The 10 Most Innocent Love Songs Ever Written

For every dark, complicated love song about heartache, cheating, and loss, there's another that's just as sweet, innocent, and pure as the driven snow, and those are the songs we're looking at today. Sometimes, music's job isn't to challenge the listener, make them rethink long-held views on love and relationships, or take them on a heavy journey through the labyrinth of the human heart. Sometimes, music's job is to take listeners to an easier, happier place, or even just to help them smile and tune out. For that, there are love songs that are nothing more than simple, honest, and tender, and we've collected 10 of the best here.

From old standbys like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and Elvis Presley to more modern lovers like Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, and Bright Eyes, and with a heaping helping of soul and R&B in the form of The Ronettes, Sam Cooke, and Maurice Williams, we've picked some of the best and most wholesome love songs around. Whether for wedding playlists, romantic occasions, or just to enjoy a rare moment of uncomplicated calm, read on to discover or rediscover some of the most innocent love songs ever written.

Few bands evoke a nostalgic innocence like the Beach Boys, whose early career was defined by one beachy hit after another. Bubbly numbers like "California Girls" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" remain some of the most harmless and delightful classic rock tracks to this day. Yet even when the band matured with the landmark "Pet Sounds" in 1966, they still kept their innocent side. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is one of those perfect first crush songs, a tale of two young lovers praying for the day that they'll be old enough to wed. It's a tale as old as time, and still as sweet as ever.

If you searched all night and day, you wouldn't find a song with a simpler and more wholesome message than "Stay" by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. It's the tale of two young paramours hoping for just a bit more time together before curfew. As un-rock n' roll as it sounds, the characters are even careful to mind their parents' feelings. "Now your daddy don't mind," sings Williams. "And your mommy don't mind / If we have another dance / Just one more." The song has remained not only popular, but charming and wholly innocent.

Little Peggy March's reworking of "I Will Follow Him" is one of those '60s one-hit wonders that remains timeless for its universal theme of love and longing. It's as one-dimensional as it gets, and in this case, that's an asset. March repeats again and again that she will follow the man she loves wherever he may go. "Ever since he touched my hand I knew," she sings. "That near him I always must be / And nothing can keep him from me / He is my destiny." It's the type of idealistic devotion you'd expect from someone so young, and it's suitably wholesome.

Before the Beatles became psychedelic pioneers and began playing with a world of sound, they were just the young, mop-topped Fab Four, beloved by teens across the globe. At the height of early Beatlemania, the band achieved the unbelievable feat of holding all five of the biggest hits in the U.S. at once, including the impossibly charming "I Want to Hold Your Hand." It's as sweet and innocent as a song could ever get, and it's unlikely we'll ever hear lyrics as impossibly pure as "Please, say to me / You'll let me hold your hand" again.

Easily one of the most classic love songs ever written, The Ronettes' "Be My Baby" is also one of the most adoring songs out there. Ronnie Spector sings about desperately wanting to be with someone, and does so with only the best of intentions. "For every kiss you give me / I'll give you three" is the peak of the song's raciness, which says a lot. Spector's character is simply madly in love and wants nothing more than for that love to be her darling. No twists or tricks needed — "Be My Baby" is all love and nothing more.

If you've attended a wedding in the last 20 years, there is a very good chance you've heard Bright Eyes' most famous track, "First Day of My Life." Since its release, it's been a popular choice for walking down the aisle and for the first dance, and one listen demonstrates why. "Yours is the first face that I saw / I think I was blind before I met you," sings Conor Oberst in a voice that cracks as though he were genuinely professing it for the first time. Every little story in the song is as sweet, innocent, and precious as the last.

Truly, is there any voice more perfect for genuine love songs than Sam Cooke? Sure, the likes of Marvin Gaye and Whitney Houston might be best for physical affections and huge proclamations respectively, but for upstanding young love, there's none better than Cooke. In "You Send Me," Cooke's warm crooning repeatedly lets his subject know how much they stir his feelings of love. Lest anyone think his love immature or transient, Cooke explains that "At first I thought it was infatuation / But it's lasted so long / Now I find myself wanting / To marry you and take you home." Who wouldn't say yes?

Jack Johnson has made both a career and a personal life out of being a wholesome, laid-back guy whose aura can put anyone at ease. His best-known songs reflect this, like "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing," which in anyone else's hands would sound bitter, but in Johnson's sounds chill and cheery. When it comes to innocent love songs, he has one of the best in "Banana Pancakes," a relentlessly cutesy love song about loving the home his relationship has built. "We got everything we need right here and everything we need is enough," sings Johnson. "Just so easy when / The whole world fits inside of your arms."

Elvis Presley recorded a number of iconic love songs in his time, like "Always on My Mind" and "Love Me Tender," but none are as pure nor profound as "Can't Help Falling in Love." Presley's voice is the kind that could sell water to a drowning man, and when applied to suitably sentimental lyrics, it creates magic. There are fewer lyrics more sentimental than "Take my hand / Take my whole life, too / For I can't help / Falling in love with you," and Presley's delivery has indeed made them sound magical to generations.

Over the last couple of decades, Jason Mraz has become a poster boy of sorts for playful, feel-good acoustic rock, and one of the songs that explains that best is "I'm Yours." In 2008, after 76 weeks, the song broke the record for the longest time spent on the Billboard Hot 100, proving how universal and enduring its appeal really is. The twee pseudo-rap verses are infectiously charming and the simple chorus is like a cheerful mantra. The lines that best sum up "I'm Yours" are "Look into your heart and you'll find / Love, love, love, love."