Lyric Analysis

English Language

Lyric Analysis

He could be a sinner, or a gentleman
He could be a preacher when your soul is damned
He could be a lawyer on a witness stand
But he'll never love you like I can, can

He could be a stranger you gave a second glance
He could be a trophy of a one night stand
He could have your humor, but I don't understand
'Cause he'll never love you like I can, can, can

Why are you looking down all the wrong roads?
When mine is the heart and the salt of the soul
there may be lovers who hold out their hands
But they'll never love you like I can, can, can
they’ll never love you like I can, can

 

In this song, the writer has used a large amount of metaphors to get his message across to the person who the song was aimed at. ‘Preacher when your soul is damned’, ‘could be a lawyer on a witness stand’. These metaphors are put in the show that, although the other person she loves could be the most supportive person and help her through hard times, they’ll never be loved more than the writer could love them. Although he isn’t saying this directly, it is made obvious in his choice of words that he feels this way. Lawyers are very well respected people who hold a lot of power in making decisions to help people’s lives, so in a way, the writer is saying that although the other man could completely change her life and give her want she wants, he can give her more love. The use of the word ‘dammed’ when referring to her soul created a very dark image in the audiences head, almost as if she’s committed a sin. This reinforces how much that he loves her as although she has made mistakes and needs the help of a preacher to clear her ‘dammed soul’ he still loves her regardless.

The write sings, ‘he could be your trophy of a one night stand’. This is the writer trying to say that the other person isn’t necessarily with her for the right reasons. It seems that he is trying to insinuate that he is with her for sex whereas he is deeply in love with her. He is saying that the current man she is with just reminds of her this and the fact that there are no feelings in comparison to what the singer has with her.

In the chorus, the lyrics are, ‘Why are you looking down all the wrong roads? When mine is the heart and the salt of the soul, there may be lovers who hold out their hands, But they'll never love you like I can, can, can, they’ll never love you like I can, can’. The singer is asking why the receiver is unable to see that he is clearly the right choice of person for her. The chorus sort of seems to have a religious view behind it. ‘mine is the heart and the salt of the soul’, he’s saying that his love is the basic foundation of her life and that her soul will be, as mentioned before, ‘dammed’ without his love. He also makes reference to the other people that would just ‘hold out their hands’ for her. This created the mental imagery of people praying on their knees for her love. This may be used to try to get across the message that the other people need her whereas she needs the writers love. The word ‘can’ is repeated over and over to reinforce the fact that he can love her like she wants to be loved and the fact that he can love her this much. In my head, this use of repetition linked with the previous line creates the idea of people preaching something which may have been the intention of the writer to have people preaching and agreeing with what he is saying to reinforce his point.