This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Love without anger
He picked up the phone and took the call
A long distance voice just started to bawl
I don't care if you feel small
Love without anger isn't love at all
Why can't you have your cake and eat it too
Why believe in things that make it tough on you
Why scream and cry when you know it's through
Why fall in love when there's better things to do
Barbie and ken in a great big fight
Seems ken forgot to make it home one night
You know what you are seeing simply can't be right
Looks like love's bark is worse than its bite
He was young and in love
So he just couldn't see
And it compelled him to ask
Are you kidding me?
You must be kidding me!
Love without teardrops isn't the same
He asked to be counted out of her game
She thought it him who was so insane
Love is what it does by any other name
He picked up the phone and took the call
A long distance voice just started to bawl
I don't care if you feel small
Love without anger isn't love at all
Why can't you have your cake and eat it too
Why believe in things that make it tough on you
Why scream and cry when you know it's through
Why fall in love when there's better things to do
Barbie and ken in a great big fight
Seems ken forgot to make it home one night
You know what you are seeing simply can't be right
Looks like love's bark is worse than its bite
He was young and in love
So he just couldn't see
And it compelled him to ask
Are you kidding me?
You must be kidding me!
Love without teardrops isn't the same
He asked to be counted out of her game
She thought it him who was so insane
Love is what it does by any other name
Lyrics submitted by bouncing soles, edited by Amarythe
Love Without Anger Lyrics as written by Mark Allen Maothersbaugh Gerald Casale
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
this song forces the impending doom of reminder to one of my worst relationships. however, it also keys in the tune of knowing that relationships are hard as hell. there are going to be a lot of mistakes, anger, and frustration. but it comes down to one thing, you wouldn't be angry if you didn't care... you just need to control that misdirected agression.
Yeah, it seems to be saying that if you let yourself feel the extreme emotion of love, you're also letting yourself in for the extereme emotion of hate/anger. There seems to be an undercurrent of "say no to love" in the song; "why fall in love when there's better things to do?"
Then again, "love's bark is worse than its bite;" maybe the anger is temporary, beaten by the love. But the "young and in love" guy is new to the whole thing - "you must be kidding me" - so he makes the decision just not to love anymore. Is he immature or is Devo saying that this is a valid choice?
I feel that Devo is mocking the idea that love has to necessarily be filled with bouts of anger and that it must be desired this way and must be seen as natural. The anger and frustration in the love depicted here is the result of socially constructed pressures that are put on interpersonal relationships. The young man in the song steps outside of this frame of mind, sees that the "love" that he is experiencing isn't consistent with what he naturally desires, and decides to just give up on it altogether.