Oh my love what have you done
You sold yourself to another one
And in the back of a big black car
The chances are things went too far
The chances are things went too far

Oh my love where have you gone
Into the arms of another one
Nothing I could do could make you stay
Got carried along, got carried away
Got carried along and away

We all go out
Then we all come home
But I fall asleep with the TV on
At 3 AM they play "O Canada"
True patriot love and lalalalala
True patriot love and lalalalala

Oh my love what shall I do
When I think of you
Do you think of me too
You're saying my name
But it sounds all wrong
You wanna be loved
I just wanna belong
I wanna believe I belong

We all go out
Then we all come home
But I fall asleep with the TV on
At 3 AM oh say can you see
The dawn's early light has taken you from me
The dawn's early light has taken you from me

And we raise the white flag
So they can paint it red and blue
Getting into bed seemed easy enough
Getting out's a little harder to do

Oh my love go back to the beginning
You're like a broken record
But the record's still spinning
Nothing I could do could make you play
Got carried along
Got carried away
Got carried along and away

We all go out
Then we all come home
But I fall asleep with the TV on
At 3 AM they play "O Canada"
True patriot love and lalalalala
True patriot love and lalalalala
True patriot love and lalalalala
True patriot love




Lyrics submitted by geekusa

True Patriot Love song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment

    American and Canadian diplomacy and free trade. "You sold yourself to another one " and " we raise the white flag So they can paint it red and blue Getting into bed seemed easy enough Getting out's a little harder to do "

    DeadDiscoon February 25, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    You're reading into it too much I think. Joel doesn't really do politics. It's more about lost love.

    geekusaon February 26, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think he lost a girl to an american.

    goodsoupon March 04, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    the beauty of most of joel's music is that it doesn't make you think too much, so deaddisco i think you've got it all wrong

    _Idioteque_on May 02, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think deaddisco makes perfect sense, I never thought about that, It can have multiple meanings, 2 meanings that deep would show you how great a songwriter he is! It is after all about loveing canada and waking up in the night to hear the CBC's ringing color bars come on.

    And less importantly He does like some Billy Joel......."sleeping with the television on"

    mr.pharmaciston February 02, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    the song is both political and a story of lost love. joel is deffinetly an great song writer... when he plays the song live he even says it is a love story with a political side.

    allouttaangston February 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree that this song must in some way be about politics. However, there is an emotional side to it. Some interesting political things though. Obviously the "put up the white flag so we can paint it red and blue" could be a sarcastic remark about how canadians let their culture be dominated by american's. Or it could be about free trade. The like a broken record but the records' still spinning line is very clever. Does anyone remember when Reagan and Mulroney sang irish eyes on national tv. Although likely not related there is a musical connection between politicians and these two countries. Another one..."Getting into bed seemed easy enough Getting out's a little harder to do "...I believe trudeau said that living next to america is like sleeping in a bed with an elephant...whenever it moves you notice, whether it is good or bad...or this lyric could be about getting into bed with the americans through free trade, but now that we see some of the negative effects (i dunno when this was written but softwood lumber sticks out in my mind) and we want out it is difficult. I am not going to comment on the obvious lyrics about our national anthems. Also, some have said it is part about politics and part about a relationship. Well I believe Canada and the United States have a relationship. A pretty darn important one (we are the worlds largest trading border). So he could actually be using a real life relationship as a metaphor for the one between these two fine nations. Anyways, hope that brings some good insight to the political aspects of the song as i interperet them.

    kevinfromcanadaon March 23, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    good song

    soadnoton July 21, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Joel introduced it as a love song for people and places when he performed it with the nova scotia symphony. It's always seemed more of a love song to me than a politcal song. Sort of the ultimate Canadian love song in that we'll compare our lost loves to our relationship with America.

    makealittlenoiseon May 04, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i always thought this one was about falling in love with a prostitute.. maybe im taking the lyrics too literally. but "patriot" is the love of your country, the love of something that can't love you in return. loving a hooker would probably be pretty close to that, don't you think :P

    horselatitudeson June 18, 2009   Link

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