These Top 15 Jazz Love Songs Will Make You Believe In The Power of Love

by Chaitra Ramalingegowda · May 16, 2015

When you can’t express what you feel in mere words, music comes to the rescue. There is nothing more romantic than listening to a singer croon the very words your heart yearns it could utter, snuggled in your beloved’s arms. Whether you’re young or old, rich or poor, tall or short, fair or dark, love usually hits you when you least expect it. It could either hit you with the full force of a Mack truck – wham! Or it could creep up behind you, sneak into your heart, and firmly places itself there, without even letting you know that you’re already in too deep.

Whether you fall or rise in love, it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. And there’s no better way to spend a lazy afternoon, cuddling your love in your arms and listening to love songs. And in my opinion, jazz love songs are the best kind to create that invisible bubble, where only you and your lover are there, gazing at each other lovingly, and let the jazz ballads weave their magic around you, forgetting the world altogether.

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So, without further ado, lets jump right in to our list of top 15 jazz love songs that will let you and your lover to float away in that magical bubble!

1. As Time Goes By – Frank Sinatra

Although this famous song was written way back in 1931, it wasn’t until it was used in the 1942 movie Casablanca, starring the dashing Humphrey Bogart and the beautiful Ingrid Bergman, that millions of people got to know of it. A slow melody, this one just makes you believe in eternal love.

Lyrics that work:

And when two lovers woo

They still say: I love you

On that you can rely

No matter what the future brings

As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs – never out of date

Hearts full of passion – jealousy and hate

Woman needs man – and man must have his mate

That no one can deny

2. Dream A Little Dream Of Me – Louis Armstrong

This ballad in Louis Armstrong’s voice is just the song you’d want to listen to when you’re in bed with your sweetheart. The words from this song just speak what’s on your mind when you’re in that gray zone between wakefulness and sleep – how you wish to hold your love tight in your arms and place a tender kiss on their brow. Tell them you’ll miss any separation from them – however small or big. That you’ll always love them.

Lyrics that work:

Stars fading but I linger on dear

Still craving your kiss

I’m longing to linger till dawn dear

Just saying this

Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you

Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you

But in your dreams whatever they be

Dream a little dream of me

3. All The Things You Are – Ella Fitzgerald

Remember those early days when you and your sweetheart were not quite an item, but you yearned to hold him in your arms someday? You couldn’t wait to profess your love to him and spend all of your spare time with him, talking about everything and nothing, holding hands, kissing him just because you felt like it, and sharing that secret smile from across the room. Sigh! Such is sweet torture of first love! This heady feeling is what Ella Fitzgerald croons in this lovely song.

Lyrics that work:

You are the angel glow that lights a star

The dearest things I know are what you are

Some day my happy arms will hold you

And some day I’ll know that moment divine

When all the things you are, are mine

4. Till There Was You – Etta Jones

Love makes the world seem more beautiful. You start noticing the splendor that is all around you – the sky seems impossibly bluer, the birds seem to rejoice in your happiness, the leaves on the trees rustle just so that they can provide background score for your love story, the flowers seem to bloom just to make you smile, and music – oh, the music seems sweeter than it ever was! Such is the power of love!

Lyrics that work:

And there was music

And there were wonderful roses,

They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows

Of dawn and dew

There was love all around

But I never heard it singing

No, I never heard it at all

Till there was you

5. Crazy He Calls Me – Billie Holliday

When in love, you feel like nothing could ever bring you down, that you have the power to move even mountains, bring down the stars – if that’s what your beloved wishes from you, and you’re ready to walk through fire for your love. In short, you feel invincible! That feeling of seeming invincibility is what Billie Holliday croons in this melody.

Lyrics that work:

I say I’ll go through fire

And I’ll go through fire

And he wants it, so it shall be

Crazy, he calls me

Sure I’m crazy

Crazy in love, you see

Like the wind that shakes the bough

He moves me with a smile

The difficult I’ll do right now

The impossible will take a little while

6. Unforgettable – Nat King Cole

When you love someone, you feel like they’ve become a part of every atom of your being. Like they’ve taken up residence in a corner of your heart. That you could never say or do or think anything without thinking of them first. They become unforgettable. And you know it’s true love when they think you’re unforgettable too! That is what Nat King Cole sings beautifully in one his best jazz love songs.

Lyrics that work:

Like a song of love that clings to me,

How the thought of you does things to me.

Never before

Has someone been more …

Unforgettable

In every way,

And forever more

That’s how you’ll stay.

That’s why, darling, it’s incredible

That someone so unforgettable

Thinks that I am

Unforgettable, too.

7. They Say It’s Wonderful – Johnny Hartman

All the words you read and heard about how love makes everything – from mundane to the prosaic – seem wonderful, becomes a reality when you fall in love. Listen to Johnny Hartman’s deep baritone croon the same in this jazz number. Plus the sax in the background is – ‘wonderful’!

Lyrics that work:

If there’s a moon up above, it’s wonderful

Wonderful in every way, so they say

You leave your house

And without any warning

You find yourself shoutin’ that love is grand

To hold your girl in your arms is wonderful

Wonderful in every way, so they say

8. Houston Person – My Romance

Love makes a regular, average joe into a poet with flowing words and wild imagination. You let your imagination run wild – talking about going to the moon, or building a stairway to the stars, or hear the sound of violins when there’s silence all around! Nothing seems impossible when you’re in love. This wild nighttime stroll on a stairway to the stars is what is being described in this song.

Lyrics that work:

We’ll hear the sound of violins

Out yonder where the blue begins

The moon will guide us as we go drifting along

Can’t we sail away on a lazy daisy petal

Over the rim of the hill?

Can’t we sail away on a little dream

And settle high on the crest of a thrill!

Let’s build a stairway to the stars

A lovely stairway to the stars

9. You Don’t Know What Love Is – Billie Holliday

You know how they say you don’t really appreciate what you have until it’s gone? Well, it’s true when it comes to love as well. Unless you’ve gone through heartbreak at least once, you won’t fully appreciate what you have. Billie Holliday croons the same in this jazz melody.

Lyrics that work:

You don’t know how lost heart feels

At the thought of reminiscing?

And how lips that taste of tears

Lose their taste for kissing

You don’t know how hearts burn

For love that cannot live yet never dies

Until you’ve faced each dawn with sleepless eyes

You don’t know what love is

10. Cold, Cold Heart – Dinah Washington

Remember I said that you need to experience a broken heart to appreciate what your present love? Well, sometimes, this heartbreak does the opposite and makes one guard their heart against even the slightest of opportunities for love. It takes one courageous person to melt this guarded heart and make room for love within these walls.

Lyrics that work:

Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue

And so my heart is paying now for things I didn’t do

In anger unkind words are said that make the teardrops start

Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart?

You’ll never know how much it hurts to see you sit and cry

You know you need and want my love yet you’re afraid to try

Why do you run and hide from life? To try it just ain’t smart

Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart?

11. My Funny Valentine – Frank Sinatra

Love is blind and all-consuming and makes you lose all your senses! You can’t find any faults in your sweetheart, all her annoying quirks make her endearing, all his idiosyncrasies make you adore him more! You accept these imperfections to build a relationship that is perfect for you. Talking about these seeming imperfections is Frank Sinatra in this famous ballad.

Lyrics that work:

My funny valentine

Sweet comic valentine

You make me smile with my heart

Your looks are laughable

Unphotographable

Yet you’re my favorite work of art

12. The Very Thought Of You – Red Garland

The heady onrush of feelings you experience when you’re in love is nothing short of walking on the clouds! It makes you feel as if you’re living in your own little bubble, far away from the vagaries of life, time, and space. You just want and need to be with your sweetheart, and everything seems right in the world. Sigh! To be young and in love!

Lyrics that work:

The very thought of you and I forget to do

The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do

I’m living in a kind of daydream, I’m happy as a king

And foolish though it may seem, to me that’s everything

The mere idea of you, the longing here for you

You’ll never know how slow the moments go till I’m near you

13. The Nearness Of You – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

When you’re in love, all material things and external factors start to seem superfluous. You just have one thought and one thought only – to hold your sweetheart in your arms and forget everything else and everyone else. If you’re just near your beloved, all is right in the world. You start to crave being in your lover’s arms – all other things start to seem useless! In one of the most romantic jazz love songs by these two legends croon about the same.

Lyrics that work:

It’s isn’t your sweet conversation

That brings this sensation, oh no

Yes, it’s just the nearness of you

When you’re in my arms

And I feel you so close to me

All my wildest dreams come true

14. My Baby Just Cares For Me – Nina Simone

This is a light-hearted take on how when you become the world to one person, despite there being seven billion other people on the planet. Check out the song.

Lyrics that work:

My baby don’t care for shows

My baby don’t care for clothes

My baby just cares for me

My baby don’t care for cars and races

My baby don’t care for high-tone places

Liz Taylor is not his style

And even Lana Turner’s smile

Is somethin’ he can’t see

My baby don’t care who knows

My baby just cares for me

15. La Vie En Rose – Louis Armstrong

This is the perfect finish to this list of amazing jazz love songs. The French phrase, la vie en rose, literally means life in pink. However, upon better translation, it means life viewed through rose-tinted glasses. This legendary and classic song by Louis Armstrong is one of my all-time favorites. The lyrics are so simple, yet hold a wealth of meaning. See for yourself, the magic of words and music combined together.

Lyrics that work:

Hold me close and hold me fast

The magic spell you cast

This is la vie en rose

When you kiss me heaven sighs

And though I close my eyes

I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart

I’m in a world apart

A world where roses bloom

And when you speak

Angels sing from above