My Personal Love History Soundtrack

It wasn’t until my high school boyfriend returned from summer school with this album in tow that I saw the possibilities in the love song category. It came in handy when he left town for college the following year, and I listened to “Only You” on loop.

We all had that car-stalking friend who drove by a dude’s house a dozen times while listening to this. FYI: An even sexier love song from the Say Anything soundtrack (and one that inspired fewer psychotic episodes) is actually “Within Your Reach” by The Replacements.

During my first Coachella trip, I wandered across a grassy field in the desert night, drawn to a glowing white tent that was emitting the eeriest, ethereal sounds. (It was a real run to the light, Carol Anne moment.) I still have no idea what Jónsi, the frontman, is singing about in that half-Icelandic, gibberish language, but only love could make a man squeal so beautifully.

I spent nine years with a guy who caused me so much misery that our song” was about a doozy of a breakup involving chain-smoking and unused airline tickets — which was weirdly prescient considering how things ended for us. It’s about love, sure, but the sick and twisted variety. Still, great song.

During a particularly grim night in front of the TV, I was compelled to order a TimeLife ten-CD Seventies Singer-Songwriter collection. It’s more than a little sad, I know. But have you ever listened to this song all the way through? It’s as sweet as they come. Though, if a guy ever told me that I “filled up his senses,” I might call the cops.

I’d thought that young girls had given up on sap in favor of chanting along with Taylor Swift. Then I discovered the Twilight soundtrack: As long as there are moody, dark guys to ignore you, there will be moody, dark songs to listen to while you think about them.

My husband introduced me to this one. I can’t remember if he was my husband at the time, or if the introduction to Mr. Cooke was one of the reasons why I knew he was the guy for me. Ladies: If a guy ever makes a play list for you and this is on it, marry him. You won’t regret it.

What constitutes a love song for me these days is a little different. The Decemberists’ front man wrote this most touching, skin-tingly song about the birth of his first child; and when it plays on the iPod in my kids’ room, I get a little misty, in a happy kind of way.

My three-year-old daughter is about to hit the stage for her first dance recital to the tune of this song. It begins: It was written that I would love you, from the moment I opened my eyes … and, well, that is just about the loveliest sentence that’s ever been set to music.