Songs for Lovers - 15 of the 60s most romantic tracks

Need some help creating the right mood for romantic night in? The Sounds of the 60s team have picked their favourite tracks getting cosy with the one you love.

This track was first recorded in 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra with vocals being provided by Val Rosing. Redding recorded his version in 1966 with a Stax staff producer who just happened to be Isaac Hayes. It only made it to 25 in the Billboard Hot 100 and 33 in the UK charts. Since then it has also been covered by Three Dog Night, Nina Simone, Etta James, Percy Sledge, Frank Sinatra, Cyndi Lauper and Florence and the Machine.

Dusty Springfield wanted to record this track, written by Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, but the duo said no. They wanted to wait and see if they could get a Detroit label to take it - and they were right to do so. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" made it to number 19 in the US chart. At the recording Terrell was very nervous and they ended up recording her vocals separately and the producers added Gaye’s at a later date.

Never expect the obvious with Lou Reed – ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ was actually written about someone whose eyes were hazel, possibly his first love Shelley Albin who was married to someone else at the time. The track appears on their 1969 album The Velvet Underground.

Topping the American charts for seven weeks, “I’m A Believer” became the group’s only UK number one and remained in pole position for three weeks. Written by Neil Diamond who also recorded the song for his album, “Just For You,” The Monkees version featured the group on vocals with Micky Dolenz taking the lead with all the instrumentation being provided by session musicians.

From the formidable writing duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Bacharach originally intended the track to be an instrumental but David added lyrics and it was recorded by Springfield and released in 1967. The track was written for a scene in the film Casino Royale in which Ursula Andress seduces Peter Sellers.

Included in Morrison’s second studio album which he released in 1968. It stands out in the track list as the only track to be ‘looking forward’ in contrast to the other tracks which tend to focus on the past. The album was poorly received initially and Morrison’s feelings about it are maybe reflected in the fact that ‘Sweet Thing’ is the only track from it that he included in his 1990 release ‘The Best of Van Morrison’.

This big hit came about when one night Percy was performing at a night club near his hometown of Alabama with his backing group, he was so upset having just broken up with his girlfriend that he found himself unable to perform his usual repertoire of up tempo songs so instead asked the musicians to play something morose in any key resulting in him pouring out his feelings with words that just came into his head that would later become “When A Man Loves A Woman.”

The song was inspired by the French melody, “Plasir D’Amour” by Jean Paul Martini from his opera, “Annette and Lubin”, and was one side of the double ‘A’ sided hit with “Rock-A-Hula Baby”, both featured in the Elvis movie, “Blue Hawaii”. In the film Elvis presented his grandmother with a music box that played “Can’t Help Falling In Love” to which he sang along to despite the producers of the movie not wishing to include the song, but it was at Elvis’s insistence that is was finally included.

Paul McCartney considered this the best track George Harrison had written. From the band’s 1969 album Abbey road, it made number 1 in the states and the top 5 in the UK. When Harrison first wrote melody it came to him so easily he was worried it was from a track he had heard on the radio!

‘At Last’ was written in 1941 for the film ‘Orchestra Wives’ which stared Mack Gordon and Harry Warren. A version by Glenn Miller made it to number 9 in the US charts in 1942. Etta James brought her version out in 1960 and despite only getting to 39 in our charts it has become a firm favourite for weddings and parties. It has also been featured in lots of films over the years including Rain Man, Pleasantville and American Pie. Beyoncé Knowles covered the track for one of Barack Obama’s inaugural balls, however Etta was said to be unimpressed by this.

Written by King with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, this classic track only managed a UK top forty placing of number twenty-seven when it was first issued in 1961 but it returned to our charts in 1987 after being used in a jeans commercial. It was also the title song to the movie of the same name starring River Phoenix which also led to the single reaching number nine in America. Dionne Warwick was part of the backing group on the record just before Burt Bacharach helped her launch a successful solo career.

The song was written by Brian Wilson with Tony Asher, a former advertising copywriter who had collaborated with Wilson on the “Pet Sounds” album from which this track was taken. Although considered one of The Beach Boys most outstanding records, it only managed to scrape into the lower half of the American top forty where it was originally released there as the ‘B’ side to “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (partly because of record company fears that radio stations would reject a song with ‘God’ in the title).

“You Were On My Mind” was written in 1962 by Sylvia Fricker in the bathroom of a hotel room in New York as that was the only area free of cockroaches. As half of the duo Ian and Sylvia, they recorded it for their 1964 album, “Northern Journey” then a year later with a slightly altered lyric and at a faster pace, it became an American number three for We Five. A few months later, a UK cover version was released by Crispian St Peters, giving him his first hit in this country. It also reached number thirty six on the American Hot 100, which was somewhat surprising given that it so quickly followed the We Five's hit version.

In America, the single was first released in 1964 but the group didn’t gain popularity over there until the following year and with the success of their single, “I’m Telling You Now” going to number one, “You Were Made For Me,” written by Mitch Murray and rejected by The Searchers, was then re-issued there in 1965.

This track topped the American charts for two weeks and made our top five in 1964 only to return eight years later when it was re-issued reaching number fourteen. Mary Wells was the first female singer to be signed to the Motown label in America and to achieve a number one hit for them, she was also the first to have a hit song written and produced by Smokey Robinson and ironically the first major artist to leave the label in favour of a big contract with 20th Century Fox Records.

We had great fun putting this list together but we know there are many more romantic 60s tracks that we didn't include. We would love to hear about your favourite 60s love songs. Email them to us at sots@bbc.co.uk and we will do an updated list in the future.