For this week’s Female Friday I put together my top ten favorite Laura Marling songs, along with my favorite songs that Laura Marling has covered.

I first discovered Laura Marling back in 2008, when I heard the song “Ghosts”, and her debut album, Alas I Cannot Swim. Actually, before that I think it was her song, “New Romantic” that I heard first. Whichever came first, I was immediately taken by her voice. There is a Joni Mitchell feel to it, a little Carole King, definitely some of that Seventies singer-songwriter goodness that I adore. With an edge.

I’ve been following her music, and enjoying it, ever since.

In 2017, Laura’s album Semper Femina came out. That album made me fall head over heels in love with her. The songs on that album just hit every music-obsessive-love cell I have in my body. Since then, I’ve been digging deeper into her discography, adding song after song to playlists, and becoming a for-life fan.

So, it seemed about time I put together a Top Ten list.

As with all my other “lists”, these are my favorites right now, and are subject to changing and evolving.

What are your favorite Laura Marling songs?

Laura Marling – My Top Ten

Song 1: “Nothing, Not Nearly”
from the album, Semper Femina (2017)

“We’ve not got long, you know,
to bask in the afterglow.
Once it’s gone it’s gone.
Love waits for no one.”

Song 2: “Ghosts”
from the album, Alas, I Cannot Swim (2008)

“Lover please,
do not fall to your knees.
It’s not like I believe,
in everlasting love.”

Song 3: “Wild Fire”
from the album, Semper Femina (2017)

“Of course the only part that I want to read,
is about her time spent with me.
Wouldn’t you die to know how you’re seen?
Are you getting away with who you’re trying to be?“

Song 4: “Held Down”
from the album, Song For Our Daughter (2020)

“Think about now with my legs wrapped around you,
how many times before have you seen me run?
(Run, run, run)
It’s a cruel kinda twist that you’d leave like this.
Just drop my wrist and say, “Well, that’s us done”
(Done, done)”

Song 5: “Night After Night”
from the album, A Creature I Don’t Know (2011)

“My darling, I loved you.
I long to become you.
And know what it is that you gave.”

(This one has such a Leonard Cohen feel to me)

Song 6: “Strange Girl”
from the album, Song For Our Daughter (2020)

“I love you, my strange girl.
My lonely girl.
My angry girl.
My brave.”

Song 7: “I Speak Because I Can” (featuring Marcus Mumford)
from the album, I Speak Because I Can (2009)

“Never road my bike down to the sea.
Never finished that letter I was writing.
Never got up and shared anything.
For me.”

Song 8: “My Manic and I”
from the album, Alas, I Cannot Swim (2008)

“He greets me with kisses when good days deceive him.
And sometimes we’re scorned and sometimes I believe him.
And sometimes I’m convinced, my friends think I’m crazy.
Get scared and call him but he’s usually hazy.”

Song 9: “For You”
from the album, Song For Our Daughter (2020)

“Now that I have you,
I will not forget.
What a miracle you are.
No childish expectation.
Love is not the answer.
But the line that marks the start.”

Song 10: “Take the Night Off”
from the album, Once I Was an Eagle (2012)

“You’re a night bird,
early riser.
You have a kind of wing,
to take her and surprise her.
I didn’t understand where you had gone.
Didn’t know you’d be right back.
I didn’t hear the night song.
Calling for you into the black.”

As a bonus, for Female Friday, here are three of my favorite songs that Laura Marling has covered.

There’s more that are wonderful. She’s fantastic at covers. But, for today, these are my three favorites.

Cover Song 1: “The Needle and the Damage Done”

Cover Song 2: “Blues Run the Game”

Cover Song 3: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”