I Do by Paul McCartney

This 2001 song by Paul McCartney isn't his best work and his voice shows the decline that we've continued to see in the intervening decade-and-a-half. But this is still a wonderful ballad, displaying Macca's unparalleled sense of melody.

But there's a note of sadness and resignation in this song, a sense of futility associated with a doomed love:

Please remember this
After a time it`s through
And nevermore
Will there be days
For me and you

This is all I want
This is all I need
Darling please remember, I do
Love you

If you only knew

It's a peculiar sentiment for McCartney to have expressed as he prepared at that point in his life, to wed his second wife, Heather Mills, as though he was having second thoughts. The impression is reinforced by the title, a phrase we usually associate with weddings, not the ends of relationships.

While that may be reading way too much into things, the sadness of the lyrics are clear enough. "We'll never be together," the lyrics seem to say to a love, "but remember that I love you. If you only knew how much."

Pull out the tissues.