There are all sorts of love songs out there, from declarations of romantic love to asserting one’s love for family or friends. While many love songs hold a sentimental feeling, they aren’t always songs with happy endings or returned feelings. Let’s look into a different sort of love song, one with filled with longing. Torch songs.
For those who aren’t familiar with the term, here’s a definition from Wikipedia. “A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship.” The popular phrase, “holding a torch” for someone is what inspired the naming of these sorts of songs. When one “holds a torch” for someone, they’re keeping their love for that person alive for a long time, even if the love is unrequited or things didn’t work out. These types of songs aren’t restricted to any one genre, but many often follow the melodic structure of the blues. Can you think of a song that captures romantic longing? Here are some that we came up with.
"I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" - Billie Holiday
To start with songs of longing, we have to look to legend Billie Holiday. Much of her discography is filled with love songs. Holiday actually has an entire album devoted to torch songs that came out in 1955 called Music for Torching. While the song wasn’t originally made for or recorded by Holiday, it became a standard that was covered by many artists. That said, Holiday’s version captures the longing so well, it feels like she was made to sing this song. The lyrics describe the deep love the vocalist has for someone who doesn’t reciprocate their feelings and how despite knowing they don’t stand a chance; they can’t help but long for a change of heart to occur.
“Seneca” – Movements
“Seneca” is a like a punch to the gut, full of deep longing for a person that the singer daydreamed of being with for years but never confessed his feelings. In the present, she’s engaged. The song captures the things he wishes he had said in all the years he’s known her. The song ends on a melancholy note with the singer accepting that he has to let go of these feelings and be happy for her.
“You Could Be Happy” – Snow Patrol
The first line, “You could be happy and I won’t know” knocks the wind out of you and maintains that melancholy feeling throughout the song. “You Could Be Happy” is full of regrets of things left unsaid but also hopes from the singer that now that he’s out of the picture, he hopes his lost love is happier now. But the fact that he doesn’t know because she’s out of his life is a heart-wrenching image of that loss, that someone can be out there having a great life without you in their life. Yet despite that pain, the singer hopes the best for her with the lyrics, “Do the things that you always wanted to/Without me there to hold you back, don't think, just do.” To love someone enough to wish them well when you part ways, that is quite the torch to carry.
“Torch Song” - AFI
It’s in the title, of course it had to make this list! It’s certainly quite the torch song too with lyrics full of the singer “so enthralled that I might die.” This takes the complete awe one has for someone and takes it to extreme imagery that gets the message across clearly with lyrics like, “I’d tear out my ears for you dear/To see everything that you do.” Yet, when given the chance, he does not speak, and he’s left to grieve that loss and regret because he would have done anything. This song captures the intense longing for a person really well.
“Beautiful Girls” - Sean Kingston
All these beautiful girls, and Sean Kingston is overwhelmed. Why? Because when they dump him, he’s left still aching for them long after they’ve gone. He’s so intense about it, the non-radio edit describes him feeling suicidal by the abandonment. This is a different type of torch song that captures the sad feeling of a love that doesn’t last forever. He had the love, and he lost it. And he keeps losing these beautiful girls. Poor, guy.
"Lovefool" – The Cardigans
She cries and she prays and she begs, but her crush simply won’t love her back, despite her insistence. “Lovefool” is a song you’ve probably heard and not realized the name of the song, particularly if you’ve ever worked in customer service/retail. This torch song is all about desperation for her love to reciprocate her feelings, to not walk away. She’s so far gone, she doesn’t even care if they don’t care about her, “as long as you don’t go.”
“I Dreamt We Spoke Again” – Death Cab for Cutie
“I Dreamt We Spoke Again” is a dream-like track that describes the longing to rekindle a lost connection, sung in the bittersweet tone that Death Cab for Cutie is known for. Now this song could be interepreted a number of ways, including from someone who’s passed away. But if you listen to the song with the right frame of mind, it’s hard not to see it as a torch song, especially when he asks if anything is the way it used to be.
“anything 4 u” – LANY
This LANY track captures the longing of someone who’s known someone for years, been the person their love confides in, but they don’t notice. The singer croons that he’d go to the moon, sell his soul and guitar, sleep in the back of a beat up car, whatever it takes to properly convey his love. He’s “something so familiar/you don’t even notice” but he wants to change that.
“Misty” - Sarah Vaughn
“Misty” is all about being so far gone on someone, it doesn’t even matter if they feel the same. The original comes from pianist Erroll Garner but it’s been recorded by many artists since its release. Sarah Vaughn’s version stands out because of the emotion behind her performance. Sarah Vaughn sells how madly in love the song’s narrator is as she croons, “You can say that you're leading me on/But it's just what I want you to do/Don't you notice how hopelessly I'm lost/That's why I'm following you.” Have you ever been that far gone on someone?
“Hello” - Adele
Adele is one of those vocalists from the modern age that captures the emotional range of the greats like Fitzgerald and Holiday. Her voice is perfect for ballads and torch songs. “Hello” is a slow-paced, emotional ballad about a lost lover. It’s been years since she’s been in contact and she wonders if the distance between them from years apart can ever be bridged or if it’s better to let go. The lyrics “hello from the outside” are meant to display the distance she feels from this person she used to know and love. Now, she can only look at their life from the outside and yearn for the closeness they once had and ponder about regrets on things left unsaid.
“I Will Always Love You” - sung by Whitney Houston
It takes a lot of strength to walk away from someone you love that you know isn’t right for you anymore. While Dolly Parton did it first, it’s Whitney Houston’s version that everyone is truly dazzled by (no offense to the queen Miss Dolly). Outside of the chorus so many know and love, looking further into the lyrics, you’ll see a woman who knows she’s “not what you need” and wishes her parted lover well. Despite them parting ways, she will always love them. If that’s not continuing to hold a torch for someone, I don’t know what is.
“Always Something There to Remind Me” - Naked Eyes
The song begins walking the streets they used to walk together, and everything reminds him of his forgotten girl. Why? Because there’s always something there to remind him. They may not be together right now but he still holds that love for her, he’ll “never be free. You’ll always be a part of me.” That’s some killer torch carrying.
There’s something so compelling about torch songs that make you feel so much sympathy for the person longing for a lost love. Whether you’re longing, cuddling up with a loved one, or happily single, we hope you look for love all around you, and these different types of love songs will add some variety to your listening.
Written by Kristen Petronio
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