Evenstarlight

Sure, there are millions of songs about love already. Nevertheless, some writers manage to come up with lyrics that are fresh and genuine and real. Here are ten of the best I’ve ever heard.

• DECIPHERING ME (Brooke Fraser):

Friend, it’s getting late, we should be going. We’ve sat here beneath these flickering neons for hours. While I am cracking their code, you are deciphering me – for I am a mystery; I am a locked room in a tall tower.

• LOVE IS WAITING (Brooke Fraser):

I could write a million songs about the way you say my name; I could live a lifetime with you and then do it all again. And like I can’t force the sun to rise or hasten summer’s start, neither should I rush my way into your heart.

• THE THIEF (Brooke Fraser):

You’re ruining me with secrets and gestures and looks, with sonnets from second-hand books, playing the chords in me nobody knew how to play. You sing me to sleep, talk down my walls, look through my windows as I wait. You could be the thief I give the key to.

• THESE DAYS (Chantal Kreviazuk):

Make me a storybook and write me away from here. I need a different now – where we can wear each other for a while and I’ll lend you my tears if I could borrow your smile.

• THE FEAR YOU WON’T FALL (Joshua Radin):

I know you’re scared that I’ll soon be over it – that’s part of it all. Part of the beauty of falling in love with you is the fear you won’t fall.

• SORRY TO A FRIEND (Edwin McCain):

Staring at her face, I see a past that still haunts me. The road where we split up is paved with the things I didn’t say.

• COME AWAY WITH ME (Norah Jones):

I want to walk with you on a cloudy day in fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high. So won’t you try to come?

• SONG FOR A DANCER (Stephen Speaks):

She dances; her footsteps like raindrops patter across the stage. Second glances – she pirouettes then slowly fades away. Lost my chances – who holds the broom that will sweep her off her feet?

• PAPERWEIGHT (Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk):

Every word you say I think I should write down, don’t wanna forget come daylight.

• SO ROMANTIC (Stacey Kent):

It was so like you to choose such a moment: the sun setting over the square, a pavement café, the local children at play, the sound of an accordion somewhere. You suddenly said fate was pulling us apart, then you shrugged like there was nothing more to add. I suppose you considered that so romantic – well, I just considered it sad.

For the record, though, my wedding song is still, hands down, Gary V.’s I Will Be Here.