Results for “devotion as inexhaustible material”

Songs

Everything You Touch Is Gold

Gregory Porter

A buoyant love song built around the Midas-touch conceit, in which the singer casts himself as transformed by a lover's presence…

romantic transformation gratitude and abundance innocence regained

Mile High

James Blake

A luxury-draped love song built on a Metro Boomin/Travis Scott feature that trades Blake's usual confessional ache for a more…

possessive intimacy material excess as emotional language fear of solitude

Joy of My Life

Chris Stapleton

A quiet love song built almost entirely from gratitude rather than conflict, tracing a musician's return home to a partner and…

marital devotion gratitude domesticity

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

LOVE.

Kendrick Lamar

A relatively unguarded pop-leaning track for DAMN., LOVE. sets a domestic, romantic duet (with Zacari) against the album's…

conditional vs. unconditional love fame and material status as tests of loyalty domestic intimacy amid instability

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

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

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

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

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

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

luther

Kendrick Lamar

Built around a Luther Vandross/Cheryl Lynn duet sample, this GNX track finds Kendrick trading his usual combative persona for…

romantic devotion escapism through fantasy protection and provision

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

God Blessed Our Love

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

Stand By Me

Seal

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

Nothing Else Matters

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

Can't Help Falling in Love

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

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

Until You Came Into My Life

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

Cover Me Up

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

At the End of the Day

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

Sea of Love

Cat Power

Cat Power's stripped-down cover of the doo-wop standard turns a bright, buoyant 1959 hit into something hushed and fragile,…

devotion memory vulnerability

Kentucky Woman

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

One For All Time

Chaka Khan

A ballad of retrospective longing in which the narrator revisits a lost love she still believes was singular and irreplaceable.…

nostalgia idealized past love yearning and denial

If I Could Only Win Your Love

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

White Christmas

Otis Redding

Otis Redding takes the Irving Berlin standard and rebuilds it as soul testimony, stretching its plain, nostalgic lines into…

nostalgia longing devotion

Fortunate

Maxwell

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

God Only Knows

The Beach Boys

A love song built on an admission rather than a boast: the singer refuses to promise eternal devotion outright, instead…

dependence and self-erasure in love uncertainty as a form of honesty devotion expressed through negation

You're the One for Me (feat. Joss Stone)

Smokey Robinson

A straightforward declaration of romantic devotion, built on the classic Smokey Robinson template of certainty and fidelity. The…

romantic devotion certainty/fate fidelity

Throw It All Away

Brandi Carlile

A quiet devotional song built on the idea that romantic security matters more than any external certainty. The narrator imagines…

unconditional devotion emotional security vulnerability and anxiety

My Babe

Spoon

A song about staying put — emotionally and literally — inside a routine that has worn thin, and choosing devotion anyway. The…

endurance of routine devotion as choice stasis versus escape

Kissing a Fool

George Michael

A torch song about a love ended by other people's interference rather than a lack of feeling, sung by a narrator who oscillates…

betrayal by outside influence wounded pride unresolved devotion

Superheroes

Ethan Whitney

A straightforward pop declaration of romantic devotion dressed up in comic-book imagery. The narrator pledges protective,…

devoted love self-sufficiency vs. support escapism

Dying Day

Brandi Carlile

A road-worn singer addresses someone left behind, weighing the cost of a touring life against a vow of permanent devotion. The…

distance and longing touring life vs. domestic life fidelity and devotion

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