These 4 Soul Songs Have a Knack for Putting Love Into Words

The article highlights four soul songs as memorable expressions of love: “My Girl” by the Temptations, Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”, Aretha Franklin’s “I Say a Little Prayer” and Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E”. It presents them as songs that capture different forms of romance, from devoted affection to longing.

Smokey Robinson and Ronald White wrote “My Girl”; the article says it may have been inspired by Robinson’s wife, Claudette. Sledge’s recording of “When a Man Loves a Woman” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as did Michael Bolton’s 1991 version. “I Say a Little Prayer” was written from the perspective of a woman praying for a partner serving in the Vietnam War, while “L-O-V-E” is noted for spelling out its central theme.