I’m a sucker for a good love song.  Love songs for your best beloved.  Love songs for your friends.  Love songs for your home.  Love songs for God.  I can’t get enough.  I just can’t help myself.  Here are a few I listen to over and over again.

“First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes is a happy tune, the perfect driving song.  So, crank the windows down, grab the hand of a loved one and get ready to be giddy.  My two favorite lines are: “This is the first day of my life, swear I was born right in the door way.”  and “These things take forever, I especially am slow.”  You and me both.

“Have I Told You Lately?” by Van Morrison is a song I’ve loved for gazillions of years and will love for gazillions more.  I’m swooning just thinking of this song.  And the line that makes my heart do a little dance?  “For the morning sun in all its glory greets the day with hope and comfort, too.”  What a way to start the day, filled with hope and comfort.  Go listen to this one right now.  I will, too, and then we’ll meet back here, ok?

“Falling Slowly” by The Frames isn’t a happy-go-lucky kind of love song.  At all.  But for me it’s so tender in the wanting, wanting to pick up the broken pieces of a worn out, worn down, tattered love that’s worth saving.  The line that strikes me most is “Take this sinking boat and point it home, we’ve still got time.”

Next up is “You’re Beautiful” by Phil Wickham.  I saw him in concert, and if you can fathom it, his voice is even more pure in person.  Hard to believe, I know.  I love how big this song feels, how he sings about all the things in nature that remind him of God.  My favorite line is not the most complex line in the song, but the simplicity of it moves me.  “I see Your face.  You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, you’re beautiful.”

You’re going to make fun of me for this next one, but I don’t care.  “Ice Cream” by Sarah McLachlan is on my love song playlist.  Anyone who knows me at all knows that I will give my right arm for ice cream.  And if it’s Slow Churned Moosetracks, I’ll give you my left arm, too.  Although it would be really hard to eat ice cream without any arms.  I digress.  When Sarah sings the line “Your love is better than ice cream, better than anything else that I’ve tried.”, I’m amazed because she gets it-she gets how much I love ice cream and how much I love my hubby.  I prefer the live version of this one because it seems like the audience is having so much fun singing along.

“Grandma’s Hands” by Bill Withers might seem like an odd choice to be on a list of love songs, but love takes many forms.  It’s got this great bluesy feel and when Bill Withers sings the line “Grandma’s hands used to clap in church on Sunday mornings.” I can picture my own grandmother’s hands clapping along to all those Baptist hymns.  And the last line “When I get to heaven, I’ll look for Grandma’s hands”, well, that one is so true, so raw that it leaves me aching for that day.

Friends, Peter Gabriel could sing the phonebook and I’d be smitten, so it’s no surprise that “In Your Eyes” is a favorite.  Right, ladies?  I don’t even mind that it’s riddled with 80’s synthesizer.  That’s how good this song is.  In fact, I don’t even have a favorite line in this song because the whole thing is all kinds of delicious.  Not to mention the added imagery of John Cusack standing outside the house with his boombox held overhead.  I love being a child of the 80’s.

“Close Your Eyes” by Jump, Little Children is another non-traditional love song.  It’s such a tender song from a father to his child.  It’s the lullaby that keeps me company in the wee hours of the morning when sleep is elusive.  The second best line is “Tell me the stars are made of tin and that they’re banging on the roof.”  Man, I wish I could write like that.  And the reassurance that “The sun will rise and keep your mind at ease.”, that one makes me yawn, close my eyes and relax back into the soft arms of a dream. Sadly there aren’t many videos out there of this song.  The one I linked to is the best one out there and it doesn’t even begin to do the song justice.  This one deserves a listen in iTunes.

And finally, finally here is my absolute favorite love song, “How He Loves” by David Crowder Band.  It expresses perfectly how in awe I am at the depth of God’s love.  I get chill bumps every time I hear it and when we sing it in church, I can barely choke back the sobs that bob in my throat.  My favorite line is “Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us.”  Love that leaves no time, no space for to wallow in regrets?  Yes and amen.

Now it’s your turn.  What love songs do I need to add to my playlist?