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There are certain themes which appear frequently in songs. Here are some of them. Where possible songwriter details and dates are given.
There must have been love songs for as long as there have been songs. Some celebrate the general principle of love, some are more specific and many love songs also appear in other categories on this page.
There are different degrees of optimism in love songs. Some refer to an existing fulfilled love and some to a hope or aspiration of love which is yet unfulfilled. Others of course are about unfulfilled and lost love. These are in another category on this page. It has been said that sad songs are generally more successful than happy ones!
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| True Love Ways | Holly; Petty | Buddy Holly | 1958 |
| When the Girl in Your Arms | Tepper; Bennett | Cliff Richard | 1961 |
| Not Fade Away | Petty; Hardin | The Rolling Stones | 1964 |
| You're My World | Bino; Sigman; Paoli | Cilla Black | 1964 |
| All You Need is Love | Lennon; McCartney | The Beatles | 1967 |
| I Think I Love You | Tony Romeo | Partridge Family | 1971 |
Just look in a dictionary of girls' names. Most of them will be the title of a song. For a change these are in alphabetical order:
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Amanda | Mc Dill | Don Williams | |
| Anna | Alexander | The Beatles | 1962 |
| Barbara-Ann | Fassert | The Beach Boys | 1966 |
| Billie Jean | Michael Jackson | Michael Jackson | 1983 |
| Claudette | Roy Orbison | The Everly Brothers | 1958 |
| Carrie-Anne | Clarke; Hicks; Nash | The Hollies | 1967 |
| Delilah | Reed; Mason; Whittingham | Tom Jones | 1968 |
| Elouise | Paul Ryan | Barry Ryan | 1968 |
| Gloria | Van Morrison | Them | 1964 |
| Georgy Girl | Dale; Springfield | The Seekers | 1967 |
| Hannah | Dewar; Trower; Isidore | Robin Trower | 1973 |
| Izabella | Jimi Hendrix | ||
| Jolene | Dolly Parton | Dolly Parton | 1973 |
| Juliet | Morton; Fryer; Wilsh | The Four Pennies | 1964 |
| Lucille | Collins, Penniman | Little Richard | 1957 |
| Maybelline | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | 1955 |
| Maria | Bernstein; Sondheim | (various) | 1956 |
| Nadine | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | 1963 |
| Peggy Sue | Holly; Allison; Petty | Buddy Holly | 1957 |
| Little Queenie | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | 1959 |
| Roxanne | Sting | The Police | 1979 |
| Sara | Bob Dylan | Bob Dylan | 1975 |
| Sarah | Phil Lynott | Thin Lizzy | 1979 |
| Tulane | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | 1969 |
| Venus | Frankie Avalon | 1959 | |
| Wendy | Wilson | Beach Boys | 1964 |
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Young Girl | Jerry Fuller | Gary Pucket & Union Gap | 1968 |
| Stray Cat Blues | Jagger; Richards | The Rolling Stones | 1968 |
| Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen | Sedaka; Greenfield | Neil Sedaka | 1961 |
| Sweet Little Sixteen | Chuck Berry | Chuck Berry | 1958 |
| Only Sixteen | Sam Cooke | Sam Cooke | 1959 |
| You're Sixteen | Robert Sherman; Richard Sherman | Ringo Starr | 1974 |
| Sixteen going on Seventeen | Rodgers and Hammerstein | (The Sound of Music) | 1959 |
| 7 Teen | The Regents | 1979 | |
| I Saw Her Standing There | Lennon; McCartney | The Beatles | 1963 |
| Dancing Queen | Anderson; Ulvaeus | Abba | 1976 |
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Mean Woman Blues | Claude Demetrius | Elvis Presley | 1957 |
| Poison Ivy | Leiber; Stoller | The Coasters | 1959 |
| Little Town Flirt | Shannon; McKenzie | Del Shannon | 1962 |
| Devil in Disguise | Giant; Baum; Kaye | Elvis Presley | 1963 |
| She's Not There | Rod Argent | The Zombies | 1964 |
| Evil Hearted You | Gouldman | The Yardbirds | 1965 |
| Stupid Girl | Jagger; Richards | The Rolling Stones | 1966 |
| Evil Woman | Wiegand, Wiegand, Waggoner | Black Sabbath | 1970 |
| Evil Woman | Jeff Lynne | Electric Light Orchestra | 1976 |
| Devil Woman | Britten; Authors | Cliff Richard | 1976 |
| Heartbreaker | B, R, and M. Gibb | The Bee Gees |
This was one of the great themes of songs in blues music. Usually the songs are not just about leaving a person, but about leaving the town, or the whole area.
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Don't Think Twice it's Alright | Bob Dylan | Bob Dylan | 1962 |
| Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa | Bacharach; David | Gene Pitney | 1963 |
| The Last Thing on My Mind | Tom Paxton | Tom Paxton | 1964 |
| By the Time I Get to Phoenix | Jimmy Webb | Glen Campbell | 1967 |
| Goodbye | Lennon; McCartney (Paul McCartney) | Mary Hopkin | 1969 |
| Wild World | Cat Stevens | Cat Stevens | 1970 |
| Midnight Train to Georgia | Jim Weatherly | Gladys Knight & the Pips | 1973 |
Goodbye is one of a small number of songs written by Lennon and McCartney but never recorded by the Beatles.
Related ThemesThe themes of absent love, and being alone are clearly related, and some songs cover both issues simultaneously. There are other themes which similarly overlap. There are a number of songs which equate the emotional darkness of lost love, and optical darkness, e.g. The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore. It is especially interesting to notice how some songs carry exactly the same message, though in completely different words and music. A clear example is "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" and "Go Now", but one of my favourite examples is more obscure, that is the underlying similarity between "All I Have to Do is Dream" and Jonathan Richman's "Astral Plane" (see lyrics page). We can ask whether such similarities arise through influence or coincidence. |
Unfulfilled love is often referred to as unrequited love (unreturned) and this is a word used almost exclusively for poetry and songs.
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Bye Bye Love | Felice and Boudleaux Bryant | The Everly Brothers | 1957 |
| When Will I Be Loved | Phil Everly | The Everly Brothers | 1960 |
| I'm a Loser | Lennon; McCartney (Lennon) | The Beatles | 1964 |
| Spicks and Specks | Barry Gibb | The Bee Gees | 1966 |
| Honey | Bobby Russell | Bobby Goldsboro | 1968 |
| Heart of Gold | Neil Young | Neil Young | 1972 |
| Goodbye to Love | Richard Carpenter; John Bettis | The Carpenters | 1972 |
| Without You | Peter Ham; Tom Evans | Nilsson | 1972 |
| Somebody to Love | Freddie Mercury | Queen | 1976 |
| Just My Imagination | Whitfield; Strong | The Rolling Stones | 1978 |
Surprisingly the Bee Gees wrote a large number of songs about unrequited love from their very earliest songs in the 60's right through to their hugely successful disco phase in the 70's. Spicks and Specks was number one in Australia but got nowhere in the UK.
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Heartbreak Hotel | Axton; Durden; Presley | Elvis Presley | 1956 |
| Only the Lonely | Roy Orbison; Joe Melson | Roy Orbison | 1960 |
| World Without Love | Lennon; McCartney | Peter and Gordon | 1964 |
| It's Not Easy | Jagger; Richards | The Rolling Stones | 1966 |
| Alone Again Or | Maclean; Breadcrust | Love | 1969 |
| Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down | Kris Kristofferson | Kris Kristofferson | |
| I Am...I Said | Neil Diamond | Neil Diamond | 1971 |
| Solitaire | Neil Sedaka; Phil Cody | Neil Sedaka | 1972 |
| Alone Again Naturally | O'Sullivan | Gilbert O'Sullivan | 1972 |
| Tragedy | B, R, and M. Gibb | The Bee Gees | 1979 |
World Without Love, along with Goodbye, is another of the small number of songs written by Lennon and McCartney but never recorded by the Beatles.
Everything from sadness and distress upwards.
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Raining In My Heart | Felice and Boudleaux Bryant | Buddy Holly | 1958 |
| Sorrow | Feldman; Goldstein; Gottehrer | The Merseys | 1966 |
| Still I'm Sad | Samwell-Smith; McCarthy | The Yardbirds | 1965 |
| Manic Depression | Hendrix | The Jimi Hendrix Experience | |
| Black Veils of Melancholy | Francis Rossi | Status Quo | 1968 |
It is surprising to notice how many times this exact phrase appears in song lyrics. Other songs express similar concepts in other words.
| Song | Songwriter(s) | Principal performer | Year |
| Mr Moonlight | Ray Lee Johnson | The Beatles | 1964 |
| Needles and Pins | Nitsche; Bono | The Searchers | 1964 |
| California Dreaming | John Philips | The Mamas and the Papas | 1966 |
| Elouise | Paul Ryan | Barry Ryan | 1968 |
| Lola | Ray Davies | The Kinks | 1970 |
| Layla | Clapton; Gordon | Derek and the Dominoes | 1970 |
| Won't Get Fooled Again | Pete Townshend | The Who | 1971 |
| In This Place | Robin Trower | Robin Trower | 1974 |
| Hanging on the Telephone | J. Lee | Blondie | 1978 |
| Like a Prayer | Patrick Leonard; Madonna | Madonna | 1989 |
| On Your Knees: | |||
| Brown Sugar | Jagger; Richards | Rolling Stones | 1971 |
| General supplication: | |||
| Ain't Too Proud to Beg | The Rolling Stones | ||
| Bell Bottom Blues | Clapton | Derek and the Dominoes | 1970 |
| If There is Something | Bryan Ferry | Roxy Music | 1972 |
| Cocaine | J.J. Cale | Eric Clapton | |
Mr Moonlight was regarded by some reviewers to be the worst Beatles recorded song at the time, but it has probably been surpassed since.
Gloom and darkness; Death; Dreams; Good times; Dancing; Travel and place names; Cars, driving and motorbiking; Help!; Waiting.
This page may be expanded to include examples of some of these.
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