Minnie Riperton
A soft, incantatory love song built almost entirely from direct address and imperative pleading, in which the singer asks a…
romantic surrender identity through the other sensuality
Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves' rendition of this 1961 standard, recorded for the 2022 Elvis biopic soundtrack, strips the song down to its…
surrender to love fate versus choice vulnerability
Prince
A slow-burn seduction track built almost entirely around anticipation, in which the narrator promises total sexual surrender to…
erotic surrender impatience and urgency fantasy fulfillment
Lana Del Rey
An early, previously shelved Lana Del Rey track built almost entirely on a single plea for devotion and surrender, framed as a…
devotion and surrender romantic idolization fate versus choice
Depeche Mode
A slow-burning devotional track that blurs the line between spiritual ecstasy and self-annihilation, using the imagery of…
surrender and self-dissolution transcendence through love or faith mortality
Maxwell
A quiet devotional love song built almost entirely from offers and conditionals, in which the narrator surrenders control to a…
devotion and self-surrender vulnerability in love unconditional availability
Whitney Houston
A devotional love ballad built almost entirely on a single act of assertion: repeated declarations of faith in a partner rather…
romantic devotion faith and belief as metaphor for love surrender/vulnerability
A dance-pop declaration of instant, total surrender to a new love, built almost entirely around one repeated vow of…
instant attraction surrender and devotion desire framed as fate
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin takes Sam Cooke's 1957 declaration of devotion and rebuilds it as a gospel-charged testimony of pleasure,…
romantic devotion desire as overwhelming force reclamation/reinterpretation
Cat Power
This is Cat Power's slowed, hushed reinterpretation of a Velvet Underground song, stripping away the original's arrangement in…
faith and doubt devotion persuasion versus surrender
Billie Holiday
A standard from the 1930s American songbook, this is a torch song built on a single conceit: the singer offers up her own body,…
romantic surrender self-negation abandonment
Lauryn Hill
Performed live and introduced almost as an experiment in vulnerability after the confrontational 'Rebel', this song builds an…
surrender spiritual longing conflated with romantic desire purification
Thin Lizzy
A tender, almost devotional love song built on simple repeated vows, addressed to someone named Sarah. Its plainness is the…
unconditional love parental/romantic tenderness devotion
Seal
This is Seal's cover of the Al Green soul standard, a straightforward vow of devotion rendered in his signature smoky vocal…
devotion commitment through hardship romantic idealization
Warren Zevon
A cover of Dylan's outlaw death-ballad, recorded by Zevon while he was terminally ill, so the song's fictional frame collapses…
mortality surrender acceptance
Sade
A slow, incantatory love song built almost entirely on a single declarative claim, repeated until it becomes its own proof. Sade…
contentment devotion sufficiency
Chaka Khan
A devotional, almost ceremonial love song built on a single vow of presence: to be there at the first light of a relationship,…
devotion presence and belonging new beginnings
This is Lauryn Hill's rendition of the 1967 Frankie Valli classic, placed on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as a brief,…
infatuation gratitude vulnerability
Otis Redding
Otis Redding takes the Impressions' original devotional ballad and turns it into a raw, almost pleading testimony of gratitude…
devotion gratitude doubt from outsiders
A love song built around the gap between feeling and expression, in which the narrator worries that her devotion isn't landing…
communication anxiety reassurance devotion
B.B. King
A straightforward blues-soul declaration built almost entirely on the repeated phrase of devotion, this track trades narrative…
devotion fear of abandonment reassurance
Judee Sill
Judee Sill turns a love song into a devotional hymn, blurring the line between romantic union and religious ecstasy until the…
sacred and profane love transcendence mortality
A standard-era love song built entirely around the idea of infatuation rather than the beloved's physical presence: the singer…
idealized love longing and absence daydreaming as escape
The xx
A sparse, almost hymn-like love song built around a single repeated claim of devotion, sung by a narrator who seems…
devotion the ineffability of love fear of loss
A gospel testimony built almost entirely from a single scriptural refrain, this recording turns a short devotional statement…
divine refuge suffering and lament faith as action
Leonard Cohen
A short, incantatory prayer-song in which the speaker surrenders the illusion of being the one who loves and comes to see love…
surrender of ego divine or transcendent love exile and punishment
Talk Talk
New Grass closes Laughing Stock as a hushed devotional, sung by a voice worn thin but grateful, addressing something like grace…
religious surrender exhaustion and renewal gratitude
A meditation on grace and surrender disguised as a portrait of a woman by a river, Cohen's song moves from intimate seduction…
spiritual longing disguised as romance the sacred in the everyday trust and surrender
Patti Smith
A dance-trance hymn to erotic and spiritual surrender, where a woman's devotion to a man is described in the third person as…
erotic devotion as religion loss of self through ecstasy gender and idealization
Otis Redding takes the Irving Berlin standard and rebuilds it as soul testimony, stretching its plain, nostalgic lines into…
nostalgia longing devotion
Al Green
Al Green frames a romantic relationship as a sacred event, thanking a higher power for a love that feels chosen rather than…
sacred love gratitude devotion
Phoebe Bridgers
This is a cover, not an original composition, so the critical interest lies in interpretation rather than authorship: Phoebe…
devotion autonomy from outside judgment intimacy
A neo-soul love song built almost entirely from negation and comparison: the singer catalogs firsts and never-had-befores to…
gratitude romantic awe transformation through love
Ann Peebles
A gratitude-soaked soul ballad in which the narrator credits a lover with rescuing her from despair and teaching her what love…
redemption through love gratitude rebirth/renewal
Cassandra Wilson
A slow-burning soul-jazz meditation on physical intimacy, built almost entirely around a single sensation: being moved, bodily…
sensual intimacy vulnerability through touch memory and desire
Deep Purple
This is Deep Purple's cover of the Neil Diamond original, a straightforward blues-rock love song built around a repeated title…
idealized love devotion simplicity/contentment
This is Seal's cover of the Ben E. King soul standard, reworked as a lush, string-laden vocal showcase for his 2008 covers album…
loyalty fear of abandonment cosmic/apocalyptic imagery as metaphor for hardship
The Louvin Brothers
A plain, pleading country ballad built entirely around a single conditional wish: to win the love of someone who remains just…
unrequited love longing devotion
Jason Isbell
A recovery ballad disguised as a love song, in which the narrator counts the cost of his old chaotic life and credits a specific…
addiction and sobriety redemption through love domesticity as safety
Sandy Denny
A simple, tender travel song built around a single promise: the singer will return to a loved one when the day ends. Sandy Denny…
longing separation and reunion homecoming