All of the Above

Song Meaning

The lyrics grapple with defining love by posing a series of questions, moving from the physical and practical to the emotional and existential. Initially, love is presented as a checklist of potential attributes: attraction, satisfaction, longevity, shared experiences, and unwavering commitment. These are framed as inquiries, suggesting a search for concrete answers to an abstract concept. The narrator seems to be dissecting love, trying to pin it down with tangible examples. The central tension arises from the contrast between the exhaustive list of possibilities and the ultimate, somewhat anticlimactic, conclusion. The narrator asks if love is a simple pleasure like a 'walk in the park' or a more complex mix of 'joy, or is it pain?'. This highlights the multifaceted and often contradictory nature of love, which can encompass both ease and hardship, light and shadow. The questioning then pivots to a deeper, more personal uncertainty, asking 'If love's really the answer, then what could be the question?' The most striking aspect of the craft is the repetitive, almost mantra-like chorus, 'Love is all the above.' This refrain acts as both an answer and an evasion, encompassing every previous question without truly resolving the underlying ambiguity. It suggests that love isn't one thing, but an accumulation of all these varied experiences and emotions. The final lines, 'Why do I feel this way? I look in the sky and I pray…', reveal that despite the attempt to define love, the narrator is still left with personal feelings and a plea for understanding, underscoring the enduring mystery. This approach makes the lyrics effective because it mirrors a common human experience: the struggle to articulate profound feelings. By presenting a series of relatable questions and then offering a broad, inclusive answer, the song validates the complexity of love. The shift from objective questioning to personal prayer at the end grounds the abstract definition in raw, individual emotion, leaving the listener with a sense of shared searching.