Overlooked love songs

“I Can Feel It” by Sloan. It’s sweet and innocent, and super catchy.

I’m also partial to “Five Days in May” by Blue Rodeo:

Well, I know my past,
You were there,
Everything I’ve done…you are the one
.

As I lay me down by Sophie B. Hawkins

Very sweet without crossing over into glurge.

Also, Aaron Neville has a pretty good version of You never can tell

The original version by Chuck Berry is also great.

Prince - Adore

“You’re All I Need to Get By” by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Tyrell.
“Love Song for a Vampire” by Annie Lennox. (OK, part of the second verse is a little maudlin, but it ends happily.)
“I’ll Stand By You” by the Pretenders.
“Power of Two” by the Indigo Girls.
“Rebel Heart” by the Corrs - this is an instrumental, but it’s SO lovely it’s definitely appropriate for a wedding.

I strongly recommend “45 Years” by Stan Rogers. It’s folk music, not rock, but it could work for a slow dance. The version on his Home in Halifax CD is particularly good. This is the CD of his last recorded live performance and you can quietly hear him say, “This is for my wife” at the beginning.

Here’s the chorus:

Mind you, I am biased about this song. A man I once loved dearly played it for me right before he proposed. Of course I said, “Yes.”

CJ

Nick Cave’s “Into My Arms”

“I don’t believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if He felt He had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms”

It’s just lovely.

I also like Drugstore’s “Sober”

“Now that I don’t feel so lonesome anymore
Now that I am not afraid at all
If you put your arms around me I won’t fall
Now that I am not afraid at all”
“Fall In Love With Me”- Booth and The Bad Angel
“You Belong to Me”- Bob Dylan or whoever you prefer on vocals.

The Last Man in My Life* from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song & Dance. An exquiste love song

In each other we find all we’re looking for and more.
Found the rainbow I was after
No more dreams with one face missing.
I am certain you’re the last man in my life.

That’s not on my copy of Song & Dance! I have the Bernadette Peters one - which one do you have?

But that brings to mind another good love song, from my copy: “Unexpected Song” (performed by Bernadette Peters):

“I have never felt like this
for once I’m lost for words
Your smile has really thrown me
This is notlike me at all
I never thought I’d know
The kind of love you’ve shown me…”

The original Marti Webb 2CD set, which is about a million times better than Bernadette, and also includes the “Dance” part. “Unexpected Song” was originally the Dance encore, a song called “When You Want to Fall in Love”

Hands and faces whirl around
A half remembered sound
The dreaming heart is waking.
When you want to fall in love you may find less than love
But that’s a chance worth taking.

I often thought the two versions would make a great male/female duet, and my Russian cousin did so (but in Russian) and sent me a CDR.

The tune was originally used (and cut) in Jeeves as “Literary Men.”

I seem to be the only person on earth who thinks thet Ben E King’s Stand By Me is one of the all time great love songs:

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we see
No, I won’t be afraid
Oh, I won’t be afraid
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me, so Darling darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
Or the mountain
Should crumble to the sea
I won’t cry, I won’t cry
No, I won’t shed a tear
Just as long as you stand
Stand by me…

Oh, I’ll agree with you on that one. On the other hand, you may live to regret that in a moment. You see, I’m about to mention a couple of songs by Meatloaf, specifically, Modern Girl and Heaven Can Wait. Both of them have the right sort of outlook for a wedding, especially Heaven Can Wait, which ends with “Let the altar shine”, the last line of the chorus.

CJ

People tend to overlook any of Harry Warren’s songs. “I Only Have Eyes For You” is great in the original version; other singers tend to drag it out, making it sappier than it has to be.

“Darling If” by Spirit
“I Will” by the Beatles
“Bargain” by the Who
“I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You” by Lyle Lovett (though not at a wedding, perhaps).
“Corrina” by Taj Mahal
“She’s Such a Beauty,” “Fresh as a Daisy,” and “You Take the Dark Out of Night,” by Emitt Rhodes, a truly great writer of love songs.

(Obscure musician fan hat ON)

You might take a listen to this one by Happy Rhodes. She’s not usually an “I’m in love/I lack love/I loved, but got hurt so bad” artist (I searched through the lyrics of 11 albums, and could only find a few), so this kind of song is rare for her. It’s very simple, but it’s become one of my favorite love songs, and I usually dislike most love songs because they’re so lyrically sappy and/or musically crappy.

Btw, she knows I share her music and is ok with it.

Happy Rhodes - Here and Hereafter

Here are a comple of others from very early, when she was working at a recording studio as an apprentice engineer and recorded her own songs just to learn the equipment and techniques, like overdubs (all those voices are hers).

Happy Rhodes - Come Here (a waltz, from 1986)

Happy Rhodes - If Love Is A Game, I Win (from 1987)

She has a few other “relationship” songs, but they’re not suitable for a wedding. She has a song about weddings (“The Chosen One”) but it’s more about being on the watching one end, rather than the being in one end.

Congratulations!

Most of our list from our wedding (screened for wedding suitability and everything):

Suddenly - Billy Ocean (our first dance song)
Can I Have This Dance - Anne Murray (our parents’ dance song - a nice waltz)
Unforgettable - Cole, Nat King & Natalie
Something - The Beatles
Something About You - Level 42
My Girl - Temptations
Marry Me - Amanda Marshall
Always a Woman - Joel, Billy
When You Say Nothing At All - Krause, Alison & Union Station
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
Hold On, I’m Coming - Sam & Dave
Love Me Do - The Beatles
Emotion - Bee Gees
You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
Forever Man - Clapton, Eric
Forever and Ever, Amen - Travis, Randy
How Deep is Your Love - Bee Gees
You’re The One That I Want - John, Olivia Newton & Travolta, John
I Wanna Hold Your Hand - The Beatles
Two Hearts Beat as One - U2
Sign Your Name - D’Arby, Terence Trent
I Will Always Love You - Houston, Whitney
When Something Is Wrong With My Baby - Sam & Dave
Let’s Go All the Way - Sly Fox
Smooth - Santana, Carlos & Thomas, Rob
I Feel Love - Summer, Donna
Loverboy - Ocean, Billy
Open Arms - Journey
Kiss - Prince
Wild Thing (Funky Cold Medina) - Tone Loc
Three Times a Lady - Commodores
I Was Made For Loving You - Kiss
Pride & Joy - Vaughan, Stevie Ray
When a Man Loves a Woman - Sledge, Percy
A Word in Spanish - John, Elton
Let’s Get it On - Gaye, Marvin
To be a Lover - Idol, Billy
Enjoy Yourself - Jackson Five
100 % Pure Love - Crystal Waters
Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
Sunshine of Your Love - Clapton, Eric
I Wanna Rock With You - Jackson, Michael
Givin’ Him Something He Can Feel - En Vogue
Hold On - En Vogue
Right Now - Van Halen
You Make Lovin’ Fun - Fleetwood Mac
Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - Four Tops
All the Lovers in the World - Gowan, Lawrence
Kiss On My List - Hall & Oates
Everlasting Love - Jones, Howard
Walkin’ On Sunshine - Katrina & the Waves

I’ve always interpreted that as a song about heartbreak. In fact, really bad heartbreak. Have I been wrong all this time?

I love the song, Thank You, by Dido. I think it’s played at every wedding reception, but it is a beautiful song.

Also, Sabbra Caddabra, by Black Sabbath. I don’t know how metal you guys are, but it’s a great song, and actually pretty romantic.

“If I Needed You”- Townes Van Zandt

Two and a half minutes that will make sweet tears flow from the hardest of hearts.

Peter Gabriel - “In Your Eyes”

Pete Townshend - “A Little Is Enough”

Tom Waits - “San Diego Serenade”

Richard Thompson - “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”

“Hesitating Beauty”, from the Wilco / Billy Bragg CD “Mermaid Avenue” (the one where they put old Woody Guthrie lyrics to music).

Frank Sinatra said Someting (… in the way she moves …) by George Harrison was one of the best love songs of the second half of the last century. He may have been right.

Hmmm…Well, here’s some of my suggestions. I tried not to put in any too “Celine Dion-y” ones, but some may still have gotten in. (You know the saying…“no song is too sappy when you’re in love.”)

“Love Song for a Vampire”—Annie Lennox (From the Bram Stoker’s Dracula soundtrack. It’s pretty.)
“Brown Eyed Girl”—Van Morrison (This is, of course, only usable if at least one of you is a brown-eyed girl)
“Accidentally in Love”—Counting Crows
“Love Changes Everything”—Sarah Brightman
“I Love You”—Sarah McLachlan
“I Only Want to Be With You”—Vonda Shepherd
“She Drives Me Crazy”—Fine Young Cannibals
“That’s All I’ve Got to Say”—America
“Wild Honey”—U2
“Island Home”—Christine Anu (Not really a love song, though, I guess.)
“We Belong”—Pat Benatar
“Someone to Watch Over Me”—(Any number of artists, I’m partial to Linda Ronstadt)
“Rachel’s Song”—Vangelis (From the Blade Runner soundtrack)
“Kiss Me”—Sixpence None the Richer (But only if you’re getting married at a highschool prom, circa 1999.)
“Across the Stars”—From the soundtrack to Star Wars: Episode II
“Because the Night”—Patti Smith or 10,000 Maniacs
“All is Full of Love”—Bjork
“Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”—Urge Overkill

Well, those last three might be best for the honeymoon. :wink:

Good luck, and tell us what you decide on!
Ranchoth