February has always been known as the love month with lovers from all around the world celebrating the beauty and the wonder of love. Yet, the truth is that love isn’t always a beautiful thing because it can also create lonely hearts, broken hearts, and hearts that refuse to heal and move on.
There are songs about them, but these are hardly played and listened to. “Have You Ever Been in Love” by Leo Sayer is a good example. Released in late 1983, I came across the song when I was in high school and in love with a girl.
I thought the song would be a nice gift for her, but when I read the lyrics, I realized that it was not really about the magic of love. Rather, it was more about the pain of being in love and all the roller-coaster emotions that this inevitably brings.
In the morning light
Half awake and half asleep
Have you ever lain there thinking
Was it all in a dream?
But you reach out and she’s there
Every moment everywhere
Have you ever been in love?
Have you ever felt how far a heart can fall?
Have you ever stayed up waiting for a telephone call?
Just to hear her say hello
Cos you miss each other so
Have you ever been in love?
Have there been times to laugh
And times you really wanna cry
Finding reasons to believe her
Cos you’d die a little if she lied
When in times of doubt
Have you ever tried to work it out?
But still she leaves you wondering what it’s all about
When she’s far away, you ever felt the need to stray?
And tried and then discovered it just doesn’t pay
And with her you can be true
For with her you can be you
Have you ever been in love?
Have there been times to laugh
And times you really wanna cry
Finding reasons to believe her
Cos you’d die a little if she lied
When in times of doubt
Have you ever tried to work it out?
But still she leaves you wondering what it’s all about
And when in times of doubt
Have you ever tried to work it out?
And still she leaves you wondering what it’s all about
And when the night comes down
And you call this house a home
Do you dream you’re still together
And wake up alone?
Have you ever been in love the way that I’m in love?
Have you ever been in love?
Later on, when the girl turned me down, this song gained special meaning for me. It helped me through that difficult and trying period of my life.
Sadly, “Have You Ever Been in Love” is hardly given play time over the radio. Perhaps, it’s because its message is dark, gloomy, lonely. People in love would not want to listen to these types of songs. Still, it speaks the truth about the other side of love — the side that brings pain, loneliness, emptiness.
Interestingly, singer Peter Cetera made his own version of the song in 1992 as part of his album World Falling Down. Westlife followed up on this in 2006 when they included “Have You Ever Been in Love” in their album The Love Album. Leo Sayer’s original performance, however, for me, remains more heart-rending.
Want to hear the song just to soothe an aching heart? Here….
AKA Music 