Most romantic song ever?

Started by word_on_a_wing, November 19, 2020, 13:10:27

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word_on_a_wing

What is the most romantic song you've ever heard?

For me, I cannot decide which of these tracks I love more ...I think they are perfect as a pair of tracks that serinade each other (and being beside each other on the album I wonder if is the intent...


"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

SueC

Nice topic...and one I will have to think about, and get back to you with. :)

My two problems here are:

1) that as a young adult I always insisted "romantic" was a dirty word - associating it with shallow pop songs, and of course I was loaded with the baggage of growing up with people who were appalling role models for marriage (- and then when I was 27, a good older friend laughed when she heard me say that, and told me I was one of the most romantic people she knew - to my great surprise and consternation :rofl), and

2) that I've therefore always dissected songs or other texts about romantic subjects under a surgical spotlight to look for the dysfunctions, the equivocation, the misconceptions, the weasel words, the small print etc, and generally looked upon them with suspicion (as I'm sure you've noticed :lol:)

Because of that, instrumentals seem to best convey things I feel about that topic for me - there's no words to get hung up on.  So here's the one that best summed up our wedding day for me:


I probably will eventually think of some songs - but meanwhile I only have words, and these come from Khalil Gibran:

Let there be spaces in your togetherness
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.
  (Khalil Gibran)

Maybe someone could set that to music, and then it might count!  ;)

I don't know if others would consider that "romantic" - it's basically excellent advice.


PS:  How the Cambridge dictionary defines "romantic":

1. relating to love or a close loving relationship:
a romantic novel/comedy
You used to be so romantic, but now you never tell me that you love me.
I suppose he is quite romantic - he sends me flowers on my birthday and tells me I'm looking beautiful and so on.

2. exciting and mysterious and having a strong effect on your emotions:
We thought that Egypt was an incredibly romantic country.
3. (sometimes disapproving) not practical and having a lot of ideas that are not related to real life

How would you define that word?
SueC is time travelling

dsanchez

2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

SueC

OK, @word_on_a_wing, I've slept on it and now my brain has spat out a bunch of actual songs on the subject that appeal to me.  I'm afraid I can't narrow it down, because love is a many-splendoured thing and all that, with so many different aspects to it, and because I usually have a top group of favourites, not just a single favourite, with music, books, and so on.

Two I've really liked since I was an adolescent, that I still think really work on this topic:


I prefer the piano version of this but can't find it anywhere.  I remember listening to it on the school bus when I was in middle school, going home to a violent family every night, and thinking, "Here's an alternative universe!"  - some sentiments I didn't often hear, where love just is, and is kind, and genuine, and it's not this weapon that's held to your throat, or something to extract you with or used for blackmail.  The bus driver had his own mix tape (mostly Beatles) and I heard this quite often, and whenever I heard it, it made a profound pool of calm for me, and really spoke to my heart.  I still think it's a lovely song.

Likewise the next one goes back a long way for me:


...and it's really nice that both these songs that worked for me when I'd never experienced this kind of thing also work for me more than 30 years later, now that I'm actually in a long-term, happy, fair relationship where we really see and respect each other.

Speaking of, my husband would like to volunteer this personal favourite of his on the topic:


I like that one too... and two later discoveries I love love love, both words and music:



...and a somewhat darker favourite:


And since both of us have been progressively going through the Cure back catalogue, here's our mutual favourite love-gone-right songs from them:



Some more of my own personal favourites from The Cure on this topic:


I love the wordplay on this one, and the atmosphere, and the taking joy in another's happiness and in who that person is, and the sense of, "It didn't necessarily have to go right and I'm so glad it did!"


This song really captures the good-crazy, playful aspect that we both think is an essential part of a good lasting relationship.


An "amazing universe, and I'm sharing it with you" song...


...and feel free to argue with me here, but to me Plainsong has been a love-gone-right-and-its-consequences song from my first listen to it only a few years ago...

See, that's the way it always goes, first I can't think of anything and then whooosh...
SueC is time travelling

SueC

I am writing this post on behalf of two guests, Robyn and David, a lovely couple who are currently staying with us while celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary.  Their relationship clearly works, so I just had to ask them their favourites on this topic (and they don't just have one either, but squillions). Here's some that came to mind for them immediately:




They say they know that the Cohen number is dark, but anyway - and that they love plenty more on the topic by him.

David volunteers this one - he knows it's a breakup song, but he still thinks it should be on the list:


...and this one:


Robyn says this is a personal favourite:


They love all sorts of genres, including opera, and say the song the male singer sings around Mimi's death scene in La Bohème is amazing, but we were unable to find it this morning!

But we did find this:


They say there are going to be loads more when they think about it which they will add later, and have gone mountain climbing for the day - and left me with two albums to listen to which they think really suit this topic:



QuoteTimeless art and great music: ABC Classics and the Art Gallery of New South Wales present a new collection of albums bringing together culture from through the ages. From nineteenth-century visions of grandeur in Epic Classics to the sacred tradition in Divine Classics, and from Australia's own artistic heritage to the world of the Modernists, these albums provide rich insights by bringing art and music together.

Previous collaborations between ABC and AGNSW include music audio-guides for the blockbuster exhibitions The Greats, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and Nude: art from the Tate collection with the acclaimed Nude Live performances in collaboration with the Sydney Dance Company and the Sydney Festival.

Track Listing:

1.  DELIBES Flower Duet from Lakmé
2.  CILEA Intermezzo from Adriana Lecouvreur
3.  RACHMANINOFF Vocalise
4.  DVOŘÁK Song to the Moon from Rusalka
5.  MASCITTI Sonata for violin and cello continuo: IV. Adagio
6.  PUCCINI Madama Butterfly: Humming Chorus
7.  SCHUBERT Piano Sonata No. 13: II. Andante
8.  BEETHOVEN Cavatina from String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130
9.  RODRIGO Concierto de Aranjuez: II. Adagio
10. KATS-CHERNIN Absynthe Cocktail
11. BIZET Habanera from Carmen
12. MASSENET Méditation from Thaïs
13. BEETHOVEN Moonlight Sonata: I. Adagio sostenuto
14. MONTEVERDI Pur ti miro from The Coronation of Poppea

Also:

SueC is time travelling

Ulrich

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on November 19, 2020, 13:10:27What is the most romantic song you've ever heard?

It's real hard to narrow it down to one song (see Sue's posts, she can't decide...)!

I'll give you this one (for today):
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

MeltingMan


You are my life you are my only one desire
You're the air that I breath tonight
Won't you stay here beside me stay

When I see you there's a glow from the stars above
Guess they know that I'm so in love
Yes I'll stay here beside you stay

Day after day (after day)
Feeling love in the evening sun till you came
And you were the one (yes you are)
Now I'll stay here beside you stay

Well remembered dreams of a foolish parade
Didn't need to persuade you hungry for a smile
In the morning moonlight that'll be alright with you
Take my hand

All I can do is to dream of you all way through
Close my eyes all I see is you
Yes I'll stay here beside you stay

Stay by my side you're the air that I breath tonight
All I want is to hold you tight
Yes I'll stay here beside you stay
Forever - here we'll stay tonight
Here we'll stay
En cette nation [Russie] qui n'a pas eu de théoriciens et de démagogues,
les pires ferments de destruction ont apparu. (J. Péladan)

word_on_a_wing

Wow, I will check out these many songs over the weekend 😃

How lovely for Robyn and David to contribute too !!

We obviously can never determine what the most romantic song really is, but it lovely to get a sense of everyone's subjective experience.

Sue.. your mention of The Ship Song brings me back to a memory of 15y/o me in a new relationship with a lovely longhaired guy, we shared a fondness for Nick Cave's music (which most of my 15y/o peers didn't get), and he spontaneously danced with me to this song ....my 15y/o self found it VERY romantic 😍
"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

SueC

OMG, @word_on_a_wing - dancing to The Ship Song, that's dangerous!   :winking_tongue  :angel

Some feedback from Robyn and David you'd like - because we played each other a few things - so I played them If Only Tonight We Could Sleep (studio version) and they said, "Oh, this guy can really sing!"  So I said, "You should hear his low register!" and played them Harold & Joe.  "Oooh, very sexy voice!" says Robyn.  Ah well, it's nice when testosterone does something useful.  :cool

By the way, that classical album they lent me is worth a listen.  I already had most of those tracks on other compilations - love love love the notes on the Habanera from Carmen, the Flower Duet, The Humming Chorus, and one I didn't know before, that piece from Monteverdi.  That adagio from Rodrigo, if you've never heard it before, beware, or you'll be thinking of all the terrible things you've ever seen and bawling your eyes out...  :'(

Interesting artist on their other CD - had never heard of them before, but did like it - piano and cello in the mix, a bit jazzy, a bit of a gospel influence.  :smth023

Robyn and David say they would just like to add a Beatles song, as they listened to a Beatles album today - from which they could have selected half a dozen, but here's just one:


And I was going to post this one on "Currently Listening" but then I realised it's a great fit for your topic... I've always likes this one, and it's just bubbled back up in my consciousness today, no doubt because your topic has started a "background search" in my head... ;)


I'm going to have to snaggle this track for my iPod.  I love these kinds of threads, @word_on_a_wing - can't wait to see what everyone is going to unearth...
SueC is time travelling

word_on_a_wing

...ok that is just spooky. I was listening yesterday to the same album as Robyn and David: The Beatles - Live at the BBC. What the the chances of that!
I was going to post a link to this song from the album ...one of my favourite Beatles tracks (even though it is a cover).  When I hear it I feel compelled to close my eyes and just soak it all in, so sublime.  I also find it crazy how good they were live, this is almost identical to the album version...

.. I must add that its much more the music and way it's sung (rather than lyrics) that appeals to me about this one
Some of the lyrics are quite objectionable...  "You treat me badly .... I love you madly" 🤨

"Where the flesh meets the spirit world,
Where the traffic is thin..."

SueC

Quote from: word_on_a_wing on November 21, 2020, 14:09:39.. I must add that its much more the music and way it's sung (rather than lyrics) that appeals to me about this one
Some of the lyrics are quite objectionable...  "You treat me badly .... I love you madly" 🤨

Yeah, there's the danger of normalising and romanticising dysfunction with that.  People, especially young  people, often look up to their musical bards, and kind of think, "They've got it together, how are they doing things?"  It's particularly unhelpful if dysfunction from role models is stacked on top of dysfunction in the family of origin.  (Of course, the role models are often still learning too.)

That's where encouraging critical thinking is ultra important, and encouraging people to question and to challenge points of view presented to them, including by people they admire.  Equally, if you never see what healthy behaviour looks like, how can you learn it?  Thankfully, the people who do learn it, after a deficit early on at home, tend to learn it through particular decent adults somewhere in their orbits (a warm grandparent, their most personable teachers, a kind neighbour, random people on the bus, authors of helpful fiction and nonfiction, writers of songs that speak to your heart, etc).


Quote from: word_on_a_wing on November 21, 2020, 14:09:39...ok that is just spooky. I was listening yesterday to the same album as Robyn and David: The Beatles - Live at the BBC. What the the chances of that!

I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket, but I thought the probability of them listening to The Beatles was pretty high, given their generation and broad musical tastes - and also of course, they were involved in the topic, and saw what you were listening to, which may well have affected their musical choices in the car that day!  ;)  And I'm not sure which album they listened to because I wasn't in the car with them, but when they nominated the song, I just pulled the track randomly off YT!  :)



Quote from: word_on_a_wing on November 21, 2020, 14:09:39I was going to post a link to this song from the album ...one of my favourite Beatles tracks (even though it is a cover).  When I hear it I feel compelled to close my eyes and just soak it all in, so sublime.  I also find it crazy how good they were live, this is almost identical to the album version...

I think their music very much suits live performance; it's relatively simple and pared-down, at least their earlier material.  By the way, as a teenager I was never particularly into The Beatles (it was for "old" people, you know :lol: - and it didn't help that our Year 5 music teacher had made us repeatedly sing Yellow Submarine) - I had plenty of exposure because our middle school bus driver loved The Beatles and I was on the bus over two hours every day... (while he allowed us some of our own tapes, he was also determined to give us a musical education, "Now let me show you what real music sounds like!" when he'd suffered through one of the 80s tapes...:rofl

I think part of it was that the early recordings of The Beatles were mono back then, and that sounded bad compared to the newer, stereo, stuff.  Another part was the "playschool" aspect of a lot of their stuff (Brett calls them "The Original Wiggles") - which also took me aback with some of the Cure tracks I've come across since going through their back catalogue - although I am now actually beginning to like some of those!  :)

But the day I got unexpectedly wowed by The Beatles was when I went to a concert as a university student, and there was warm-up music on the Entertainment Centre sound system, and a Beatles track came on.  As the bass and drums reverberated right through me while they sang pretty melodies, I suddenly got the appeal.  And of course, if you see it in the context of what was around in prior eras, etc etc...

I really like this one:


I think that fits into your topic, because it's good to have a song to address conflict resolution in relationships, and in a pretty positive way.  It's important to want to see each other's viewpoints for that to work, and that's a point made in the song (although I'm not sure if the narrator is expecting their partner to give preference to his view over hers as a matter of course, because of insufficient information...)

I like a lot of John Lennon's solo stuff, and he wrote a lot about love - if you were starving as a child, you get kind of ecstatic if you get to have regular meals in adulthood...

I like this one, for instance:


It's a really good start - someone actually looking inside themselves to see why they acted in a certain way that was painful to their partner - and owning their stuff, and being genuinely regretful and apologetic.  Exactly the sort of thing that needs to be out there more, for the emotional education of the community. Good relationships aren't just magically there courtesy of the good relationship fairy, they actually involve effort - communication, empathy, teamwork on a daily basis.  Not that these things are unpleasant, but the point is, it doesn't just all fall in your lap...

So I think songs like this are excellent, and are very important songs on the topic...  :smth023
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SueC

Not a bad one to put in this topic. Beats the standard narrative of the blues on breakups.

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SueC

SueC is time travelling