To celebrate Valentine’s Day, The House That Soul Built have compiled a list of five of our favourite romantic and/or sensual soul songs.

We have decided to venture outside the usual canon and provide our readers with some more unexpected selections. Hence, we have deliberately excluded the likes of ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’, ‘My Girl’, ‘My Guy’, ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’ etc.

Read below and sound off in the comments!

For Your Love – Stevie Wonder

This sensual R&B ballad featured on Wonder’s 1995 album, Conversation Peace, winning a Grammy Award for ‘Best R&B Song’. Lyrically, Wonder begins each verse by setting up a wondrous cliché which he compares against his lover.  Charmingly, the former is rendered obsolete. Hence, ‘a diamond that shines like a star in the sky is nothing to behold… if it can’t like you brighten up my soul’. His lover is elevated above all else, with Wonder declaring in the song’s swooning chorus that he would do anything ‘just to see the smile upon your face’. At the final stretch of the song, the successive modulations give waves of intensity as Wonder re-asserts ‘just you tell me and I’ll be right there’. The song is full of genuine adoration, but also a romantic urgency and longing for more.

I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love – Stephanie Mills

Written by R&B duo Angela Winbush and René Moore, this quiet-storm jam was first recorded by Alton McClain & Destiny (1978), then by Winbush herself in 1989, and, most famously, by Stephanie Mills on her 1986 eponymous album.

With a lyric that is both introspective and a direct address to a lover, Mills reflects on her previous fears of romantic commitment. She sings of ‘running away from the one thing for which I’ve always yearned’, but that faith has ultimately taught her to ‘respect the power of love’. At the song’s bridge, Mills abandons this introspection and passionately declares to her lover, ‘I need you, I want you beside me… I love you so’. The song carries a smouldering emotion, enhanced by Mills’ beautifully dynamic vocals. She scats, riffs over the backing vocals, and uses her distinctly bright and ringing head voice. The extended version of the song (embedded below) brings out the song’s testifying quality even more with Mills pushing the gospel edge to her vocals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPk5XhYb40#

I Found A Love – Etta James

Though overlooked in favour of Etta James’ more famous love songs (‘At Last’, ‘Something’s Got A Hold On Me’, ‘I Just Wanna Make Love To You’), ‘I Found A Love’ is another testifying love anthem. Written by Bobby Womack and Reggie Young, ‘I Found A Love’ was originally recorded by Wilson Pickett for his 1965 album, In The Midnight Hour. James recorded it in 1972 for an off-album release. A bass riff opens the song which suddenly explodes with horns, drums, organ, and churchy backing vocals. James’ earthy, gritty vocals – replete with her own woops, cheers, and yelps –  capture her joy. There is glorious catharsis as James’ celebrates: ‘I found a love that I need’.

Sweetest Smile And The Funkiest Style – Aretha Franklin

In a bizarre case of musical injustice, this intensely sexy funk-soul number failed to make the cut on Aretha Franklin’s 1973 Hey Now Hey (The Other Side Of The Sky) album. Eventually released in 2007 on Rare and Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul, ‘Sweetest Smile And The Funkiest Style’ matches the quality of many of Aretha’s greatest hits.

The lyrics are dripping with sex. ’You got the softest lips and the chilling touch that thrills me so much’, Miss Franklin croons. Breathy repetitions of ‘come here baby’ are scattered throughout the recording. Miss Franklin’s whispery and delicate delivery and the song’s arrangement are equally as seductive. A smouldering bassline and banjos begin the track which becomes richer as it develops. The subtle modulations, dramatic stops, and quickening pace build to a storming climax with Aretha exasperatedly declaring, ‘boy I’m betting that you just got me sweating more than I have, baby, in a long time’.

Deep Down In Florida – Jamison Ross

Written by McKinley Morganfield, ‘Deep Down In Florida’ is a cut off Muddy Waters’ 1977 Hard Again album. The version featured here is a re-interpretation by Grammy Award-nominated soul-jazz vocalist, drummer, and composer Jamison Ross from his 2015 eponymous debut album.

Originally a swampy electric blues number, Ross smooths the edges of ‘Deep Down In Florida’ and gives it a clearer, more organic, and more playful interpretation. Ross’s intuitive percussion, the double bass, electric guitar, and piano melt together in exciting display of truly exquisite musicianship. Ross only sings the one refrain throughout, injecting a mischievousness to the line, ‘I’m gonna take my woman to the beach / We’re gonna sit down in the sand and play’. After an extended musical interlude, Ross guides the listener to a climactic finish with wonderful Stevie Wonder-esque vocal runs.

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