Crowd Survey: What's the best genuinely good "love song" ever?

I was thinking about this months ago, and Petty's death crystallized it: I think "Wildflowers" might be my favorite love song ever written. Into The Mystic would probably be a close second.

Wildflowers is kind of a weird "love song" in the traditional sense, because it's probably about Petty's divorce from his first wife, who was an addict with mental illness issues. But that kind of makes it even better, to be honest. Instead of a song about finding someone who makes you happy, it's about letting go and wishing hopeful things for someone you loved but can't be with. You want good things for them, but somewhere they'll be free from troubles and worries and damn if that isn't a genuinely beautiful, if wistful sentiment. Which makes it all the more real. Petty said he played it once, in one three-minute burst, and didn't change a thing after listening to it several times on his tape recorder.

I don't know that it would ever be in consideration for one of the great love songs of all time, however.

Anyway, it got me thinking. There are so many awful "love" songs, and so few that hold up forever. But what makes one good, and what makes one cringe-worthy, is almost impossible to define. The whole thing is subjective, of course. If one of your exes was really into Tom Petty or Van Morrison, it would really hard to see those songs as great ones.

"Bring It On Home To Me" by Sam Cooke would also be in the running for me.
"For Once In My Life" by Stevie Wonder, another real contender.
"That's How Strong My Love Is" by Otis Redding.

"If I Should Fall Behind" by The Boss would be in my personal conversation, though it's annoying how much it's been co-opted by "lifestyle blogger" ladies for their weddings Pintrest boards. I think Isbell's "Cover Me Up" is the best love song written in the last 10 years or so, but that's admittedly not a high bar to clear, about as high as wee troll-looking men like Ed Sheeren and Sam Smith. Maybe some Adele song.

 

I don't know if this is it but it's about as close as it gets.

 

I knew this thread would be fodder for jokes, I just hope the whole thing isn't. Carry on.

 

My apologies, I will delete.

 

It was actually written in 1965 by the Beatles.

P.S. OK, OK. My real post is coming.

 

"God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys.

 

No need to apologize. Jokes are good too.

 

Not a love song in the sense of the singer pining away for someone, but Butch Walker's Dominoes is a wonderful song about an elderly couple where the man has lost his wife. Butch basically imagines the man thinking about his wife. Supposedly based on some relatives of his. If you're in the right mood, you can listen to this one over and over again:

 

Some selected HM's from Dick Whitman's Apple playlists:

"You're Still Standing There" by Steve Earle
"With or Without You" by U2
"Across the Sea" by Weezer
"I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash
"My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy" by Dolly Parton (Does "Jolene" qualify, as well?)
"I Want to Be the Boy That Warms Your Mother's Heart" by the White Stripes
"Sick of Myself" by Matthew Sweet
"Time Capsule" by Matthew Sweet
"Devil with the Green Eyes" by Matthew Sweet
"Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet
"I've Been Waiting" by Matthew Sweet
"Eternal Flame" by the Bangles
"Supernova" by Liz Phair
"At My Window Sad and Lonely" by Wilco
"Outtamind (Outtasite)" by Wilco
"I Got the Blues" by the Rolling Stones
"(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams
"Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera
"Throughout All Time" by Dwight Yoakam
"Still Be Around" by Uncle Tupelo
"Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns 'n' Roses
"Tiny Dancer" by Elton John
"Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel
"The Longest Time" by Billy Joel
"Always a Woman" by Billy Joel
"Your Song" by Elton John
"Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel
"Strange Currencies" by REM
"Righteously" by Lucinda Williams
"Alabama" by Cross Canadian Ragweed
"I Was Made to Love Her" by Stevie Wonder
"Be My Baby" the Ronettes
"I'll Be There" by the Jackson Five
"Someday (We'll Be Together)" by the Supremes
"Let's Get it On" by Marvin Gaye

 

Chris Cornell's Scar Upon The Sky. Not sure if it's the best, but I like it.