It's about a breakup, sure, but it's about a one-sided breakup not initiated by the singer (Paul Rodgers sings the song, but far be it for us to assume he ever truly felt these feelings, so for the purpose of the song's message, I'll refer to "the singer" rather than Rodgers). If it was initiated by the singer, he regrets it greatly. The song is sung from the perspective of someone who still very much in love, but the other person broke it off.
Accordingly, it's not about a breakup as much as longing for someone you're in love with but who doesn't love you back. You needn't have been through a bad breakup to know the feeling. Anyone who's experienced any form of unrequited love, from a crush that doesn't materialize into anything more, to the end of a long relationship, can relate to this song.
The singer thoroughly explains his feelings and why he has them. She broke up with him. He's in the dark, crying, brokenhearted, world in shreds. He just wants to escape that feeling, break out of that misery, and have some hope to finally see some light, the silver, blue and gold of clouds, sky and sun one sees when one's finally out of the darkness. Why? Because he's overdue to get a rainbow, the beauty and joy of light and color after the miserable, scary storms and rain that resemble tears and pain.
I went all but about three weeks of the first 28 years of my life being single. Even though I've now been with my wonderful wife for 12 years, this song takes me back to my first 28 years immediately. For those of us for whom we'd rather build lasting relationships with people from our circle rather than seek out the fast, easy score at the bar, repeated failures sting badly. Not only are you lonely, but you have to learn to cope with the cycle of becoming interested in someone, working up the courage to try to reveal your feelings and dealing with the heartbreak and humiliation of rejection, then doing it again, and again, and again. If you were lucky, you went through the cycle over a few weeks. Other times, it took years. I like to say I practically invented the friendzone. I've read that, on average, men only succeed with about 10 percent of the women they actually try with, so I'm sure a lot of guys can relate. And this is what it feels like if you actually have a bit of a heart: You felt like you had something of love. There was probably a little bit of a connection, enough to give you hope that this time is different. But it went nowhere and now you feel hurt, unlovable, unwanted and like everything about you is wrong. You just want to escape that feeling and, just once, get it right.
It does feel good when you finally do. But you never forget the feeling, to the point it almost starts to grow comfortable. And sometimes, when my wife and I are apart for work travel or whatever, it's late at night, and I know I miss her, I can put this song on and know Bad Company captured my feelings when I was single, and still can bring me to a place where it felt like at least one song made me feel like I wasn't the only one who felt that way sometimes. So I put it on, pour a drink, close my eyes and just patiently wait until we're together again while I hope she comes home soon.
It's about a breakup, sure, but it's about a one-sided breakup not initiated by the singer (Paul Rodgers sings the song, but far be it for us to assume he ever truly felt these feelings, so for the purpose of the song's message, I'll refer to "the singer" rather than Rodgers). If it was initiated by the singer, he regrets it greatly. The song is sung from the perspective of someone who still very much in love, but the other person broke it off.
Accordingly, it's not about a breakup as much as longing for someone you're in love with but who doesn't love you back. You needn't have been through a bad breakup to know the feeling. Anyone who's experienced any form of unrequited love, from a crush that doesn't materialize into anything more, to the end of a long relationship, can relate to this song.
The singer thoroughly explains his feelings and why he has them. She broke up with him. He's in the dark, crying, brokenhearted, world in shreds. He just wants to escape that feeling, break out of that misery, and have some hope to finally see some light, the silver, blue and gold of clouds, sky and sun one sees when one's finally out of the darkness. Why? Because he's overdue to get a rainbow, the beauty and joy of light and color after the miserable, scary storms and rain that resemble tears and pain.
I went all but about three weeks of the first 28 years of my life being single. Even though I've now been with my wonderful wife for 12 years, this song takes me back to my first 28 years immediately. For those of us for whom we'd rather build lasting relationships with people from our circle rather than seek out the fast, easy score at the bar, repeated failures sting badly. Not only are you lonely, but you have to learn to cope with the cycle of becoming interested in someone, working up the courage to try to reveal your feelings and dealing with the heartbreak and humiliation of rejection, then doing it again, and again, and again. If you were lucky, you went through the cycle over a few weeks. Other times, it took years. I like to say I practically invented the friendzone. I've read that, on average, men only succeed with about 10 percent of the women they actually try with, so I'm sure a lot of guys can relate. And this is what it feels like if you actually have a bit of a heart: You felt like you had something of love. There was probably a little bit of a connection, enough to give you hope that this time is different. But it went nowhere and now you feel hurt, unlovable, unwanted and like everything about you is wrong. You just want to escape that feeling and, just once, get it right.
It does feel good when you finally do. But you never forget the feeling, to the point it almost starts to grow comfortable. And sometimes, when my wife and I are apart for work travel or whatever, it's late at night, and I know I miss her, I can put this song on and know Bad Company captured my feelings when I was single, and still can bring me to a place where it felt like at least one song made me feel like I wasn't the only one who felt that way sometimes. So I put it on, pour a drink, close my eyes and just patiently wait until we're together again while I hope she comes home soon.
[Edit: tense in one sentence was wrong]