the song is a soulful love ballad and has been covered many times, most notably in 1965 by otis redding, with redding's cover reaching no.18 on the "billboard" r&b chart and no.74 on the us pop chart. redding's version is regarded as one of his signature songs. the lyrics use natural phenomena such as the sun, the moon, and the ocean to describe the extent of the author's love.