Promises Lyrics
I don't mind if you just keep on
Rowing away on a distant sea,
Cause I don't love you and you don't love me.
You give 'em a smile and they melt.
Having lovers and friends is all good and fine,
But I don't like yours and you don't like mine.
La la, la la la la la.
Oh, and I don't care how you get your delights.
I'm gonna leave you alone, I'll just let it be,
I don't love you and you don't love me.
I got a woman calling love hate.
We made a vow we'd always be friends.
How could we know that promises end?
La la, la la la la la.
You refuse to take me for real.
It's time you saw what I want you to see,
And I'd still love you if you'd just love me.
La la, la la la la la.
La la, la la la la la.
La la, la la la la la.
THIS SONG IS ABOUT THE FRAGILE MALE EGO. Nothing more. This song describes my marriage. It kind-of scares me that I relate to it all. Some may think it’s about an evil woman. It's not. It's about a man feeling inadequate.
I don't care if you never come home I don't mind if you just keep on rowin' away on a distant sea Cus I don't love you and you don't love me
(My wife's modeling career began to take off when I started pulling away. We both grew up in a country town and when she started traveling for work, I became very angry that her new world was stealing her from me. I was so hurt that I lied to myself that I didn't love her because I thought that I couldn't compete with the world's fashion scene. When she traveled to Europe and the more she was away, the more I thought she didn't love me. I told my friends that I hoped she would permanently stay away to ease the pain.)
You cause a commotion when you come to town You give 'em a smile and they melt And your lovers and friends is all good and fine But I don't like yours and you don't like mine
(I accompanied her to Milan once and went to some very large parties with her. The people at these parties would go wild when we arrived. Everyone knew her. Everyone would do anything for her. I felt I could do nothing special for her. She was theirs. They were hers. I did not fit in. These people would never mingle with "my world" and my friends/world would never think of fitting into theirs.)
I don't care what you do at night Oh, I don't care how you get you delites We'll leave it alone and just let it be I don't love you and you don't love me
(She tried her best to communicate. She called me every day (sometimes 3x a day.) She would tell me about her plans for the evening and how she was meeting some prince or designer. My ego could not be happy for her. All my ears heard were "I am going out with a prince." My ego was so hurt, my heart wall went up. I became more and more distant in my mind in preparation for what I feared was an eventuality.)
I got a problem can you relate I got a woman callin' love hate We made a vow we'd always be friends How could we know that promises end
(I pulled away as a pre-emptive move to protect my heart. I told her that I had been going out and found someone else. - I hadn't - She was devastated. I stopped taking her calls. She flew home to see me and she found me at our local bar. I knew she was home and purposefully surrounded myself with local girls. She reminded me that at our wedding I told the world that we were best friends and I would protect her forever. I lied to her and told her that she had changed and that I didn't love her anymore. We separated for a year. We married because we were best friends. We prided ourselves on our ability to communicate. When I tried to talk to her, she would just scream at me and tell me that she hated me.)
I tried to love for years upon years You refuse to take me for real It's time you saw what I want you to see I'd still love you if you'd just love me
(My ego felt that she was the one that betrayed me by throwing me away in exchange for the fashion world. I felt that I was the aggrieved party. She chose her career over our love and home life. I truly thought that she didn't love me and that she loved her new world. The last words of the song hit home because they are close to the exact words I said to my best friend. "I'd still love her if I thought she still loved me." He punched me in the head and asked me to listen to myself. I never stopped loving her. She never stopped loving me. My best friend made me realize that I was the ass. I threw myself at her feet and explained all of my feelings and thoughts and confessed to the lies. We are still married and I know she loves me and I still love her.)
That was a long explanation, but this song hits home in so many ways!
@Jeepdude6 Jesus christ, what a story! Now when I think of this song, I'm going to think of this. Thank you for sharing, really powerful interpretation.
@Jeepdude6 Jesus christ, what a story! Now when I think of this song, I'm going to think of this. Thank you for sharing, really powerful interpretation.
@Jeepdude6 I cried reading this. I actually think of your story whenever I hear it on the radio. This is such a beautiful, painful, yet romantic story. Thank you so much for sharing. ❤️
@Jeepdude6 I cried reading this. I actually think of your story whenever I hear it on the radio. This is such a beautiful, painful, yet romantic story. Thank you so much for sharing. ❤️
@Jeepdude6 what happened with her career? Did she end up having to give it up? Sorry, I am so enamored by your story because it is vaguely similar to the struggles that my boyfriend and I have had. Ironically, I'm pursuing modeling as a hobby to express myself creatively. My boyfriend is very dominant and protective and he feels very possessive and jealous if I want to shoot with someone else. In turn, I've become resentful because I don't have creative freedom and feel more stifled. It came to the point where we both were resenting each other and it...
@Jeepdude6 what happened with her career? Did she end up having to give it up? Sorry, I am so enamored by your story because it is vaguely similar to the struggles that my boyfriend and I have had. Ironically, I'm pursuing modeling as a hobby to express myself creatively. My boyfriend is very dominant and protective and he feels very possessive and jealous if I want to shoot with someone else. In turn, I've become resentful because I don't have creative freedom and feel more stifled. It came to the point where we both were resenting each other and it felt like we were living the same crappy day over and over. I finally said that I felt empty and I can't keep doing this. He finally fully opened his (stubborn) heart and admitted that he needed me. We are working through things and keeping an open line of communication. We are still together.❤️
There seems to be little mystery here...
This is a man coming to a long-overdue conclusion that a woman he's always wanted to be with will never accept his love. He has become indifferent to what she does only to protect himself, and in the end, he is ending the relationship for his own good. Until there comes a day when she can see it the way he has always done so, he is giving up in order to move on.
This is exactly what I am going through and that is exactly what this song means to me. I keep listening to it over and over
This is exactly what I am going through and that is exactly what this song means to me. I keep listening to it over and over
I've been reading Clapton's biography, and I believe he may have written this song about Pattie Smith. He was madly in love with her, despite her marriage to George Harrison at the time, and even after Eric and Pattie wed, there was still unfaithfulness and hurt in their relationship. Just throwing my opinion out there...
i have to be honest it sounds like you have no idea what you're talking about. first of all, you're referring to Patti Boyd not Pattie Smith. Pattie Smith was the 'godmother of punk' and very influential in the mid to late 70's specifically with American rockers. she was in very few ways tied to British invasion legends like Harrison and Clapton. while your factoids about Claptons love life are true, the lyrics to this song do not imply that and its a little bit of a stretch to imply that the song is necessarily about Patti Boyd to the...
i have to be honest it sounds like you have no idea what you're talking about. first of all, you're referring to Patti Boyd not Pattie Smith. Pattie Smith was the 'godmother of punk' and very influential in the mid to late 70's specifically with American rockers. she was in very few ways tied to British invasion legends like Harrison and Clapton. while your factoids about Claptons love life are true, the lyrics to this song do not imply that and its a little bit of a stretch to imply that the song is necessarily about Patti Boyd to the same extend some of his others are. case in point would be that the song does not appear on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, an album that is widely known as being largely inspired by Patti Boyd. furthermore, the couple got married in 1979, whereas the song was released in 1978. it seems unlikely that he would have released this love song (palpably negative in tone) before the couple even married and ipso-facto before what would seem to be the climax of their mutual adoration.
@falloutgirl1014: Promises wasn't written by Clapton. Richard Feldman and Roger Linn are credited with writing it.
@falloutgirl1014: Promises wasn't written by Clapton. Richard Feldman and Roger Linn are credited with writing it.
I'm going to start this off by saying that this song is awesome. Although it was not written by Clapton. it is about a man who still has feelings for a woman after they broke up
- I think this song is about a man who is trying to be strong and pretend that he doesn't care about the woman he loves so much.
I don't care if you never come home, I don't mind if you just keep on Rowing away on a distant sea, Cause I don't love you and you don't love me.
- She goes out with other "lovers" and he continues to pretend he isn't hurting from everything she is doing to him, so he leaves her alone.
I don't care what you do at night, Oh, and I don't care how you get your delights. I'm gonna leave you alone, I'll just let it be, I don't love you and you don't love me.
-He never imagined that this would happen to them since they had made promises to be there for each other forever.
I got a problem. Can you relate? I got a woman calling love hate. We made a vow we'd always be friends. How could we know that promises end?
- He is trying to do all of this for her because it is how she wanted it and he was just trying it for her sake to see if she might come back to him if he pretends he doesn't need her. In reality he always needed her. He was always ready and willing... waiting for her for years. In the end he is finally breaking down and confessing how much he loves her and would take her back if she would just love him.
I tried to love you for years upon years, You refuse to take me for real. It's time you saw what I want you to see, And I'd still love you if you'd just love me.
I love the song.... Would kinda like to dedicate it to my wife, if we get divorced. So i find thats what its about, together for years upon years.... I dont like your freinds and you dont like mine, i could care less what she does on her time, but im willing to love her if she could remember to love me like when we started. That went out the window along with her commitment to our marriage. I stay, dissatisfied, " i got a problem, can you relate?" But its for the sake of our children and agreement of matrimony and kids, and of course i will hold my end and love her for better or worse.
or maybe its about someone who's been in a relationship with someone and he realizes that she doesn't love him anymore, but he still loves her.
This is the song that reminds me of my divorce. I wanted to end it so bad. I was just tired of her and her ways. She would come and go, and just expect me to be there waiting, like it was no big deal. I was filled with anger, hurt feelings. And when we finally split. I wanted her back so bad, that I was willing to take her back regardless of her infidelities and problems.
i don't know what exactly this song is about , but i do know that its fucking good.
The first time I heard this song was on a radio station, and it just sucked me right in. I didn't recognize Eric Clapton's voice and was lucky enough to find the name of the song and artist by looking on the radio's online website. It has a powerful message and has a unique beat to it. The la la la... part is cool, too. It's definitely about a rocky relationship, with 2 people who each have their own habits that are tearing the relationship apart ("I got a problem, can you relate?").