Country music has a lengthy history of romantic love songs. For decades, the genre has been the soundtrack for some couples' most romantic moments. With that in mind, we picked four country songs from the 70s that every wedding playlist needs.
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1. "You Decorated My Life" by Kenny Rogers
Country songs don't get much more romantic than Kenny Rogers' "You Decorated My Life." Written by Debbie Hupp and Bob Morrison, "You Decorated My Life" not only became a No. 1 country hit for Rogers, but a Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart as well.
The song says in part, "You decorated my life / Created a world / Where dreams are a part / And you decorated my life / By painting your love all over my heart / You decorated my life."
Unfortunately, the song comes from a true story, one that Hupp lived personally. Hupp divorced and later remarried, which is what inspired Hupp and Morrison to write "You Decorated My Life."
"It's kind of the American dream that you really know. She came into town in the 70's sometime," Morrison tells The Tennessean, adding that she was a single mother with five children, who had divorced her first husband. "She had to work three jobs. ... I don't know how she got time to write."
2. "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" by Charley Pride
Charley Pride had a No. 1 hit in 1971 with "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'." The song, by Ben Peters, is on Pride's Charley Pride Sings Heart Songs.
"You've got to kiss an angel good mornin'" Pride sings. "And let her know you think about her when you're gone / Kiss an angel good mornin' / And love her like the devil when you get back home."
"'Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" is one of Pride's numerous No. 1 hits at country radio, also hitting Top 10 on the pop charts. The success of the song illustrated to Pride that music is music, and doesn't need to be categorized.
"'Kiss An Angel' is a clear example of a record that was not recorded to be a crossover record, and all that sort of hocus-pocus. And it became a million-seller," Pride says (via Songfacts). "And it's a typical example of where we are today, flailing about who's country and who's middle-of-the-road. You know, people at radio stations say, 'Well, Charley's good, but he's country, so we'll have to penalize him for being traditional.'
"I knew a guy who had a lot of radio stations, and he told me just before 'Kiss An Angel' came out, 'As long as you have steel guitars on your records, I'm not gonna play them,'" he adds.
3. "You Needed Me" by Anne Murray
"You Needed Me" by Anne Murray was both a country and a pop hit for Anne Murray. Out in 1978, the song was written by Randy Goodrum. "You Needed Me" is on Murray's Let's Keep It That Way record.
The bridge says, "I can't believe it's you, I can't believe it's true / I needed you, and you were there / And I'll never leave, why should I leave? I'd be a fool / 'Cause I finally found someone who really cares," making it the perfect wedding song.
According to Songfacts, Murray was struggling with the demands of her career with being a wife and mother when she decided to record this song, which she resonated with deeply.
"It was sort of an unconditional, undeserved love," Goodrum says of the song. "How could you love me as if I'm perfect, when I'm not? It was a disclaimer, sort of, for the other person. How could you need me?"
4. "It Must Be Love" by Don Williams
Few songs instantly evoke such happiness as Don Williams' "It Must Be Love." The feel-good track, out in 1979, was written by Bob McDill. Williams includes it on his Expressions album.
"It must be love, it must be love," Williams sings. "I fall like a sparrow, fly like a dove / You must be the dream I've been dreaming of / Oh, what a feeling, it must be love."
"It Must Be Love" is one of Williams' many No. 1 hits. Also, 21 years later, in 2000, the song became a No. 1 hit for Alan Jackson. The song followed two of Williams' other big hits, both "Tulsa Time" and "Lay Down Beside Me."
