Well I cant give you everything you want
But I could give you what you thought you need
A map to keep beneath your seat
You'll read to me in time I'll get you there
But fold it up so we don't find our way back soon
Nobody knows we're here

We can park the van and walk to town
Find the cheapest bottle of wine that we could find
And talk about the road behind
How getting lost is not a waste of time
Le Bois d'Amour will take us home
And in a moment we will sing as the forest sleeps

It's all for the sake of arriving with you
Well, it's all for the sake of arriving with you

Well, I will make the table into a bed
The candle is burning down it's time to rest
Can't take back things already gone
But I could give you promises for keeps
And I would only take them back
If they become your own and you give them to me

And it's all for the sake of arriving with you
Well, it's all for the sake of arriving with you

We could make this into anything
We could make this into more than words we speak
This could make us into anything
It could make us grow and become what we'll be, mm

It's just like it feels
It's just like it feels, mm

How can we will know?
It's just like it feels
It's just like it feels
It's just like it feels
How does it feel?
It's just like it feels
It's just like it feels
How does it feel?
It's just like it feels
How does it feel?


Lyrics submitted by fragin

What You Thought You Need Lyrics as written by Jack Hody Johnson

Lyrics © Bubble Toes Publishing, REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

What You Thought You Need song meanings
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14 Comments

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  • +3
    General Comment

    Somewhere in the beginning of a relationship...

    A man wants to stay in the moment with a woman, and not worry about the past or the future.

    He wants the relationship to be relaxed and take its time, go with the flow. Although they don't have much together right now, he thinks that the relationship could become anything they want it to be - that it has the potential to be something amazing.

    This something amazing would involve supporting, inspiring, and helping each other grow deeply.

    He's wants just to "arrive" with her... to be present with her in the moment, especially those moments where they both grow and change each other and seem to simultaneously arrive at more enlightened state of mind... Maybe he even wants to arrive, simultaneously, at the moment in which they both realize they love each other.

    How will they know if they love each other? "It's just how it feels."

    hoffmaneon July 08, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Surprisingly, you have the incorrect lyrics...again! I think you should just stop trying.

    FROM THE BOOKLET:

    Well I can't give you everything you want But I could give you what you thought you need A map to keep beneath your seat You'll read to me in time I'll get you there But fold it up so we don't find Our way back soon nobody knows we're here

    We can park the van and walk to town Find the cheapest bottle of wine that we could find And talk about the road behind How getting lost is not a waste of time Le Bois d' amour will take us home In the moment we will sing as the forest sings

    It's all for the sake of arriving with you

    Well I will make the table into a bed The candle is burning down it's time to rest I can't take back things already gone But I could give you promises for keeps And I would only take them back If they become your own and you give them to me

    And it's all for the sake of arriving with you Well it's all for the sake of arriving with you We could make this into anything We could make this into more than words we speak This could make us into anything It could make us grow and become what we'll be

    How will we really know? It's just like it feels

    bad sunon February 06, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    its about a guy who wants to start a relationship with a girl, but wants to figure it out as he goes along(but fold it up so we dont find our way back soon). he doesn't want direction to her heart...

    this is about how he just wants a romantic date with the girl and discuss their lives over a bottle of wine. they want to talk about the road behind them - saying how nothing in their past was a waste of time but just a path to where they are now.

    Everything they have done in the past is worth it because the end is them together - its all for the sake of arriving with you. he can give promises and the only way they could be broken is if she wants them to be. It is all a journey through europe which symbolizes their whole relationship. in the end love conquers all....

    nattyice54on April 12, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I thought it ended with him singing "How does it feel?" as the music fades out.

    n3j1y1on February 08, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think It's about two lovers with very little time to spend together (maybe a short trip, or a weekend...), and his hopes of making it last more than that.

    pat39on February 20, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song is about so much more than just a weekend trip somewhere. He wants a relationship or they're in a relationship but they have curves and bumps. It's like a car ride. She gives him a map to read, she gives herself to him. He reads it... he gives back. they're in a special place together... and no one else needs to be let in. Every relationship is like a road trip and the begining is like the picnic, a walk in the park. And the further into the relationship you are, the more in depth you get.

    smej002on February 21, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Sounds like he wants a relatonship with someone but they aren't really going anywhere with it.. They are kind of in the middle of being nothing and being something and he wants to move it forward into something. The whole map thing at the beginning represents how he wants to go somewhere with her but at the same time it's like he wants to be alone with her as then it might actually progress. It's all really romantisiced and ideallised which is what makes it, along with the guitar, very dreamy and relaxing. It is like the beginning stages of a crush (for lack of a better word),where everything just seems perfect.

    Psyche-Logoson February 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I feel like this song is about two lovers with a past....but its a timing thing and when she wanted him, he didn't want her and now he wants her and she's not so sure so he's asking for a clean slate:

    I can't take back things already gone But I could give you promises for keeps And I would only take them back If they become your own and you give them to me

    I feel like its his attempt to tell her that the future can be whatever they want to make of it and he'd like to try since when it comes down to it, they still have feelings....so instead of being cautious because of what happened before they should try to feel how it is now and move forward.

    I dunno, just a thought....

    lyriclover81on March 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song is about a start of a romantic relationship.

    The map serves as an indication that the relationship can go in a direction (a direction chosen by the female)

    "Home" is where the heart is. The forest represents the environment. It sleeps because the forest becomes less important to their relationship.

    I don't think there's any history, but there's plenty of growth in the future ("the road ahead").

    The relationship can grow into anything.

    He ends it with the question of How one really knows if this relationship is "the one" or the "perfect love." But he replies to his own answer and says its what is feels like and therefore nothing more or less.

    jadeinon March 10, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I heard in an interview that Jack and his wife spent 4 months in Europe and they bought a V.W. van and I'm just saying that may have inspired the van lyrics cause you know he talks about a van then theres the whole "Le Bois d' amour" lyrics that may hint at that inspiration cause you know thats not English

    hotpocketon March 19, 2008   Link

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