Preview

Percy Sledge's What Is Love

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
715 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Percy Sledge's What Is Love
The age old question is what is love? The Oxford English Dictionary defines love as “ An intense feeling of deep affection” . Love is a universal topic. When people hear the word “love” many things can come to mind. It is unique because everyone loves differently. Love can be pleasant or torturous. In my opinion, love may be the most powerful thing a person will ever come across. Over the decades artists have tried to articulate what love is through music. In the late 1950's the Playmates released a song called “What is Love?”. They thought love was “five feet of heaven in a ponytail, the cutest ponytail that sways with a wiggle when she walks”. In 1966 one of the most popular love songs of all time was released by Percy Sledge. Sledge’s hit song was “When a Man Loves a Woman”. He expresses throughout the song that love is essentially blind. …show more content…
In 1975 ABBA released “SOS”, which depicts a different side of love. The lyrics say “When you’re gone, how can I even try to go on?” This shows the type of emotional toll a heartbreak can take on someone. It can make someone feel like they cannot live without their loved one. In 1988 Bon Jovi released another famous love song– “I’ll Be There For You”. The lyrics of this song are very powerful. In the first verse true love is compared to suicide. Similarly to Percy Sledge’s song “When A Man Loves A Woman”, Bon Jovi is expressing that he would do anything to get the girl back, e.g., “I’d live and I’d die for you”, “I’d steal the sun from the sky for you”, “words can’t say what love can do”. In 1992 a very famous and talented singer released a love song that just about everyone has heard. “ I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston– an emotionally moving song that
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

    Love is undoubtedly one of the most frequently explored subjects in the literary world. Whether the focus is a confession of love, criticism of love, tale of love, or simply a tale about what love is, such literary pieces force readers to question the true meaning and value of love. Raymond Carver accomplishes this in his short story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” As the unadorned setting and the personality of each character unfold, the reader realizes that Carver is making a grave comment on the existence of love. Carver utilizes strong contrast, imagery, and diction to ultimately suggest that love cannot be defined concretely and therefore cannot be defined in words, and because of this, it is better off unexplored.…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Song of Songs vs. Lady Antebellum's Our Kind of Love
    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Song of Songs vs. Lady Antebellum's Our Kind of Love

    The excerpts from The Bedford Anthology of World Literature entitled The Song of Songs can correlate to the contemporary love song “Our Kind of Love” sang by the notorious, award-winning country music group Lady Antebellum. Besides the fact that these two works were written under antithetical circumstances and during distinctly different time periods, they both share many of the same attributes. Both of these works closely examine the word “love”, a word that is commonly misused in the present day generation. Furthermore, they both portray the profound, romantic feeling that a woman and a man share when they are both mentally and physically attracted to each other.…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Barbara Ehrenreich's Article 'Will Women Still Need Men?'
    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Barbara Ehrenreich's Article 'Will Women Still Need Men?'

    Love is something that we ourselves can not fully understand and draw to each other. It is something that we feel within our souls and thorught human life has been present. It is like our soul unexplainable, and cannot be examined because it is not like any other science that can be measured. Love is the only thing that humans need to feel complete. We all need love from our parents, our friends, and mostly our significant others.…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Chloe Response Essay

    • 846 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Chloe Response Essay

    When the reader first reads this short story, it is puzzling and random, but as it is read multiple times you begin to understand Browns’ writing style and her unusual development. The reader starts to recognize that the songs represent certain moments of a person’s life when they are at a particular stage in love. For example, a person starts out alone in life, “’All By Myself (Eric Carmen)” (1). Then a person begins the torturous hunt for love, “’Looking for Love (Lou Reed)” (1). When a person finally finds that one person, they begin to become physical with one another and become even more attached to that one special person, perhaps hey even begin a relationship, “’Let’s Talk About Sex” (Salt N’ Peppa)” (3). “’I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (The Ramones)” (4). The establishment of every relationship is the best part and the happiest time for the couple, therefore the cheeriest and sweetest songs are the beginning of this short story.…

    • 846 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    I Carry Your Heart With Me Analysis
    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I Carry Your Heart With Me Analysis

    The definition of love is something that varies greatly among individuals. In E.E. Cummings’s poem “i carry your heart with me”, Cummings effectively conveys that true love is a powerful force that brings complete unity between two people through the use of various literary devices such as capitalization, point of view, form, and imagery to enhance the meaning of his poem.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    My First Horse Show Research Paper
    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    My First Horse Show Research Paper

    What is love? I never knew until I was fourteen year old at my first horse show. My family has always told me that when I loved someone or something unconditionally for exactly what it was without expecting anything in return, and when I was away from whatever I loved I would feel like something was missing, and only then would I truly understand love. At that first horse show I understood what they told me. For me my first horse show changed my life, it made me feel so alive and I never wanted to leave. Everyone has their own definitions of love but mine is for a series of events and is much different from the typical "love" that most people understand.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Unconditional Love in “the Song of Songs”
    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Unconditional Love in “the Song of Songs”

    What is Love? Robert Frost once wrote “Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” Love is one of the strongest emotions we feel, yet it is the hardest emotion to ever be understood. “The Song of Songs” by Ellen Gilchrist, explores the theme of love, particularly a mother’s love for her child, and the impact it has on one woman specifically, Barret Clare.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dave Eggers Short Story
    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dave Eggers Short Story

    When I read this short story by Amanda Holzer, “Love and Other Catastrophes: A Mix Tape”, it struck me by how genius this story was about by only using song titles. Amanda Holzer’s showed the cycle of our love lives and how we feel sometimes. I like how she reached out to the audience by using music. This short passage actually tells a story of a typical relationship, beginning to end. Love can be so sweet and then it can turn on you and get worst. It helped understanding the message by knowing some of the songs the narrator mentioned.…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Lgbtq In College
    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Lgbtq In College

    Love; a noun; an intense feeling of deep affection. Now, when the definition of love is used in today's society, one might think of a scrappy young couple barely getting by in a worn down apartment in New York or Portland, sitting down in a pile of blankets and thinking of the most unique child names for their soon to be. One might think of a love between a soft newborn and their mother moments after being brought into the world, the love and admiration in the mother's eyes thinking of all the endless possibilities their life could have. Love could be used when the parents send their child off to school, tears filling their eyes because they are so proud to see the love of their life, their born child growing up and experiencing the vast…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Meaning Of Love Word Essay
    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Meaning Of Love Word Essay

    Love, it is a rather common word in today’s society. The basic noun definition is an intense feeling of deep affection, while the verb definition is to feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone). Seems simple enough correct? Not exactly, although in the modern world language, love is used regularly to express ones feelings, it is often misused. In order to use a word correctly, it must be understood, remembering that love is in the eye of the beholder.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Norman Rockwell's The Love Song
    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Norman Rockwell's The Love Song

    From my range of experiences at the Indianapolis Museum of Art there has been one painting that has always brought me back to cast my shadow on the museum floor in front of it. Norman Rockwell’s The Love Song has captured my attention time and time again with its expressive and intriguing narrative.…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Definition Essay On Love
    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Definition Essay On Love

    There are many emotions that are not easy to understand, one of the most complicate feeling that have somehow affect people life is love. It is the feeling that almost everyone have experienced. The meaning of love is not only varies between different cultures, which western people tend to focus more on passion than eastern people, but also between different people. Each person may have their own definition of love according to their experience or their own believe. However, according to the Cambridge dictionary, the meaning of love is to have a strong affection for someone, which can be combined with a strong romantic attraction. As seen in the definition, the word love can be use to describe other emotion rather than romantic feeling between…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Before the Music Dies
    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Before the Music Dies

    “The greatest Music comes from an emotional identification with those that do not have.”- Musician Brandford Marsalis. In this quote Marsalis is stating that Music is supposed to be familiar to people in the same emotional situation. Singing about being broken when you have money does not benefit your audience. The audience want to hear artists that are in the same situation that there in. When artists from the late 1900s wrote their music, they included more about the experience and emotional background that their image or current surroundings. Emotions that was sincere instead of being counterfeit. In order to sing about a love, that person would have been in or currently in love. “The fact that we ignore the very thing that made the song, which is heart, the feeling we are missing so much today” – Musician Les Paul.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Love Song Analysis
    • 2018 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Love Song Analysis

    Love is “an intense feeling of attraction”. This is how Webster’s Dictionary defines love. It is much more complicated than that though, or maybe we just make it out to be more complicated, either way it’s hard to explain. A few words that characterize love for me are sacrifice, safe, comfortable, commitment, selfless, trust, and bond. Love is more than just a word, it’s an action. It is accepting and appreciating someone for who they are regardless of their flaws and trusting that you’ll stick by one another through thick and thin. It’s caring about another person’s well-being and happiness more than your own. There are different ways of expressing your love for another person. There is the romantic love, where there is sexual chemistry and passion, and then there’s also the kind of love you feel for your family or a close friend. Either way its love and its special and we all need it in our lives. The assignment we were given is to analyze love songs from a specific decade. The objective of this is to determine how communication in and about relationships has transformed over the years, as well as to show how standards that define good communication and good relationship has changed. The decade my group got is the 80’s. There was a lot going on in this era. As far as main events that happened, Ronald Reagan became president at the end of the same year that John Lennon was assassinated. (1980) Then in 1981 most everyone that had televisions watched as Lady Diana and Prince Charles had their royal wedding. As far as love goes, this could give everyone’s romance level a little boost! In 1982 Michael Jacksons ‘Thriller’ came out, giving a little taste of what kind of music to expect this decade. To this day that album is still one of the best sellers ever. Compact discs were first released in ’83. Then something tragic, AIDS gets discovered in 1984. Thus all the free love going on in the 70’s comes to an end for most. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opened in ’85. Then…

    • 2018 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Love and Jealousy
    • 1862 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Love and Jealousy

    Love is an inexpressible and indescribable feeling. It can affect a person to the point of recklessness. Once a Soul has recognized a counterpart in another, the effects can cause One to surrender themselves completely. Love has a way of making sense out of thin air. Judgment becomes clouded and rationality no longer exists. In the end, all that remains is pure, indefinable emotion. Attempts to capture all the abilities and challenges intertwined within this ruthless emotion take the form of stories, music and movies. For instance, the story, "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot," follows a husband bound by such irrevocable Love for his Wife. After a sudden death the husband’s soul returns in the form of a Parrot, which is later purchased by his Wife. Another example falls into the verses of a song titled, "Best of You," written by the Foo Fighters. Similar to The Parrot, The Artist in the song is also in battle, but with himself. He is hindered by the inability to make rational decisions dealing with the relationship between His Partner and himself. Though, written for different reasons, the context of The Story and the verses of The Song will show how much they differ as much as they stay the same.…

    • 1862 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics