The 5 Most Timeless Southern Rock Songs About Love

Love is a complex gumbo of emotions, interactions, and attachments that encompasses everything from family ties to lifelong commitment to sexual desire to loss. And perhaps that's why it's a subject that has provided a seemingly endless wellspring for musicians' creativity. That holds as true for Southern rock as it does for any other musical style — maybe even more so, considering the genre's penchant for storytelling and tendency toward emotive guitar playing. Still, like trying to define love, determining the five most timeless Southern rock songs about this complicated subject is no easy feat.

A few choices seem nearly self-evident. There's the uplifting "Blue Sky" by the Allman Brothers Band, which perfectly encapsulates love's joy in the analogy of a perfect summer day. Lynyrd Skynyrd's "I Need You," a song about longing to return to a partner and the promise of enduring love, is another timeless tune. But we've also included songs that deal with other sides of love, from the pain that comes with a breakup to the conflict that develops when lovers are at odds. As you'll see, Southern rock has managed to explore the ins and outs of this emotion in a variety of meaningful and timeless ways.

"Blue Sky," which appeared on the Allman Brothers Band's unforgettable "Eat a Peach" album from 1972, is an all-time classic love song, and not just in the Southern rock category. With lyrics like, "You're my blue sky, you're my sunny day / Lord, you know it makes me high / When you turn your love my way," not to mention its upbeat groove and the interplay of lead guitars, the song expertly sums up that feeling of being deeply in love.

"Blue Sky" was the first Allman Brothers Band song to feature guitarist and singer Dickey Betts taking lead vocals. He also wrote the song, which he penned for his then-wife, Sandy Wabegijig, whose last name means "clear blue sky." Betts gave the song a more universal feeling by shifting the focus from a single person to a more general outpouring of love and gratitude.

Sadly, "Blue Sky" was also one of the last songs Duane Allman recorded before his untimely death at 24 following a motorcycle accident, a major part of the Allman Brothers Band's tragic story. Still, the song manages to retain a sense of joy free of this sorrowful connection.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "I Need You" is a song filled with long-distance longing and an ache to return to a waiting love when only a phone connects them in the moment. The song is from the band's second album, 1974's "Second Helping," and was written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Gary Rossington. "I Need You" is filled with yearning thanks to lyrics like, "I woke up early this morning / And the sun came shining down / And it found me wishin' and a-hopin' / Mama, you could be around," as well as open-hearted declarations of devotion ("Well you know that I need you / More than the air I breathe").

The music itself also evokes this sense of melancholy. The song is a slower ballad played in A minor, a key that tends to arouse feelings of sadness. What could have been merely a song about a rock musician on the road becomes, in Van Zant's hands, a completely relatable experience of counting down the minutes until you're back in your beloved's embrace.

The song came out just three years before the tragic plane crash that killed Van Zant and band members Steve and Cassie Gaines, among others. The event also left most of the band's remaining members injured. And while it was never released as a single from "Second Helping" like "Free Bird" was, "I Need You" is a deep cut that remains a beloved love song for many fans.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band's "Midnight in Harlem" pulls on your heartstrings like Derek Trucks' plaintive electric guitar. The song perfectly captures that lonesome feeling when a relationship has just ended and you're so emotionally overwrought that your only recourse is to walk and think. Susan Tedeschi gives an intimate delivery of lyrics that anyone in the throes of a breakup can likely understand: "My heart was bleeding / And it hurt my bones to laugh." "Midnight in Harlem" tells of late-night wanderings through the city, with its sad desolation — windy streets, "needles on the ground" — echoing the narrator's inner turmoil.

Meanwhile, the music — with its soulful organ, laidback beat, and Trucks' sensitive guitar work — perfectly mirrors these lyrics and gives the song a deep, contemplative feeling. This song also gives hope, the promise of a happier time just over the horizon (or, in this case, down the line): "Ride that train / (Free your heart) / And free your heart." Trucks and backup singer Mike Mattison co-wrote the track, which appeared on the band's Grammy-winning 2011 debut album "Revelator." It's an enduring song all about the downside of love.

ZZ Top's oeuvre tends toward the physical side of love — as in "Tush," "Legs," and "Gimme All Your Lovin," among others — but the lead song off the band's 1979 album "Degüello" presents a bit of a softer side. We're talking about "I Thank You," a cover of a song co-written by Isaac Hayes and first recorded by the soul duo Sam & Dave in 1968.

While the song does feature some sexual overtones, the lyrics can also be read as an honest expression of thankfulness to a lover who changed the narrator's life for the better — "You didn't have to love me like you did / But you did, but you did, and I thank you" — even if that lover left them in the end. This person has opened the narrator up to new experiences, as expressed in lyrics like, "You got me trying new things too / Just so I can keep up with you."

ZZ Top's version is slower than the original by Sam & Dave and forgoes funk horns for a bright guitar sound that eases into Billy Gibbons' signature sludgy blues style. ZZ Top made it their own on an album that marked a new phase in the band's look and sound after a three-year hiatus (just a small part of the untold truth of ZZ Top). Plus, it's probably the closest thing to a true love song you're going to get from these bad boys from Texas.

From the moment the chugging, Chuck Berry-style guitar riff opens the Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands to Yourself," you know it won't be a traditional love song. It is, however, about the give-and-take of romance and relationships. The song is a humorous take on the boundaries set by the singer's lover: "No huggee, no kissee until I get a wedding vow." Lead singer Dan Baird gives a drawling, swaggering, raw delivery of the lovers' play-by-play. "My honey, my baby / Don't put my love upon no shelf," he begs, only to be rebuffed by his girlfriend's refrain: "Don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself." The song's video continues this humorous slant, ending with Baird in a shotgun wedding.

This song from the Georgia Satellites' first full-length self-titled album came out in 1986 and shot up the charts to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Unfortunately, it was the band's biggest hit and has outlived the original line-up by decades. Everyone from Hank Williams Jr. to the punk rock supergroup The Falcon has covered this track, demonstrating that this love song about relationship dynamics continues to resonate.