Results for “devotion as faith”

Songs

Faith

George Michael

A dance-pop declaration of self-preservation dressed up as a love song: the narrator is attracted to someone but refuses to hand…

romantic self-protection distrust of surface attraction patience versus desire

True Faith

New Order

A euphoric-sounding synth-pop anthem that turns out to be about addiction and the erosion of innocence, dressed in language so…

addiction and dependency loss of childhood innocence denial and self-deception

Heaven

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

I Found a Reason

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

I Believe In You and Me

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

Reasons for Waiting

Jethro Tull

A gentle, hushed love song built on the image of watching a sleeping partner and holding onto quiet, private moments. It moves…

tender devotion distance and longing the fragility of romantic idealism

Old Rugged Cross

Loretta Lynn

This is Loretta Lynn's rendition of the 1913 hymn by George Bennard, a foundational piece of American Protestant devotional song…

redemption sacrifice faith and devotion

María Elena

Nat King Cole

A classic Mexican bolero of total devotion, in which the speaker surrenders his heart, his being, and even his sense of the…

romantic surrender idealized love devotion as faith

When We’re Older

James Blake

A stripped-down love song that uses apocalyptic imagery as a backdrop for devotion, insisting that romantic commitment outlasts…

devotion under catastrophe mortality and time faith in another person

The Arms of Orion

Prince

A duet ballad from Prince's Batman soundtrack that turns cosmic imagery into a love song about longing and separation. The…

longing across distance celestial devotion spiritual/romantic faith

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack's rendition of the Simon & Garfunkel standard slows the song into a gospel-inflected vow, turning a folk-pop…

devotion and self-sacrifice comfort in hardship friendship as refuge

I'll Fight

Wilco

A stark chant-driven monologue in which a speaker pledges escalating sacrifice—going, fighting, killing, dying—for an unnamed…

sacrifice and its cost devotion versus self-erasure religious martyrdom

For the Widows In Paradise, for the Fatherless In Ypsilanti

Sufjan Stevens

A quiet, hymn-like meditation that speaks in the voice of a paternal or divine figure addressing a child, community, or…

fatherlessness and inherited grief divine or paternal devotion obligation and sacrifice

She

Gram Parsons

A hymn-like tribute to an unnamed Southern Black woman, built around the recurring refrain of her singing voice as the one…

Southern history and labor faith and gospel devotion admiration across difference

Soldier of the Heart

Judee Sill

Judee Sill builds an extended military allegory around a mysterious, idealized rescuer figure who is part lover, part guardian…

spiritual rescue romantic devotion as surrender suffering and redemption

Our Day Will Come

Amy Winehouse

This is Amy Winehouse's cover of the 1963 Ruby & the Romantics doo-wop standard, recast in her contralto as a slow, hazy soul…

young love patience and deferred happiness faith against doubt

Jacob's Ladder

The Staple Singers

This is The Staple Singers' rendition of the traditional African American spiritual "Jacob's Ladder," a call-and-response hymn…

spiritual ascent perseverance communal faith

Unchained Melody

Al Green

Al Green takes a mid-century ballad already worn smooth by decades of cover versions and slows it down further, turning its plea…

longing and separation time as erosion faith and supplication

Coming Back to You

Leonard Cohen

A song of confession and delay, where the speaker keeps circling back to a devotion he can't fully act on. Cohen frames romantic…

romantic devotion and resistance spiritual/emotional surrender guilt and unworthiness

My Sarah

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

I Feel You

Depeche Mode

A song that opens Songs of Faith and Devotion with a burst of religious ecstasy repurposed as erotic and romantic devotion. It…

sacred/profane fusion erotic transcendence conversion and rebirth

You're So Good to Me

The Beach Boys

A brief, buoyant mid-60s Beach Boys track that expresses uncomplicated gratitude toward a devoted partner. There's no plot or…

devotion gratitude young love

Completeness

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

Let's Stay Together

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

I Couldn't Love You More

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

She's the One

Ramones

A stripped-down declaration of devotion built almost entirely from repeated affirmations rather than narrative detail. The song…

devotion simplicity as sincerity teenage romance

What a Woman Really Means

Donny Hathaway

A late-period Donny Hathaway love song built around a single refrain that gets repeated and reframed across the hours of a day.…

devotion time and memory domestic intimacy

Got to Be There

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

Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (I Love You Baby)

Lauryn Hill

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

Merry Christmas Baby

Otis Redding

A blues-inflected Christmas standard sung as pure, unguarded gratitude — a lover's holiday toast rather than a story with…

romantic gratitude domestic contentment holiday ritual

Baby, This Love I Have

Minnie Riperton

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

For Your Precious Love

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

Baby I Love You

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

Cachito

Nat King Cole

A Spanish-language bolero of pure, uncomplicated adoration, built almost entirely around a single pet-name endearment that gets…

devotion gratitude tenderness

The Very Thought of You

Billie Holiday

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

And I Love Him

Shirley Horn

Shirley Horn's rendering of the Lennon-McCartney standard (gender-flipped from the Beatles' original) strips the song down to a…

devotion constancy simplicity of love

Flower of the Universe (From Disney's "A Wrinkle In Time")

Sade

A quiet lullaby written for a Disney film adaptation, this song addresses a child in cosmic, almost devotional terms, framing…

maternal love cosmic wonder protection

Angels

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

Jesus & Gravity

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton builds a simple physics-and-faith conceit into a testimony song: gravity is the force that keeps her humble and…

faith and humility gratitude versus entitlement balance between grounding and transcendence

Jesus Walks

Kanye West Tribute Band

Kanye West stages a war between street survival and spiritual longing, using a marching-drum gospel choir to frame hustling,…

faith under duress racial profiling and criminalization survivor's guilt