10 gutsy, humorous, honest, and/or intense love songs Jun 05 '01    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line There are far too many wimpy, sentimental, syrupy love songs. Here are ten love/romance songs which are gutsy, humorous, honest, and/or intense I have been reading other member submissions on best romance mixes and many of them are really great. However, a few of them are so full of gutless, treacle ballads, that just looking at them makes me feel like I just went into diabetic coma! Love and romance don’t necessarily require syrup to be yummy. Sometimes the best music for romance is gutsy, humorous, honest, and/or intense! Now for me, the best kind of music is what used to be called new wave. I am also a rock and alternative music fan, so my romance compilation has a mix of these different styles. I have limited myself to one song from each artist, and that is not easy, considering how many wonderful love/romance songs some of these artists produce. So, in no particular order (except for the last 3 songs), here is my list of gutsy, humorous, honest, intense, new wave/alternative/ rock music tinged romance songs. 1. Why Can’t I Be You, by The Cure Ah yes, Robert Smith, leader of The Cure, and king of heartbroken, Goth-tinged, macabre, lightened up a bit on this tune. I remember going to nightclubs and dancing to this song. This song is full of fond, playful sentiment, and an up-beat rhythm. This is a great love song. Check out these lyrics: you're so gorgeous I’ll do anything I’ll kiss you from your feet to where your head begins you're so perfect you're so right as rain you make me, make me, make me hungry again everything you do is irresistible everything you do is simply kissable why can't I be you? I wish I could hum a few bars for you, it would stay in you head forever. (The Cure runner up: Love Song) 2. Fat by The Violent Femmes This may not seem like a love song at first, it is hilarious. But, let’s be honest, wouldn’t you just love to have someone feel this way about you. Songwriter, Gordon Ganno, tells his love target that he would love her if she were enormous, just as long as she takes him back: I hope you got fat I hope you got really fat 'Cause if you got really really fat You just might want to see me come back I hope you got fat I don't care, I don't care How heavy or how skinny Just gimme gimme something to love A little extra weight would never look no nicer On nobody else but you And I could always use a little bit more To hold on to And If I get a fright in the middle of the night I'll cling to you I hope you got fat I hope you got really fat 'Cause if you got truly fat fat fat You just might want to see me come back I hope you got fat Gotta love it! 3. Wild is the Wind performed by David Bowie Here we have true romance. This song was originally performed by Nina Simone, and I really like her performance of it. Despite the fact that David did not write or originate this song, I still prefer his version of it. Soft and gentle at first, he builds to a crescendo of emotion. You can feel the intensity of passion and desire. He also performs some impressive vocal gymnastics on this tune. I read in an interview that if he could point to one vocal performance he was most proud of, it would be this one. If you hear this song, off the album, Station to Station, you will understand why. 4. Question of Lust by Depeche Mode Don’t be fooled by the title, this is a love song, and a romantic one at that. I think that what I like so much about it, aside from Martin Gore’s impressive vocals and the smooth production, is its honesty. The song is about what keeps a relationship together. It never uses the word love, although it is implied. Instead, it focuses on intimacy, honesty, desire, familiarity, support and acceptance. Theses are key elements of a lasting relationship. This is the chorus: It's a question of lust It's a question of trust It's a question of not letting What we've built up Crumble to dust It is all of these things and more That keep us together 5. Night and Day performed by U2 Written by Cole Porter, U2 covered this song on the album Red Hot and Blue, which was an AIDS benefit album of contemporary artists perfuming songs by Cole Porter. The song itself is beautiful and filled with desire and longing. Add in Bono’s haunting vocals and you have an intensely personal, passionate song. When I think about the lyrics in the context of the fact that they were written by a gay man, in a time and society in which homosexuality was completely unacceptable, the song becomes even more poignant. Here are some of the lyrics: Night and day, you are the one Only you beneath the moon and under the sun Whether near to me or far It's no matter darlin' where you are I think of you, night and day........ Day and night, why is it so? That this longing for you follows wherever I go? In the roaring traffic's boom, In the silence of my lonely room I think of you, night and day. Night and day - under the hide of me, There's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me. And its torment won't be through Till you let me spend my life making love to you day and night, night and day....... Night and day, under the hide of me, There's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me. And its torment won't be through Till you let me spend my life making love to you day and night, night and day....... (U2 runners up: Dancing Barefoot, All I want is You) 6. Don’t Change, by INXS This up beat number is about acceptance and forgiveness. It is about using those tools to reclaim love. Get up and dance with your honey and gaze into his/her eyes and sing along with Michael Hutchence: I'm standing here on the ground The sky above won't fall down See no evil in all directions Resolution of happiness Things have been dark for too long Don't change for you Don't change a thing for me I found a love I had lost It was gone for too long Hear no evil in all directions Execution of bitterness Message received loud and clear Don't change for you Don't change a thing for me (INXS runners up: To Look at You, Never Tear Us Apart) 7. You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, by Aretha Franklin There is such beauty and passion in this song. It is the confidence you feel in yourself when you feel loved and appreciated that this song celebrates. Who doesn’t feel sexy when they feel loved? 8. We’re in This Together, by Nine Inch Nails I got married on October 15, 2000. My husband and I wanted to have this song as our first dance. It sounds, upon first hearing it, like an angry, hate-filled song. No, no, no! It is a love song by Nine Inch Nails. It is about teamwork and commitment in a relationship! True it is a song you could easily mosh (slam dance) to, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a love song. Check out these lyrics: the further i fall i'm beside you as lost as i get i will find you the deeper the wound i'm inside you for ever and ever i am a part of you and me we're in this together now none of them can stop us now we will make it through somehow you and me if the world should break in two until the very end of me until the very end of you all that we were is gone we have to hold on all that we were is gone, but we have to hold on when all our hope is gone we have to hold on all that we were is gone but we can hold on Now if that isn’t commitment, what is? Unfortunately, we chickened out of making it our first dance because we thought most people would not get up and dance with us, so we made it our third dance. 9. In Your Eyes, by Peter Gabriel This was the song we used for our first dance at our wedding. When this song first came out in the 1980’s, I fantasized about dancing to it at my wedding. It speaks to the sense that someone you love, loves you so much that it gives you a greatness to which to aspire and a sense of security that you are safe to be yourself in that love. Here are some of the lyrics: love I get so lost, sometimes days pass and this emptiness fills my heart when I want to run away I drive off in my car but whichever way I go I come back to the place you are all my instincts, they return and the grand facade, so soon will burn without a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside 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 love, I don't like to see so much pain so much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away I get so tired of working so hard for out survival I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive 10. Perfect Day, by Lou Reed This is a very simple, straightforward, gentle song about a day spent with a lover. There is no mention of love or lust, nothing sentimental, just a description of the day and the sense that everything is so nice that Lou feels like a better person. I have felt that way with my husband and early in our relationship, it became our song (of course, we have a few our songs). We played this song as we cut our wedding cake. Just a perfect day, Drink sangria in the park And later, when it gets dark, we go home Just a perfect day Feed animals in the zoo Then later, a movie too, and then home Oh, it's such a perfect day I'm glad I spent it with you Oh, such a perfect day You just keep me hanging on, You just keep me hanging on... Just a perfect day Problems all left at home Weekenders on our own It's such fun Just a perfect day You made me forget myself I thought I was someone else Someone good... Oh, it's such a perfect day I'm glad I spent it with you Oh, such a perfect day You just keep me hanging on You just keep me hanging on... You're going to reap just what you sow You're going to reap just what you sow You're going to reap just what you sow... Oh, what a perfect day So that is my list of romantic/love songs. I left a lot of my favorites off and I have a nagging suspicion that as soon as I publish this epinion I will think of a dozen better ones. I’ll stick with these because they are gutsy, humorous, honest, and/or intense songs that give us a real taste of what love is. PS: Bonus song: Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney and Wings. I just had to mention this song because it is so honest in being a blatantly silly love song, and Paul really did love Linda.

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