For the special occasion of Valentine’s day, I have made a selection of our collective playlist Hymn To Love, a compiled list of our friends and family’s preferred love songs, which is published here on our website https://salu2.eu/hymn2love/ You can still send us your suggestions to include in the playlist.🫶
| Title | Artist | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Where Do I Begin (Love Theme from “Love Story”) | Andy Williams | Originally an instrumental theme composed by Francis Lai for the 1970 film Love Story, lyricist Carl Sigman added words reflecting tender devotion and tragic romance. Andy Williams’ (born Howard Andrew Williams on December 3, 1927 in Wall Lake, Iowa, US) smooth, orchestral vocal style turned it into a defining early-1970s ballad, reinforcing his reputation as a master of romantic pop. |
| I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song | Jim Croce | Written by Jim Croce for his wife Ingrid after he struggled to express affection in conversation, the song reflects simple, direct love. Croce’s warm folk-pop style and storytelling gift made it one of his most enduring tracks, released posthumously after his tragic death in 1973. |
| True Companion | Marc Cohn | Written by Marc Cohn as a wedding song, it expresses steady, enduring partnership rather than dramatic passion. Marc Craig Cohn (born July 5, 1959 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American singer-songwriter, also known for the song “Walking in Memphis”. Cohn has been married three times: designer Jennifer George, ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas and Lisa Cohn. |
| Una lacrima sul viso | Bobby Solo | Written by Lunero (Giulio Rapetti Mogol), the song tells of heartbreak symbolized by a single tear. Bobby Solo’s Elvis-inspired vocal style and dramatic delivery made it a landmark of Italian pop in the 1960s, launching him to national fame. |
| Waar en wanneer | Bob Benny | A romantic chanson-style song about longing and destiny. Bob Benny (born Emilius Wagemans), known for representing Belgium at Eurovision in 1959 and 1961, embodied the classic European crooner tradition of the early 1960s. He became a musical theatre performer and played in many long-running shows in Belgium and Germany. The melody is based on the chorus of ‘Als flotter Geist’ from the operetta Der Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss Jr. |
| Et Si Tu N’Existais Pas | Joe Dassin | “Et si tu n’existais pas” (in English ‘And if you did not exist’), a poetic meditation on existential love, imagining life without the beloved is a French adaptation of the Italian song by Toto Cutugno & Pasquale Losito. Joe Dassin’s warm, narrative vocal style made him one of France’s most beloved chanson-pop figures, and this remains one of his signature songs. |
| Ti Amo | Umberto Tozzi | Written by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi, the song expresses passionate yet conflicted love. Its soaring melody and dramatic structure made it an international hit, later adapted into multiple languages and cementing Tozzi’s status in Italian pop history. |
| Colgando en Tus Manos (ft. Marta Sánchez) | Carlos Baute | Written by Carlos Baute, the duet portrays vulnerability and emotional dependence in love. The conversational interplay between Baute and Sánchez helped make it one of the most successful Spanish-language ballads of the 2000s. Carlos Roberto Baute Jiménez (born March 8, 1974, in Caracas, Venezuela), is a Venezuelan singer-songwriter and television host. Baute’s surname is of Guanches origin, the indigenous Berber peoples of the Canary Islands in Spain. His father was born in Tenerife, Spain. Marta Sánchez López (born May 8, 1966 in Madrid, Spain) is the daughter of Antonio Sánchez Camporro, an Asturian opera singer. |
| Cuando Me Enamoro (ft. Juan Luis Guerra) | Enrique Iglesias | Written by Enrique Iglesias and Descemer Bueno, the song describes the emotional unpredictability of falling in love. Blending Latin pop with Juan Luis Guerra’s tropical sensibility, it became a major Latin chart success. Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (born May 8, 1975 in Madrid, Spain) is the third and youngest child of Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and Spanish-Filipina socialite and magazine journalist Isabel Preysler. Juan Luis Guerra Seijas (born 7 June 1957 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican musician, singer, composer, and record producer. |
| Je l’aime à mourir | Francis Cabrel | “Je l’aime à mourir” (in English ‘I love her to death’) written by Francis Cabrel as a poetic declaration of devotion, the song emphasises enduring love through lyrical metaphor. Shakira’s version, both sung in French and Spanish (“La quiero a morir”), became a major hit single. Francis Cabrel was born in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne, France, into a modest family of Venetian Veneto descent. |
| Ik ga dood aan jou | Bart Herman | “Ik ga dood aan jou” (in English ‘I’m dying because of you’) is a Dutch-language ballad about overwhelming love and emotional surrender. Bart Herman (born Bartje Pol Frans Herman in Wevelgem on February 14, 1959), a Belgian singer-songwriter rooted in folk and cabaret traditions, is known for heartfelt storytelling and intimate performance style. |
| The Power of Love | Jennifer Rush | A soaring ballad about emotional strength and devotion, originally performed by Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern), the daughter of opera singer Maurice Stern, in 1984. She wrote the lyric about her boyfriend, the Harvard graduate Steven Engebretson. Rush worked with the poet/lyricist Mary Susan Applegate, who got a songwriting credit on the track along with the producers Gunther Mende and Candy DeRouge (real name: Wolfgang Detmann). This version runs 6 minutes on the album but was cut down to 4:20 for the single. Céline Dion’s 1993 cover clocks in at 4:46. |
| Waiting for a Girl Like You | Foreigner | Written by Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones with lead singer Lou Gramm, the song reflects longing for a transformative love. Its polished production and romantic sincerity marked Foreigner’s move toward arena ballads in the early 1980s. Thomas Dolby played the synthesiser intro. Foreigner is a British–American rock band formed in New York City in 1976. |
| Annie’s Song | John Denver | John Denver wrote “Annie’s Song” for his then-wife, Ann Martell, after their first separation and near breakup of their marriage in 1974. Written in minutes while riding a ski lift in Aspen, Colorado, Denver composed as an expression of overwhelming love inspired by nature. |
| Il cielo in una stanza | Gino Paoli | “Il cielo in una stanza” (in English ‘Heaven in a Room’) is a song written by Gino Paoli, inspired by an one-night relationship with a prostitute, and originally recorded by Italian singer Mina. The song was entirely written by Gino Paoli, at the time he was not registered to the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, hence it was initially credited to Toang (Renato Angiolini) and Mogol (Giulio Rapetti). |
| L’Amour est bleu | Vicky Leandros | “L’amour est bleu”, composed by André Popp with French lyrics by Pierre Cour, describes the pleasure and pain of love in terms of colours (blue and grey) and elements (water and wind). The song was recorded by Greek singer Vicky Leandros representing Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 held in Vienna. French conductor and arranger Paul Mauriat recorded in late 1967 an instrumental version which became the first number-one by a French lead artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
