"Another Love" by Tom Odell -- Ex or same person?

[Scott]

I want to cry and I want to love
But all my tears have been used up

It's a great song in my opinion.

Do you think he is singing about an ex or about the same person in different stages of the relationship?

I'm not sure. Maybe it's meant to relate to the different scenarios. I think that's what makes a great poem or song: Something that's relatable to all sorts of different manifestations. What do you think?

Since this is OnlineBookClub, let me ask this: Does the feeling of this song remind you of any books?

[calapsic]

I think we all truly want to love and be love! But we are who we are. Some people care for nothing, and love because of traditions an cultures , basic rules and laws. From the song i get that, its a common thing though some people want love, and just wasted all their tears an time already trying on love.

[Gravy]

I really enjoy Tom Odell's music. This wasn't one of my favorites so I can't recall it. I'll have to listen to it again (such a hardship, I know ).

[subroto-2016]

I do not know the context in which these lines were said, but I can relate my own experience when I saw the photographs of some children in Ethiopia, starving and uncared, staring helplessly with a figment of hope. Seeing their pathetic plight, I felt like crying, but my tears seemed to have dried up. I also felt like loving them and caring for these children of God, but I was helpless.

[lgt41]

Both assumptions are valid. Would add self-love that is wanting. In the past I've received much love from women, but was unable to embrace it all - from fear of losing myself or simply from lack of self-love. Not sure. But I've made peace with my demons. The gods have shown kindness, for I've two wonderful grandchildren and I'm in good health. I'm still married after four decades or longer, which is a blessing.

[tarafarah7]

This is a great post!

I think Tom Odell's song "Another Love" is something many of us are able to relate to at some point in our lives. I feel the singer isn't ready to move on completely in a new relationship because of all he went through with his last love. I believe he has accepted that he is no longer with her, but it still is affecting him emotionally and physically (tired and drained). He sings about wanting to do things for someone, but he cannot because he is tired and sad from loving, trying, and crying so much over "another love." We see this right away in the first line of the song when he says, "I wanna take you somewhere so you know I care, but it's just so cold and I don't know where." He may want this new person to be happy, but he isn't quite ready to give his 100% to another relationship.

In the lyrics, he says things like, "I wanna kiss you, make you feel alright. I'm just too tired to share my nights." Maybe this means that his new love deserves his time and affection, but he isn't ready to give it because he's so worn out from all he went through in his last relationship. In the 2nd half of the video we see the 2 lovers arguing about something. When things seem out of sync in a relationship, people argue about things that the two of them do...or don't do. In this case, it seems that these arguments occur because he isn't contrbuting to the relationship in the same way she is. It's nothing she is doing, though, it is more about his inability to give and everything he has already given in the past with "another love." We then see a girl standing and staring in the reflection of the mirror. She could easily represent his other love from his past.

He also says, "I'd sing a song that would just be ours, but I sang them all to another heart." This makes me think that he feels he has nothing left to give to someone new because he already went through it all with another love, and right now it doesn't seem like there is anything left in him to give or try again.

The video seems loving in the beginning, but then turns dark and he says, "I'll use my voice and be so f**k**g rude, words they win, but I know I'll lose." I'm sure we all have said things we don't mean in relationships, but even though the words were said out of anger, it is important to remember that they cannot be erased. When we say things out of anger, we usually don't come out "ahead" in the end. Perhaps this is what he means when he says, "I know I'll lose."

"Another Love" is a great song, but a complicated one, as is love and all the ups and downs we go through in relationships. No one said love would be easy. But, when it's good, the world is a very happy place!

Thanks for reading! Sorry this post is so long....definitely one of my favorites so far!!

[Scott]

Wow, great analysis @tarafarah7

[tarafarah7]

Wow, great analysis @tarafarah7

Thank you Scott!!

[milkydwarf]

The few lines are one grown up scarce, when in need the needed finished. So the alas. TY.

[Monet_va]

I think he's singing about two different people. But definitely, agree that it's open to interpretation.