If I Wanted To

I think this song is about being in love with someone (like bluestruck mentioned) and realizing you have no control over it, and not liking that fact at all. You tell yourself that you could stop being in love with them if you wanted to, but you really couldn't. The reason I get this impression is that the narrator also says they could do all sorts of impossible things "if I only wanted to," adding the occasional "I wouldn't have to be in love with you" to the list. You don't want to face the fact that you have no control over the situation, so you tell yourself that you do even though you don't.

Beautiful song. I've just discovered Melissa Etheridge and I think she's absolutely amazing. The beginning makes me think of David Bowie's "Stay."

I think this song is about truly loving someone, thinking about them all the time, obsessing and so on, but at the same time you wish you just get them out of your head, and be free, just being able to do whatever you want and not having to worry about anything.

I think this song is about truly loving someone, thinking about them all the time, obsessing and so on, but at the same time you wish you just get them out of your head, and be free, just being able to do whatever you want and not having to worry about anything.

I think melissa is great song writer. I think here she's saying that if she wanted to she could do anything she wanted dance with the devil,have political leaders in the palm of her hand..etc but on the other hand there are some things that you cannot deny and one of them is being obsessively in love with someone and to her she feels that she wouldn't have to be in love with this person and trying to deny the fact that she is she would leave but even though she know's that she has no control over the situation she is almost telling herself that she does even though she doesn't.