Questioning the Lyrics: "Your Love" by The Outfield

It is hardly debatable that the most important element of a song isn’t the lyrics. Technically, would it even be a song if it wasn’t set to music? “You can’t dance to the words,” a friend of mine once said.

This was proven in 1972 when Adriano Celentano released a song in his home country of Italy even though its lyrics were complete gibberish. After a television performance, Prisencolinensinainciusol became a number 1 hit in Italy, France, Germany, and Belgium. The song is made up of nonsensical lyrics that mimic the way Italians hear American words. In 2012, Celentano said in an interview with NPR, “I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate and to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything." This theory is further demonstrated by the immense popularity of KPop, in particular BTS, in countries that don’t understand Korean lyrics. Not to mention classical and instrumentals that can make emotions overflow.

A lot of times though, the lyrics of a song are the part that listeners take to heart. A love song playing during your first kiss becomes “your song” and sports-type anthems sung at stadiums bring the crowd closer together in spirit. But what happens if you intently listen to the lyrics of a song? (It can lead to a hilarious moment for your friends when you realize that Kiss wants to “Rock and Roll all night and party every day” rather than “part of every day.”) But the question I have is, “What do the lyrics mean”? There are several songs that I have listened to for years that still make me say “What the heck is this song saying?”

In the old days, we had to rely on artist interviews in magazines and on TV to learn the meanings behind popular songs. These days, we are lucky to have websites such as SongMeanings and Songfacts to help us ease our curious minds. But there are still songs that are up for debate. One song I can’t seem to wrap my mind around is “Your Love” by The Outfield.

Before we continue, take a couple of minutes to watch this lyric video to refresh your memory.

"Your Love" is a quintessential eighties song that is immediately recognized by its opening guitar power chords and the first lyric; “Josie’s on a vacation far away, come around and talk it over.” "Your Love" was written in only 20 minutes by the band’s guitarist, John Spinks. It’s heard so often, even now, that it’s hard to believe the song only made it to #6 on the Billboard chart in 1986. Singer Tony Lewis said in an interview, that Josie was not based on a real person, “It’s just a made-up story” he said with a shrug.

Most listeners can identify pretty quickly that this is going to be some sort of cheating song but that’s where opinions start to differ. First of all, what does he (the singer/narrator) want to talk about? He has so many things he wants to say to Not-Josie but the first thing he gets off his chest is that he likes older girls. A lot of people have interpreted this to mean Not-Josie is an older girl/woman. In 2013, SNL aired a ridiculously funny ode to the eighties skit in which Josh Hutcherson portrayed Josie’s younger sophomore brother trying to get with one of her senior friends by lip-syncing lines from “Your Love”. (It’s funny, you should try to find it if you haven’t seen it)

I think he may be telling Not-Josie this first so she doesn’t get her hopes up that this is going to be anything more than a hookup. Maybe she is a former girlfriend he outgrew? Maybe she is a girl next door crushing on her neighbor? Maybe she is the babysitter for his and Josie’s kids?

Whoever she is he keeps insisting he doesn’t want to lose her love tonight while also stressing he wants to use her love tonight. This is interesting because it implies that Not-Josie is in love with this guy. He knows it and is using it to his advantage. But is he actually saying this part out loud to her? Or is it a mantra he is repeating in his head so that he doesn’t feel guilty about cheating on Josie?

The lines about not having many friends and no one around when he’s in trouble seem like a ploy to gain sympathy. Followed by "you know I’d do anything for you” is almost certainly a deceptive play that a more mature woman would be more likely to see through. This gives more credence to the idea of Not-Josie being younger. After he seems to have her on the hook, he asks her to stay the night. Reminding her they have to keep it on the down-low.

While it could go either way on interpreting if Not-Josie fell for it and spent the night. I think she did. At least she started to. It’s hard to say how far he got because he says,

“try to stop my hands from shaking

But something in my mind's not making sense

It's been a while since we were all alone

But I can't hide the way I'm feeling”

Does this mean he and Not-Josie had been together previously and he is so overcome with emotion he can’t control himself OR is he so consumed with guilt from cheating on Josie that he can’t hide his nervousness?

We know that Not-Josie sees herself to the door whether it’s minutes or hours later is debatable. He reminds her to not forget what he told her, that could be his reiteration to keep it a secret or something else altogether. It does seem like they had a difference of opinion about something, “Just cause your right that don’t mean I’m wrong.” He says as she leaves.

Possible scene:

Not-Josie: “You don’t love me, you love Josie!”

He: “Just because I love Josie doesn’t mean I don’t love you”

The last verse ends with him singing, “Another shoulder to cry upon."

Is he saying Not-Josie is just a shoulder to cry on because Josie’s gone? Again, I’m thinking he did not say this aloud.

So what do you think? Is Not-Josie older or younger? Does he care about her at all?

Where did Josie actually go?

On a vacation far away?

Doing a stint in prison?

Under the new patio in the backyard? (Maybe that’s why his hands were shaking!)

Not that I’m thinking about it; who is Josie? Maybe it’s not his wife/girlfriend at all. Maybe he’s a single father and Josie is visiting relatives? Maybe Josie is not even a woman. He didn’t really say.

I’m very curious to hear your comments on this post of "Questioning the Lyrics".

Image by Markus Winkler via Unsplash

The Outfield. (1985). Your Love (written by J.Spinks). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVL2HRszxdY.