Song Number Four

This Thing Called Love

I heard a line
In a children’s rhyme
That I had never heard before.
It was quite absurd,
Because it had a word
That I had never seen in my store.
I went up to my mom,
And told her my problem,
But it had only seemed to get her sore.
She said, “Get out of here, son.
Don’t try to bother me none,
‘Cause I don’t know what it means
anymore.”

(chorus)
Where is this thing called “love”?
Is it up above,
Or in a mother’s glove,
Or is it only for the doves?
Where is this thing called “love?”
‘Cause I’ve been looking around
For an eternity now,
And I still can’t find this thing called “love.”

I took a look
Into a chapter book
To see how it would read,
But lo and behold,
The simple story it told
Had the word that was strange to me.
A boy and a girl
Who went and took on the world
With this strange little mystery.
But I still didn’t know
This strange emotion, and so
I found it all really hard to believe.

(chorus)

I graduated
And then I celebrated
That I could start on my life, of course.
They said, “Make good in your life,
go on and find a wife
And understand that secret force.”
So I met a sweet girl,
And she had beautiful curls
We found a rev’rend who would endorse.
But then I came to find
That how it felt in my mind
Was like a carriage without a horse.

(chorus)

I stumbled toward
A big executive board,
And I made it in right on time.
Said a kid with bright eyes,
“This is the answer, you guys
To leave the competition far behind.”
Said, “We’ll let love be the key
To our triumphant story.”
And all the suits in the room did incline.
But it was then that I knew
That for my whole life through,
True love was never much more than a lie.