Love will abide
Take things in stride
Sounds like good advice
But there's no one at my side
And time washes clean love's wounds unseen
That's what someone told me
But I don't know what it means

'Cause I've done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you
For a long long time

Caught in my fears
Blinking back the tears
I can't say you hurt me
When you never let me near
And I never drew one response from you
All the while you fell all over girls you never knew

'Cause I've done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think it's gonna hurt me
For a long long time

Wait for the day you'll go away
Knowing that you warned me
Of the price I'd have to pay
And life's full of flaws
Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory of a love that never was

'Cause I've done everything I know
To try and change your mind
And I think I'm gonna miss you
For a long long time

'Cause I've done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you
For a long long time


Lyrics submitted by Bobo192

Long Long Time Lyrics as written by Gary B. White

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Long Long Time song meanings
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9 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    Umm, maybe Franklin Webber should get a life. Hey Frankie, 1) LR did not WRITE this song, so criticizing her for the lyrics is sorta inane; 2) if you are really unable to identify with the feelings in this song...having someone hurt you, whether you are male & it was a female, or female and it was a male such as in this song.....well dude, I guess you have a heart of rocks. Kinda like your brain.

    kevwizon June 18, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    such a sad song. she seems like the other girl in his life. She really loves him but he doesnt love her. They must of been good friends at least since it seems that she has been around him a long (long) time and that emotional attachment to him. "Cuz I've done everything I could to try and make you mine." lyric implies that It's the worst feeling; unrequited love, to someone so close. Even when they maybe go out with someone else, it's so hard to be happy for them, because you do love them and it makes you happy to see them happy. but at the same time you are dying on the inside. to say "i'm happy for you" because you are being truthful but at the same time wishing he would love you instead. I need to grow up and accept that he will never love me as much as i love him.

    sad_endingson March 09, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    @ Kevwiz: When I have a reaction like Franklin Webber's, it usually means that I am strongly tempted to do as the singer is saying. The lyric that really bothered me was in another song, "I don't understand, if I'm not the one then why does my heart tell me I am?" OOH, he sounded so WHINY! But truth is that's exactly how I felt, and when I admitted it I didn't have to be so self-righteous about it. (And yeah, really wasn't the one...)

    jotokaion June 09, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song is full of grace and power. She stood up in the face of indifferent fate, to ask for everything she yearned for, and he brushed her off. Yeah, it's sad, and she (the character) is sad. But the heart wants what it wants, and that's all there is. And people who have the grace and courage to admit that they want something that seems denied, are the ones who ultimately get what they want.

    (Might not be him, but how many people can withstand that kind of onslaught? With her attitude, she'd have me married for like, twenty years before I wondered if it was MY hearts desire or only HERS. ;-) )

    jotokaion June 10, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion

    Unrequited love is a painful thing.The heart yearns for whom it yearns and hope springs from yearning,much,much more than from a practical evaluation of the odds of success.It feels like a long,long,time indeed until things resolve themselves.

    google1178on April 07, 2018   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    The lyrics in the first verse are a straight slam of all the "advice" friends give you when you're down, whether it's the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship: "Love will abide, take things in stride- sounds like good advice, but there's no one by my side" and "Time washes clean love's wounds unseen- that's what someone told me, but I don't know what it means." Gary White (the songwriter) and Linda Ronstadt (the singer) are basically saying in that first verse that easy bromides or canned advice from third persons are basically worthless and don't help anyone get over a loss. Ask anyone who's lost a loved one to death or had a failed long-term relationship- they'll say, "don't give me your easy advice from some Hallmark card or self-help book. If you want to help, just SHUT UP and listen, and let me vent or grieve." People who've been through know that it really will hurt- for a long, long time, perhaps the rest of their lives.

    mbrachmanon June 30, 2021   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The lyrics in the first verse are a straight slam of all the "advice" friends give you when you're down, whether it's the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship: "Love will abide, take things in stride- sounds like good advice, but there's no one by my side" and "Time washes clean love's wounds unseen- that's what someone told me, but I don't know what it means." Gary White (the songwriter) and Linda Ronstadt (the singer) are basically saying in that first verse that easy bromides or canned advice from third persons are basically worthless and don't help anyone get over a loss. Ask anyone who's lost a loved one to death or had a failed long-term relationship- they'll say, "don't give me your easy advice from some Hallmark card or self-help book. If you want to help, just SHUT UP and listen, and let me vent or grieve." People who've been through know that it really will hurt- for a long, long time, perhaps the rest of their lives.

    mbrachmanon June 30, 2021   Link
  • -1
    My Interpretation

    I sent this crooner type of song..I hate Adele by the way. Too much sorrow ..I'm a pretty strong girl. but sensitive. I feel when your giving to someone that seems they are too..but in the back in their minds ..they know something ain't right and try to make it so. In my case..I was asked to help make it right. I didn't chase too much . I he never showed how much this woman meant to him..the other. Many people in some form of love our blind to the truth ..trying to make it "right" well he too is chasing someone who doesn't care much for him..Main issue is she uses him for sex and I walked away once I knew he would toy with her again. Some times we come into the one of the "1's" but just have to trust time ..have faith and if it's meant to me it will. I trusted but with his actions towards me..I lost it. He was an OK Dry run. Next? I say ..I'm ready for someone who isn't wrapped up on drama and doesn't appreciate the someone enough to try to make a go of it.

    Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in timeon September 02, 2016   Link
  • -4
    General Comment

    This song describes a pathetic person. In response to "all the while you fell over girls you never knew", I would say "yeah, and he didn't know you either, Linda". Get a life.

    FranklinWebberon March 25, 2007   Link

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