Lyric discussion by unsweetended 

Cover art for The One You Love lyrics by Rufus Wainwright

very, very catchy.

i believe the first verse shows us that there's an obvious distance between these two people whether it be physically, emotionally or both. he can't get the memories of this person out of his head. "why can't i sleep with my eyes open" almost suggests he feels trapped, or at least overwhelmed, by these memories and all he wants it to get them out of his thoughts.

i think the second verse captures how he's been trying to "win", [or perhaps “gain” would be a better word to use] this person back. "sweet and velvet tongue" could be representing everything rufus has said to gain them back even though he’s yet to succeed. because of whatever rufus did in the past, it was bad enough to lose him any future second chances, hence the: "but no words ever could sell you, sell you on me after all that i have done". it almost seems as though their past is preventing anything from happening in their future.

"we've traded in our snap shots we're going through the motions into the view, i'm leaving you"

both rufus and whoever this song is about have "moved on", or at least they’ve attempted to. bottom line: they want to be together but they can’t because of their circumstances.

i think the course is about rufus’ persistent feelings and how this person may be sending mixed signals to him, [almost as if they haven’t been able to make up their minds as to whether they still love rufus or not]. at the end he's switched the words around to “the one i love, are you only the one i love?” it almost sounds sarcastic, like he’s wasted his time on them or something. i’ve interrupted this song so that it isn't just about these two people; there are more involved which can easily create jealously and complicate things to the point where rufus and this person have potentially lost any future together.