# Sung to Someone Twelve records, eleven of our rankings and thirty-eight years apart, all doing one thing: turning to a single person and saying it out loud. - **Picks:** 12 - **Drawn from:** 11 rankings - **Years:** 1949–1987 - **Curator:** The Waxonia Desk - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Curator's page:** https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/ - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/theme/sung-to-someone/ ## What gets in, and what does not Every record here is one person addressing another, and is that address the whole way through. A song about love in general does not qualify, however great; nor does an instrumental; nor a record whose "you" turns out to be a city, a scene or a crowd. Every record here is already in one of our rankings — a theme re-cuts what the site has vouched for, and vouches for nothing new. Drawn from: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [City Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/city-pop/), [Country](https://waxonia.com/genre/country/), [Highlife](https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/), [Northern Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/), [Psychedelic Rock](https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/), [Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/punk/), [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/), [Rhythm and Blues](https://waxonia.com/genre/rhythm-and-blues/), [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/), [Tropicália](https://waxonia.com/genre/tropicalia/). ## The records Selected, not ranked — the order carries no claim about which is best. ### [Hank Williams](https://waxonia.com/artist/hank-williams/) — [I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry](https://waxonia.com/track/hank-williams--im-so-lonesome-i-could-cry/) *1949 · MGM* It reads as a nature poem — a whippoorwill, a falling star — right up to "did you ever see a robin weep". Every image in it is being handed to somebody. He is not describing loneliness; he is telling one person what it is doing to him. Also on: [Country](https://waxonia.com/genre/country/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Hank%20Williams%20I'm%20So%20Lonesome%20I%20Could%20Cry) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4WXYjm74WFI) ### [Lloyd Price](https://waxonia.com/artist/lloyd-price/) — [Lawdy Miss Clawdy](https://waxonia.com/track/lloyd-price--lawdy-miss-clawdy/) *1952 · Specialty* Two lines in and he has stopped describing anything: "girl, you sure look good to me." The whole record is aimed at one person standing in front of him, which is why it survives a test that throws out most of what gets called a love song. Also on: [Rhythm and Blues](https://waxonia.com/genre/rhythm-and-blues/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lloyd%20Price%20Lawdy%20Miss%20Clawdy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=nYO263wui1w) ### [Gloria Jones](https://waxonia.com/artist/gloria-jones/) — [Tainted Love](https://waxonia.com/track/gloria-jones--tainted-love/) *1964* An address delivered at a run. "You don't really want any more from me" is not an observation about love, it is an accusation with somebody on the end of it, and the two-minute sprint is a woman getting it said before she loses her nerve. Also on: [Northern Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gloria%20Jones%20Tainted%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAPgjcVDOc) ### [Frank Wilson](https://waxonia.com/artist/frank-wilson/) — [Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)](https://waxonia.com/track/frank-wilson--do-i-love-you-indeed-i-do/) *1965* The title is a question somebody else asked, answered straight back at them. It qualifies on grammar as much as on feeling: the lyric is second person from first line to last, and there is nothing in it that would work said to a room. Also on: [Northern Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/northern-soul/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Frank%20Wilson%20Do%20I%20Love%20You%20(Indeed%20I%20Do)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvaglT9EB4) ### [The Miracles](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-miracles/) — [The Tracks of My Tears](https://waxonia.com/track/the-miracles--the-tracks-of-my-tears/) *1965 · Tamla* "Take a good look at my face" is an instruction, given to one person, by a man asking to be examined. Smokey Robinson wrote the most-quoted metaphor in soul music and then pinned it to a request he needs somebody to answer. Also on: [Soul](https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Miracles%20The%20Tracks%20of%20My%20Tears) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rNS6D4hSQdA) ### [Cream](https://waxonia.com/artist/cream/) — [Sunshine of Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/cream--sunshine-of-your-love/) *1967 · Reaction* The riff is what everyone remembers, and the reason it belongs here is the line underneath it: "I'll be with you, darling, soon." The heaviest record on this list, and its actual subject is an appointment somebody intends to keep. Also on: [Psychedelic Rock](https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cream%20Sunshine%20of%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y8jf01UY8) ### [Gal Costa](https://waxonia.com/artist/gal-costa/) — [Baby](https://waxonia.com/track/gal-costa--baby/) *1968 · Philips* Caetano Veloso wrote it as a list of things you need to learn — the swimming pool, the margarine, me. Gal Costa sings them to one person in the year Brazil's dictatorship closed its fist. Addressed to a lover, and every word of it is also addressed past them. Also on: [Tropicália](https://waxonia.com/genre/tropicalia/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gal%20Costa%20Baby) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=b7d6wnaRm2E) ### [Bob Marley & The Wailers](https://waxonia.com/artist/bob-marley-and-the-wailers/) — [No Woman, No Cry](https://waxonia.com/track/bob-marley-and-the-wailers--no-woman-no-cry/) *1975 · Island* Not a title about women in general, whatever fifty years of misquotation suggest. It is "no, woman, don't cry" — said to one person sitting in the government yard, and everything else in it is what he is telling her to remember. Also on: [Reggae](https://waxonia.com/genre/reggae/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Bob%20Marley%20%26%20The%20Wailers%20No%20Woman%2C%20No%20Cry) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IT8XvzIfi4U) ### [Prince Nico Mbarga](https://waxonia.com/artist/prince-nico-mbarga/) — [Sweet Mother](https://waxonia.com/track/prince-nico-mbarga--sweet-mother/) *1976 · Rogers All Stars* The criterion says one person addressing another. It does not say the other has to be a lover. One of the biggest-selling records ever made in Africa, and it is a grown man thanking his mother, directly, for the nights she did not sleep. Also on: [Highlife](https://waxonia.com/genre/highlife/), [1976](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Prince%20Nico%20Mbarga%20Sweet%20Mother) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CWmecBppkOQ) ### [Buzzcocks](https://waxonia.com/artist/buzzcocks/) — [Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)](https://waxonia.com/track/buzzcocks--ever-fallen-in-love-with-someone-you-shouldntve/) *1978 · United Artists* The parenthesis is the entire song, and it is pointed at exactly the person it means. Pete Shelley asked one specific human being that question, then played it fast enough that everybody else could pretend it was about them. Also on: [Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/punk/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Buzzcocks%20Ever%20Fallen%20in%20Love%20(With%20Someone%20You%20Shouldn't've)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=51OB2YoC4sg) ### [Mariya Takeuchi](https://waxonia.com/artist/mariya-takeuchi/) — [Plastic Love](https://waxonia.com/track/mariya-takeuchi--plastic-love/) *1984 · Moon* The most misread record here. It sounds like a city at three in the morning, and what it actually is is one woman telling someone not to take her seriously — which she only has to say out loud because he has started to. Also on: [City Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/city-pop/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mariya%20Takeuchi%20Plastic%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=T_lC2O1oIew) ### [Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle](https://waxonia.com/artist/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle/) — [Your Love](https://waxonia.com/track/frankie-knuckles-and-jamie-principle--your-love/) *1987 · Trax* Jamie Principle wrote it as a bedroom demo: one voice, speaking to one absent person. Frankie Knuckles kept that scale intact when he turned it into a record a warehouse could hold, and it never once stops being addressed to somebody. Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Frankie%20Knuckles%20%26%20Jamie%20Principle%20Your%20Love) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LAE5ejrjg) ## Who made this The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers. Elsewhere: https://waxonia.com/ --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.