A song that describes slowly blossoming love that is held back?
January 16, 2013 9:14 AM   Subscribe

What's a good song that embodies the feeling of... "you found the person with whom you want to spend a lifetime together... but you're kept from being together (not because there are other people, but other reasons)... and every day it hurts to dream about, in a sweet way." kind of like a song that would describe Jim and Pam's tentative pre-lationship in The Office season 1 on... thanks!
posted by dracomarca to Human Relations (21 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Beach Boys - "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
posted by wolfnote at 9:15 AM on January 16, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: "I've Been Waiting."
posted by timsteil at 9:21 AM on January 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


"Tomorrow" - originally by the Durutti Column.
posted by LionIndex at 9:38 AM on January 16, 2013


You might enjoy 'Café Hong Kong' by Future Bible Heroes.
Dear Joe, I had to use your handkerchief
as a tourniquet
it's bloodstained now and torn
Baby
When the war is over
when we all come home
I will wait for you dear
at the Café Hong Kong.

posted by feral_goldfish at 9:46 AM on January 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Mind you that one's more about lovers who've been separated. If you prefer an on-the-job pre-lationship, try 'Life During Wartime' (Talking Heads).
posted by feral_goldfish at 10:02 AM on January 16, 2013


Tangerine - Led Zeppelin

Measuring a summer's day
I only finds it slips away to grey
The hours, they bring me pain.

Tangerine, Tangerine
Living reflection from a dream
I was her love, she was my queen
And now a thousand years between.

Thinking how it used to be
Does she still remember times like these
To think of us again?
And I do.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:47 AM on January 16, 2013


Billy Bragg - Wishing the Days Away (lyrics)
posted by Lexica at 11:39 AM on January 16, 2013


Think (Let Tomorrow Bee), by Sebadoh, comes to mind:

I think I love you, though I don't know what love means
Girl of my dreams, or a friend that one day leaves?
Could I trust you when I've lied to myself before?
Will I do it all again to taste what I've imagined we could be?


...even though in this case it's less about the couple being kept apart entirely and more about uncertainty causing the narrator to hold back. Or something like that. But it's an incredibly sweet song, and I am saying this as an inveterate prog-rock fan who generally finds romance a tiresome lyrical topic. There's just something intensely genuine about this song that makes up for its lack of robotic space armadilloes.
posted by aecorwin at 12:02 PM on January 16, 2013






"You're Beautiful" by James Blunt

She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
posted by spunweb at 12:56 PM on January 16, 2013


The way you want it to be - Delerium

every day and night you're gone
I'll be missing you
but I'm going to be brave
the way you want it to be
posted by griselda at 1:23 PM on January 16, 2013


I can't fight this feeling anymore!
posted by yarly at 1:42 PM on January 16, 2013




possibly:
I Think I Love You
She's In Love With The Boy
posted by mrmarley at 2:16 PM on January 16, 2013


PJ Harvey You Said Something or This Mess We're In with Thom Yorke. Probably a little more hopeless than anything though.
posted by geek anachronism at 2:22 PM on January 16, 2013


Another night in with Tindersticks. Many songs on the same album (Curtains) are distilled bittersweetness, at least to me.
posted by springload at 5:07 PM on January 16, 2013






Falling Slowly from the film Once? (Not to mention the entire plot of the film...)
posted by pink_gorilla at 12:06 AM on January 17, 2013


Response by poster: Thanks for all the recommendations! I chose "I've Been Waiting" from timsteil because it has a pleasant, hopeful 1990's quality... and lovely lyrics

'I didn't think I'd find you perfect in so many ways - and I've been waiting'
posted by dracomarca at 8:29 AM on January 18, 2013


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