Maybe I hang around here
A little more than I should
We both know I got somewhere else to go

But I got something to tell you
That I never thought I would
But I believe you really ought to know

I love you
I honestly love you

You don't have to answer
I see it in your eyes
Maybe it was better left unsaid

But this is pure and simple
And you must realise
That it's coming from my heart
And not my head

I love you
I honestly love you

I'm not trying to make you feel uncomfortable
I'm not trying to make you anything at all

But this feeling doesn't come along everyday
And you shouldn't blow the chance
When you've got the chance to say

I love you
(I love you)
I honestly love you

If we both were born in another place and time
This moment might be ending in a kiss

But there you are with yours
And here I am with mine
So I guess we'll just be leaving it at this

I love you
I honestly love you
I honestly love you


Lyrics submitted by global, edited by veryken

I Honestly Love You Lyrics as written by Jeff Barry Peter W Allen

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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I Honestly Love You song meanings
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8 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    It is about two people who cannot be together but are in love. They are both with someone. And "If we both were born / In another place and time" they would be together. Great song. Sad in so many ways.

    amarielon June 25, 2003   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    The lyrics were written by Peter Allen, and the word is that it is from the perspective of a gay man singing to another gay man, both of whom are in relationships with women, hence the line "there you are with yours and here I am with mine." Allen was gay and was famously married to Liza Minnelli, so this makes sense.

    That said, it is written so it can be applicable to any person in a relationship who falls for someone else they cannot be with. If you saw "The Wedding Planner" it's amazing that anyone would choose this for a wedding song, but those would be the same folks who see "Born in the USA" as a flag-waver.

    It is a gorgeous song, heartbreaking really, and Olivia's original version totally deserved the Grammies it won.

    Moose Jawon September 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The lyrics were written by Peter Allen, and the word is that it is from the perspective of a gay man singing to another gay man, both of whom are in relationships with women, hence the line "there you are with yours and here I am with mine." Allen was gay and was famously married to Liza Minnelli, so this makes sense.

    That said, it is written so it can be applicable to any person in a relationship who falls for someone else they cannot be with. If you saw "The Wedding Planner" it's amazing that anyone would choose this for a wedding song, but those would be the same folks who see "Born in the USA" as a flag-waver.

    It is a gorgeous song, heartbreaking really, and Olivia's original version totally deserved the Grammies it won.

    Moose Jawon September 26, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I consider this one of the most...honest? sincere? true? authentic?...maybe I'd just better echo the lyrics and call it "pure and simple" - love songs ever written. It's beautiful in the way that simple truth is, and its genius lies in the unaffectedness of its lyrics. It isn't at all what people think of when they say "poetic," but that's what makes it profoundly brilliant poetry.

    I can kind of understand why people want to sing it at their weddings, because it has that utter genuineness that no other love song I know of really expresses. When I was in the throes of my (unrequited) high school crush, this was the song that ran through my head because the refrain seemed to say it better than any other words I knew. (I just avoided thinking about the last verse at the time - such is the power of love-inspired blindness! I guess that's what the "sing-it-at-our-wedding" folks are doing, too; but nowadays I consider the song's tragedy part of its intrinsic beauty, and I don't think you can really separate the two.)

    ShinyAeonon January 22, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oh how I miss my youth! As a young man, I was always looking for a girlfriend like ONJ. Maybe I still am. LOL

    This song reminds me again of just how rare is her beauty of innocence and sweetness. It's probably the only plain direct "I love you" song sang with such melodious tones and plain honest emotions. She wears her heart on her sleeve, giving everything and asking for nothing in return. No dancing around the issue of love.

    There are very few voices in all of history who can portray such simple, maybe even naive, openness. It's all the beauty of a young woman. Without any twists. It's like the song was especially written just for her (although it's not).

    Definitely a timeless piece. No other singer could've pulled it off.

    verykenon March 09, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    As a gay person, I relate to the lyrics a lot. And the way she sings it, with tears in her eyes and so much heart... Oh boy!

    barefooton October 17, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The song is about a single mother of five who feel in love with the owner of the bar she worked at for her secound job! He was married and she had survived two marriages and was cheated on! She could not destroy his marriage as hers was destroyed! She loved him, but would not take it any ferther!

    I know this because my mother wrote this as a poem to the bar owner! It came up missing at the end of her shift and three months latter it was on the radio!

    Drnash1221on March 20, 2019   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    "I honestly love you." is what she told the guy she\'s currently with, and is now having an emotional love-affair with someone else, and regretting her predicament. The song actually became an anthem for no-fault divorce in the 70s - that actually being in a committed relationship/marriage is akin to oppression, and gave rise to you-go-gurl divorces that continue today. Don\'t let a man keep you down when you find someone else you like better. And she even leave the option open at the end of the song, "So I guess we\'ll just be leaving it at this". I guess... maybe not - here\'s my phone number in case yours goes out of town.

    penttaon November 24, 2021   Link

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