King Saul fell on his sword
When it all went wrong
And Joseph's brother sold him down the river for a song
And Sonny Liston rubbed some tiger balm into his glove

Some things you do for money
And some you do for love love love

Ras Kolnikov felt sick
And he couldn't say why
When he saw his face reflected
In his victim's twinkling eye

Some things you'll do for money
Some you'll do for fun
But the things you do for love are gonna come back
One by one

Love love is gonna lead you be the hand
Into a white and soundless place

Now we see things
As in a mirror dimly
Then we shall see each other
Face
To face

And way out in Seattle,
Young Kirk Cobain
Snuck out to the greenhouse
And put a bullet in his brain

Snakes in the grass beneath our feet
Rain in the clouds above
Some moments last forever
But some flair out
With love love love



Lyrics submitted by fuckedupdog, edited by embassyrow, therydog10, madelinek, Luca Masters

Track duration: 02:48

"Love Love Love" as written by Clarence Fountain

Lyrics © BUG MUSIC

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Love Love Love song meanings
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32 Comments

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  • 0
    Lyric Correction:Raskolnikov, not Raskalnikov.
    Flag Cithaeronon September 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:In truth, I believe the verse used in the song is something completely different.

    "Love love is gonna lead you by the hand
    Into a white and soundless place
    Now we see this
    As in a mirror dimly
    Then we shall see each other
    Face to face"


    Love is gonna lead YOU by the hand. Into a white and soundless place. In truth. I believe this means that it means singular. Nobody else. When we see oursleves in the mirror. We're looking at ourselves reflected in a way that shows us who we truly are. We'll come face to face with all the decisions we made and how our choices in love really reflect upon ourselves.

    Kurt Kobain didn't have a true reason for killing himself. Not one he cared to share with the world. Many claim that it was the drugs that led him to do it. Which in a way is true. However, even the most happy person on the surface could be wrestling with inner demons. Maybe everything going on in his life and the eventual road his relationship with Courtney was going was all that was needed to make his actions reflect his love for Courtney. That in a way, he did it for her. This is a twisted version of love. According to the bible, suicide is an unforgivable sin. Which would make this contrary to the rules of love and morality.

    Joseph's brothers are another version of love that people do not get. Joseph was the loved son. Held highest above all his other brothers. In the bible, his brothers knew that Joseph was going to inherit everything his father had. They sold him to slaves so they could gain their father's favor. They even made it look like he was killed by a lion. All for greed.

    I've only read crime and punishment once. So I can't explain that one.

    King SAUL, killed himself because his world was going to crumble around him. Everything he knew and thought he loved was going to be taken away. A simple message about loving wordly things can end badly. Like these rich folks you see on the news. I watched a story about this woman who claims that her money and things were more important than her mother. This coming after the stock market crashed and she lost almost everything. She seriously was making plee for suicide saying "It would be better than being poor".
    Flag stonythegreaton October 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's Snuck out to the greenhouse not garden.
    Flag glossolalia13on August 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is utterly amazing.
    There seems to be allot of discussion about types of love in regards to this song, and that all these charachters and their actions are done in the name of love, but I disagree. I think this song is about Kurt Kobain. here are my thoughts.

    In the first verse "king Saul fell on his sword... Joseph's brother sold him down the river... Sonny Liston rubbed some tiger balm into his gloves..." these are all things people did for money, or personal Gain. King Saul took the easy way out when things were getting rough, Joseph's brother got a song (?) and Sonny liston won his fights (by cheating*) and of course was paid. I don't think they were trying to say these were acts of love, hence the follow up lines, "some things you do for money and some you do for love love love". these are all things you do for money (or personal gain)
    in the second verse, about Raskilnakov, I think his actions were done for fun. I have not read crime and punishment, but I read a charachter bio of raskilnakov and it seems to fit this theory. as well, the end of that verse is, "some things you do for money, and some you do for fun, but the ones you do for love are gonna come back to you one by one" again the important line is the "some things you do for fun"
    In the third section, where it says 'love love is gonna lead you by the hand..." this verse is the lead in for the fourth verse. It sort of tells you what the song is about and the white and silent place is heaven or the afterlife or whatever you beleive in.
    Then we get to the fourth verse, about Kurt Kobain. I think this is the most important verse, because I beleive Kurt Kobain is what this song is about. you can tell it is most important for 2 reasons, one, it is at the end, and two, it is broken up from the rest of the song by the third section, which is completely differant from the other 3. I think Kurt Kobain's actions are the only ones depicted as acts of love. if you read into Kurt Kobains history and where his head was at before he commited suicide, i think you would agree. I am not going to get into it now because this post is already too long. but suffice to say, his reasons for suicide were differant than King Saul's.


    *by the way, the story there is, Sonny used to rub Tiger Balm, an anti inflamatory, onto his gloves before a fight because he liked to get the knockout punch. when you are in a fight and you get hit, your face and head will swell up, this actually protects the head by cusioning any further blows. but if you put tiger balm on it, it stops the swelling, therefore while Sonny is punching you in the face, he is also rubbing tiger balm on your wounds to prevent them from swelling and therefore making it easier to knock you out*
    Flag BobbyBSeeon June 02, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment: kurt cobain reference....?i don't get that part.
    Flag specimen7on February 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:I like this song as it seems to depict strange types of love. Romantic love is nice, but is so overdone I'm forced to groan with every sweetened word. Not that I hate them, but, well. It's hard to get me to like them. Anyway, I don't know any of the books it referenced to nor do I really think it matters much to me, but their actions show a peculiar sense of what love is and how it differs from one another, no matter how obscure they may be. The love of music, of oneself, of escape and solitude.. To the characters here, I see that their own separate loves that make their lives beautiful far exceeds anything else. The moments they are stuck inside their loves 'flare out' in the sense that it doesn't seem to last long enough. If you dislike a moment, you feel the time is too long, but if you truly love it, you will be left wishing for more - no matter how long you spend in it.

    My idea may change if I look up into the characters, but without any real idea of who they are meant to be, this was what I got and I rather like it.
    Flag SeppoDon January 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Memory:Yes, listening to this song while reading Crime and Punishment is really kind of surreal.

    I would also agree that it is very close to their magnum opus. Close in the running with "This Year."

    Great band, great song. Yes!
    Flag lizeedeeon December 30, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Some things you do for money
    And some you'll do for fun
    But the things you do for love
    Are gonna come back to you one by one"

    almost what I live by now.
    Flag loveledbythehandon September 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song doesn't seem to be about love in the truest sense of the word; I think it's about all the crap we call "love" that actually turns out to really just be narcissism or obsession or emotion (i.e. the references to the historical/cultural/biblical/literary figures who were so obsessed with their ambitions that they killed themselves -not because they didn't have love, but because what they loved was something sick and recklessly self-interested.)

    When he quotes the Bible about only seeing things dimly, but one day seeing each other face to face he seems to be saying something like: "yeah, we all have a pretty f-ed up idea about what love is and how to express it, but one day (in heaven?) we'll see it clearly and probably regret a lot of things that we did out of 'love'."
    Flag no anestheticon May 25, 2008   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:"Crime & Punishment" is probably my favorite novel of all time. Raskolnikov is a university dropout who stumbles upon the idea that he and larger-than-life historical figures (like Napoleon) are "overmen," people who are remarkable and thus above the moral scrutiny and justice that govern the rest of humanity. He believes that the fruits of his labors will be so completely worth any "sins" he may commit to achieve them that those sins will be pardonable. To prove this theory, Raskolnikov decides to murder his pawnbroker.

    The sickness John describes in the song is pivotal to the book. Raskolnikov follows through with the murder, but the guilt and disgust it brings him drive him to confess, thereby undoing him and his theory. Had Raskolnikov murdered the woman for money, he wouldn't have been tortured as he was, as he'd have achieved his goal of robbing the pawnbroker. Similarly, if he'd killed her for fun, he'd have satiated his bloodlust.

    Instead, he killed the woman out of love: love for his own idea.
    Flag Sussexon April 29, 2008   Link

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