Song Meaning
The lyrics open with a blunt, almost exasperated question: "What do you even know about love?" This isn't a gentle inquiry but a direct challenge, immediately setting a confrontational tone. The speaker demands a response, urging the addressed "you" to "open your eyes, answer." It's a call for fundamental awareness.
The core tension here lies in a profound disconnect. The speaker perceives the "you" as blind to shared humanity, unable to see "what is similar" between "what you are, and what they are." This emotional distance extends to a refusal to "feel" the pain of others, ignoring "what screams, what cries, what hurts." The lyrics suggest a deep frustration with this lack of empathy.
A powerful craft element is the escalating series of rhetorical questions, moving from sensory perception to emotional understanding. The speaker first asks "Why don't you see?" then "Why don't you feel?", culminating in "Why don't you believe? Why don't you understand?" This progression highlights a fundamental failure to engage with the world and its inhabitants on multiple levels. The repeated "What will be?" punctuates these sections, adding a sense of impending consequence to this emotional blindness.
These lyrics are effective because they don't just state a problem; they actively interrogate the listener's capacity for connection. By juxtaposing the "you's" perceived ignorance with stark images of shared dreams and collective suffering – "your dream is their dream" – the speaker creates a compelling argument for empathy. The raw, direct address and the insistent questioning force introspection, making the listener confront their own understanding of love and human connection.