More Than Words - Extreme | Lyric Analysis

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Last week I released a video on the song Shy Away and I talked about the idea that you can use something other than words to say I love you. To me this brings to mind the song More than Words by Extreme. So let’s take a look at that.

Verse 1
Saying "I love you"
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It's not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know

This verse does feel a little disconnected but overall the point is made. The singer desires to feel the love and saying it is fine but actions speak a little louder than words. The point here is that it is easy to show that love and as the love is shown you don’t have to say I love you as often.

The Chorus has two parts.
What would you do if my heart was torn in two?
More than words to show you feel
That your love for me is real
In this first part we can see the singer asking to look at a tragic situation. Something that could threaten the relationship, and simply saying I love you can’t fix. This is asking how can the relationship be fixed when all that ever happen is the words I love you are spoken.

Let’s look at the second part.
What would you say if I took those words away?
Then you couldn't make things new
Just by saying, "I love you"
This feels a little harsher to me. What if I make a rule that you can’t use those words. It is worded in a very polite way but it really is an attack. How would you deal with these problems if you couldn’t say I love you? It sounds like from the singer’s perspective every time something goes wrong the other person just says I love you and sweeps it under the rug.

Verse 2
Now that I've tried to talk to you and make you understand
All you have to do is close your eyes
And just reach out your hands and touch me
Hold me close, don't ever let me go
More than words is all I ever needed you to show
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me
'Cause I'd already know
This tries to be an example of how one could show their love without words. I would say this is not enough, sometimes you need more than a hug. Plus you can easily give or receive a hug while still holding a grudge. I feel like this verse was just added for fluff.

And there you have a whole song about an I love you that isn’t words. It is far from the most amazing song but compared to some others it has a nice flow to it and doesn’t directly contradict itself. It does have some gibberish that I skipped but that is better than some themes we have seen.

Until next time, Think Before You Sing.

 

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