’ but big old hearts
Dancin’ in our eyes
. . . . .
[/QUOTE]
](In Spite of Ourselves Lyrics — John Prine ♬)
Overall, of all the love songs I’ve ever heard, the only one that continues to shiver my spine is Mary Margaret O’Hara’s “You Will Be Loved Again”:
[QUOTE=Mary Margaret O’Hara]
. . . . .
But will she sing and will she dance
And will she forever
And will he sing and will he dance
And will he forever
Someday you will feel a love so deep
And you’ll find someone not lost in sleep
And you will be loved again
. . . . .
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=minlokwat]
Any estimate as to how many times he’s done the song in concert? I know he’s a performer and he probably views that his job is to give the people what they want but I would think that after a while it would get a bit tough getting up for another rendition of a song you’ve done a million times now.
[/QUOTE]
Generally speaking, he begins every concert with it. Like I said earlier, it’s still his personal favorite out of the whole collection.
And for completeness, I should add that Candle in the Wind (the original) is Bernie’s personal favorite.
I have to go with the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows as the greatest.
Also on the list are In My Life by the Beatles, Forever and Ever, Amen by Randy Travis.
I agree wholeheartedly with Annie’s Song and Weekend in New England.
Sorry, but for me, Your Song is pretty far down the list, if on it at all. YMMV
About 30 years ago Elton was a guest on a Bruce Forsyth special and they dueted Your Song. I still sing Bruce’s high harmony whenever I hear the song now.
My favourite love song is Marie by Randy Newman. He confesses his weaknesses to Marie while drunk. The line ‘and when you’re in trouble I turn away’ has me crying just typing it.
Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ has become more emotional for me since my father’s cancer took hold - specifically the harmony vocal on ‘lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try to fix you’
But the greatest…dunno
MiM
The problem with rock love songs is that too many of them are about lust rather than love. I’m glad that most of the songs I recognize here don’t have that problem.
A few of the great rock love songs:
Association, “Everything That Touches You”
Lovin’ Spoonful, “Darling Be Home Soon”
Chad & Jeremy, “A Summer Song”
Dusty Springfield, “The Look of Love”
My pick for best romantic songs:
Strangers in the Night - Frank Sinatra
Just the Way You Are - Billy Joel
Until the Night - Billy Joel (probably my all time fav, it’s such a shame it’s not well known)