There’s a Danger in Loving Somebody Too Much

Jim gave us an interesting prompt for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday. Our theme this week is about Danger, Fear, Horror, Nightmare, and Terror — of course, I went for the love song, haha.

“Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” is a 1992 rock ballad performed as a duet by American singers Patty Smyth and Don Henley. The song was written by Smyth and Glen Burtnik. It was released as a single in August 1992 and reached No. 1 in Canada, where it was the most successful single of 1992, and peaked at No. 2 in Ireland and on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Smyth is the lead singer for the band Scandal whose hits included The Warrior and Goodbye to You. Henley is a longtime member of the band Eagles singing lead vocals on Desperado and Hotel California among many others. He is also a successful solo artist. Smyth had previously provided backing vocals on Henley’s solo albums Building the Perfect Beast in 1982 and The End of the Innocence in 1989. 

The lyrics refer to a past relationship between two people as narrated by the two singers, and their efforts to move on with their respective lives and make sense of the aftermath: There’s a reason why people don’t stay where they are / Baby sometimes love just ain’t enough. In the final chorus, there is a slight lyrical change to this line (“stay where they are” becomes “stay who they are”). Also, the line It’s sad when you know it’s your heart you can’t trust is changed to It’s sad when you know it’s your heart they can’t touch.

Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough

Now I don’t wanna lose you
But I don’t wanna use you
Just to have somebody by my side

And I don’t wanna hate you
I don’t wanna take you
But I don’t wanna be the one to cry

And that don’t really matter to anyone, anymore
But like a fool I keep losing my place
And I keep seeing you walk through that door

But there’s a danger in loving somebody too much
And it’s sad when you know it’s your heart you can’t trust
There’s a reason why people don’t stay where they are
Baby sometimes love just ain’t enough

Now I could never change you
And I don’t wanna blame you
Baby you don’t have to take the fall

Yes I may have hurt you
But I did not desert you
Maybe I just want to have it all

It makes a sound like thunder, it makes me feel like rain
And like a fool who will never see the truth
I keep thinking something’s gonna change

But there’s a danger in loving somebody too much
And it’s sad when you know it’s your heart you can’t trust
There’s a reason why people don’t stay where they are
Baby sometimes love just ain’t enough

And there’s no way home
When it’s late at night and you’re all alone
Are there things that you wanted to say
And do you feel me beside you in your bed?
There beside you, where I used to lay

And there’s a danger in loving somebody too much
And it’s sad when you know it’s your heart they can’t touch
There’s a reason why people don’t stay who they are
Baby sometimes love just ain’t enough
Baby sometimes love, it just ain’t enough

Source: Music Match and Wikipedia