"I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner

I gotta take a little time, a little time to think things over
I better read between the lines, in case I need it when I'm older
Now this mountain I must climb, feels like the world upon my shoulders
Through the clouds I see love shine, it keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me
I'm gonna take a little time, a little time to look around me
I've got nowhere left to hide, it looks like love has finally found me
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
(And I want to feel) I want to feel what love is
(And I know) I know you can show me
Let's talk about love, I want to know what love is
The love that you feel inside, I want you to show me
And I'm feeling so much love, I want to feel what love is
No, you just can't hide, I know you can show me
I want to know what love is (let's talk about love), I know you can show me
I want to feel it too, I want to feel what love is
I want to feel it too, and I know and I know, I know you can show me
Show me love is real, yeah, I want to know what love is

Songwriters: Michael Leslie Jones
I Want To Know What Love Is lyrics © Somerset Songs Publishing Inc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raNGeq3_DtM

Oh yeah, the question!

Do you like this song?

I will when Wheatus covers it

this is a phenomenal song

it choruses out a bit too much. the verses and the mood earlier in the song are a lot better

It's beautiful, prefer other Foreigner songs.

i think maybe the chorus lets down the verse and build-up

one of the first lyrics i ever wrote finished with the line "I don't want to know what love is"

sorry, posted mine before i'd read jim. yes i agree.

there is a lot lyrically and compositionally to guffaw at, but the song still gets me

it starts SO great

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A_8Uv-y8Dbc

Now I want to hear Future Islands cover it.

When the first bridge comes ("in MY LIFE there's been HEARTACHING PAIN...") it's earned.

always heard that as heartache and pain

prefer Alfred’s version though

a karaoke classic.

props to the new jersey mass choir

Eh it was more of a fairweather Johnson choir

I get a bit of a stalkerish vibe from the lyrics - a guy with his heartache and pain, downtrodden by life and circumstances... one day a woman shows a bit of sympathy and kindness, he misreads it, he starts obsessing about her, follows her home one day, bursts into her apartment: "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS, I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME, NO YOU CAN'T HIDE"

but maybe I'm reading too much into it...

awesome song and performance, but "urgent" is even better

more urgent you might say

this is a great song for young people to slow dance to.

or older people too I suppose. But preferably _before_ one has ever been in love.

because once you've been in love you learn the truth, which is that love hurts, love scars, love wounds and mars

This is a great song, and so is the very Miami Vice-y Waiting for a Girl Like You. Most of Foreigner's hits are turgid butt rock, but they did moody '80s ballads well!

Waiting For A Girl Like You is probably the greatest song of all time

Better than Midnight Blue?

Jesus Christ "Just Between You and Me" is amazing too

One cold words gonna lead to another

I really like the "change this lonely life" hook.

https://youtu.be/SQbAizfsvrQ

good song

> Better than Midnight Blue?

no

I really like the "change this lonely life" hook.

With 34 New Answers, I assumed that at least one of them (“I,” “Want,” “To,” “Know,” “What,” “Love,” or “Is”) had died.

Yeah, the chorus/gospel choir is a bit corny/ott but the opening, verses, pre-chorus and the production are so good that I totally give in.

Somehow I tend to associate this song with "Everybody's got to learn sometime".

"Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" >>>> most songs including this one

hate it

in your life there's been heartache and pain?

This is a great song, and so is the very Miami Vice-y Waiting for a Girl Like You.

With 34 New Answers, I assumed that at least one of them (“I,” “Want,” “To,” “Know,” “What,” “Love,” or “Is”) had died.

In my quieter moments I like to toss a coin between 'someone's died!/Alfred had ranked their albums!'. Poll?

Lol

ha!

A-ha died?

No, but they had one of the worst hits of the ochozone and there is a blog post hot off the presses to tell you all about it.

A-Ha are part of one of this year's best tracks !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AdAEQ86UMk

i don't know if i've seen the video for this song, i imagine it's just a knight with his helmet off along in a room gazing out at the night

go to 2:08 you get to see NBA legend Larry Bird playing bass guitar

This is a great song, and so is the very Miami Vice-y Waiting for a Girl Like You. Most of Foreigner's hits are turgid butt rock, but they did moody '80s ballads well!

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, December 20, 2018 3:23 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Waiting For A Girl Like You is probably the greatest song of all time

― brimstead, Thursday, December 20, 2018 4:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

two very otm posts

"gonna take a little time" is a killer way to open it. this song is really about the verse and pre-chorus tho. the chorus isn't bad but it's more of a "All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You"/"The Flame" type chorus

You hear this song so much nowadays.

oddly I sought it out the other day

I think I prefer "Waiting for..." tho

Best use of "I Want to Know What Love Is."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr_3Gy3gEEQ

that was great

Always wanted to see that movie.

I so loved that movie.

The title in English is kind of watered down

I remember when I was a kid and heard this song I kept saying "mommy doesn't he have a dictionary"

lol

my family spent a week at the beach in south (new) jersey every year for 40 years and this is one of many songs (and books) i fondly associate with that. ‘come dancing’ and ‘eye in the sky’ are among the others, but this is one of the best ones

Big question is whether the narrator of this song is working to do better after “Hot Blooded” come-ons it if this song is just a new approach to picking up a woman at a bar.

I remember this premiering on Friday Night Videos, and there was some aura of importance around it (at least to this kid). The guy carrying the construction beam is a nice bit of 80s-video metaphor.

*”Hot Blooded” come-one or if

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS_e7Yt9VMk

"Through the clouds I see love shine, it keeps me warm as life grows colder"

He either already has a rough idea of what love is, or this is just the booze talking?

what a terrible line. it (and the whole song) suggest that love is not yet his, rather something he longs for, and yet it's keeping him warm , and if he's warm then what's the problem?

i love love love love love this song it is gorgeous

i love the range of Lou’s voice, that it starts out quite low & he goes up SO high

ugh

it’s total magic to m

“waiting for a girl like you” & “urgent” also magic in different ways but this one just soars

This song has immaculate swells, especially the one in the middle of the first verse that feels like a wave hitting the beach.