Van Morrison
A brisk, buoyant love song built almost entirely around one repeated invitation, using train-track imagery and childlike play to…
homecoming and reassurance simplicity of rural life romantic security
James Taylor
A quiet, unadorned lullaby that doubles as a farewell, offering reassurance through simple natural imagery rather than grand…
reassurance impermanence simplicity as sincerity
Kacey Musgraves
This is a faithful, largely unadorned cover of Bob Marley's reggae standard, recorded for a soundtrack tribute. Musgraves…
reassurance gratitude simple faith in the future
Bad Company
A restless traveler announces, in plain terms, that he's heading back to Atlanta and the woman or place waiting there. The song…
homecoming restlessness Southern identity
Musiq Soulchild
A neo-soul love song built almost entirely around a single declaration of devotion, sung directly to a partner the narrator…
devotion reassurance longing
Burial
Young Death is less a song than a sustained emotional gesture, built almost entirely from a handful of chopped, pitch-shifted…
reassurance loneliness protection
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
Four Tet
An instrumental piece from Four Tet's early folktronica period, built from looped acoustic textures, hand percussion, and warm…
reassurance domestic calm organic texture vs electronic process
Carole King
A devotional pledge song built almost entirely around one refrain, this track reworks King's own earlier hit into a mature,…
romantic loyalty compromise and partnership domesticity vs. adventure
D'Angelo
A soft, unhurried reassurance song built around a couple working through a minor rift. D'Angelo frames conflict as survivable…
reconciliation romantic endurance de-escalation
Willie Nelson
A wandering, self-destructive narrator arrives at a moment of grounding, finding stability not in ideology or vice but in…
disillusionment redemption through love moral ambiguity
Chaka Khan
A straightforward declaration of romantic devotion and desire, built almost entirely on the call-and-response between the words…
desire devotion reassurance
Sam Cooke
This is a straightforward, tender declaration of love built on a standard 1940s pop-ballad structure, delivered by Cooke with…
devoted love reassurance constancy
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
Florence + the Machine
This is Florence Welch's cover of the Ben E. King soul standard, recorded for a Final Fantasy XV tie-in. It strips the song back…
companionship fear of the unknown reassurance
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
The Jam
A brief, almost hymn-like ballad in which a wandering narrator catalogues distant travels only to insist, again and again, on…
homecoming fidelity romantic idealization
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
Interpol
The opening track of Turn On the Bright Lights strips lyrics down to almost nothing: a single promise repeated and slightly…
reassurance anticipation emotional distance
R.E.M.
A sequel of sorts to earlier R.E.M. songs about Athens, Georgia, this track finds the narrator returning to a hometown battered…
homecoming recovery and resilience civic identity
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
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
Nick Drake
A hushed address to a fragile, almost otherworldly listener, offering reassurance while quietly confessing the singer's own…
isolation transcendence versus earthbound suffering fragility and reassurance
Nirvana
A hazy invitation dissolves into contradiction as soon as it's offered: the singer welcomes you exactly as you are, then…
contradiction and self-cancellation false reassurance identity as unstable
Maxwell
A love song built almost entirely on reassurance, where the narrator repeats a single vow of devotion until it becomes…
romantic devotion reassurance and doubt idealization of a partner
The Kinks
A direct-address toast to someone going through hard times, built almost entirely from blessing and reassurance rather than…
resilience hope as choice leaving the past behind
Elton John
A ballad of consolation addressed to a partner during an absence, built around the idea that longing itself is what the blues…
separation and longing reassurance under strain romantic devotion
Stevie Wonder
A loose, Latin-tinged groove built around a single reassurance that repeats until it becomes a mantra. The spoken intro's comic…
self-reliance reassurance/comfort authenticity vs. performance
A deceptively simple reassurance song built almost entirely on a single repeated phrase, in which the narrator talks himself…
romantic insecurity self-persuasion trust versus doubt
Talking Heads
Talking Heads build a call-and-response gospel workout out of fragmented, almost nonsensical verses and a reassuring chorus that…
religious ecstasy vs. skepticism surrender of rational control community and reassurance
Steely Dan
A neighborhood gang works itself into a fever pitch preparing for the homecoming of a woman named Josie, whose arrival promises…
homecoming as ritual collective male desire violence disguised as celebration
The National
A disoriented homecoming song built from fragments rather than a clear story: a man returns to Ohio broke, unmoored, and…
debt and economic anxiety displacement and homecoming emotional numbness
Carly Simon
This is a hushed lullaby built around a single reassurance: things will keep turning, and it's safe to rest. Carly Simon's…
comfort and reassurance transience and continuity love as a form of legacy
Rodney Crowell
A road-worn narrator, hungover and rattled by a bar-room bigot, turns to his partner and demands verbal reassurance rather than…
insecurity and reassurance aging and mortality bigotry and disgust
Big Star
A gentle, hymn-like closer built on a single reassurance: fear can be released and morning can be trusted. Chris Bell's…
reassurance and comfort spiritual or quasi-religious feeling renewal
Randy Newman
A plainspoken love-song reassurance built almost entirely out of pop-ballad stock phrases, where the title refrain stands in for…
romantic reassurance genre pastiche insecurity beneath confidence
Seal
A loose, feel-good soul number built almost entirely on reassurance -- the title phrase repeats as both comfort and command,…
reassurance and consolation communal joy romantic hope
Bert Jansch
A hushed, traditional-sounding love lyric built around a single reassurance repeated to a young woman: come lie beside me, no…
clandestine love youthful courtship reassurance and persuasion
Brian Eno
Always Returning is an instrumental piece from Eno's Apollo soundtrack, built around slow, cyclical synthesizer and…
orbit and homecoming technological melancholy cyclical time
A woozy, fragmented meditation on emotional exhaustion and self-medication, delivered from inside a mind that can't quite trust…
emotional numbness self-deception and coping isolation vs. reassurance