Love Will Keep Us Together: Dr. Amy's Guide to the Best Nostalgic Love Songs
It’s February and love is in the air. Maybe it’s Valentine’s Day, maybe because it’s too cold outside to do anything but cuddle with your partner. Maybe I’m just feeling the love in general right now. In any case, here’s my list of my favorite nostalgic love songs - just to help you get in the mood for love. Happy listening!
I Think I Love You - The Partridge Family
This song made me fall in love with David Cassidy so much so that I actually bought the album when I was in college (no that doesn’t date me - the Partridge Family Show was way before my time - I was watching reruns) :)
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tenille
I love that she mentions jealousy in this song. Tenille reminds her sweet Captain to think of her, Tenille, when some sweet talking girl comes along, singing a song (apparently she has a sweet voice) and for the Captain to ‘not mess around he’s just gotta be strong. . . “ I love that she acknowledges that people are human and is not under the delusion that she is the ONLY one he might ever be attracted to. As my mother says, “There is always someone for everyone. Maybe many.”
Open Arms - Journey
Now this was my generation! Steve Perry’s magical voice made me melt as he serenaded me as I closed my eyes and imagined being held by my very own Romeo. I heard in an interview that he resang the lines, “Wanting to hold you, wanting you near . . .” 45 times until he got the exact emotional tenor he was going for. So sexy, so meaningful.
Come What May - Moulin Rouge
I love that this is the lovers’ secret song reminding them that no matter what they go through or how bad things get, they will love each other until their dying day, which, tragically, ends up being sooner rather than later for the character Satine played by Nicole Kidman. My sister would add, “And who doesn’t want Ewan MacGregor singing with an open mouth one inch from your face?”
I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston
Great songs are timeless. Dolly originally wrote and recorded "I Will Always Love You" in 1973 for her mentor Porter Wagoner after she decided to leave his show and strike out on her own as a solo star. "It’s saying, 'Just because I’m going don’t mean I won’t love you. I appreciate you and I hope you do great and I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I’m out of here,'" Dolly explained during an interview at the time. The song soared to the top of the charts in 1974 and it hit the top again in 1982 when it was used in the soundtrack to the film “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas”. Whitney’s 1992 rendition brought the song to the top of the charts again. To this day, it is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Whitney’s technically brilliant version starts out with a melancholy a capella opening and from there the song builds and builds. Whitney’s version shows a woman grappling with the pain of her decision. I love both versions of the song but Dolly’s slow, sad methodic version is the one that really tugs on my heartstrings. Dolly sounds like a woman resigned to her decision to leave and is already walking away.
Love Will Go On - Celine Dion
This song gets an honorable mention although it is very romantic - only because the Kate Winslet character must not have loved him enough for love to go on because at the end of the movie she didn’t make room for him on the floating door.
