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I Guess I'll Always Love You
The Isley Brothers Lyrics


Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴  Line by Line Meaning ↴

I guess I'll always love you
You've got the love I need
You've got the love I need

Open up your arms
And let me walk on in
Open up your heart
And let me live again

When you left you left with me
A dream no longer reality
I live the shadows of our past
With this love that's born to last

I guess I'll always love you
You've got the love I need
You've got the love I need

The only time I'm happy
Is when you're on my mind
Every day I live
All my love I give

I've been a thousand places
Seen your smile on a thousand faces
No matter what I try to do
I'm always dreaming of you

I guess I'll always love you
You've got the love I need
You've got the love I need

Every boy that passes by
I see your sparkle in his eye
Right away I stop and stare
Close my eyes and see you there

Whenever I feel almost free
Memories take hold of me
I love you now so much more
Than I ever did before

I guess I'll always love you
I guess I'll always love you
I guess I'll always love you

Overall Meaning

The Isley Brothers’ song, “I Guess I’ll Always Love You,” is a love ballad that expresses the eternal love one has for their partner. The lyrics convey a loved one’s importance and vitality in the life of the singer. “You've got the love I need” is a reference to the deep longing and fulfilment that the loved one provides to the singer. The song alludes to the pain that comes with a break-up, and how the memory of the relationship lingers on. The singer notes that “When you left, you left with me a dream no longer reality,” suggesting that the singer was living in a dream caused by the perfect relationship that no longer exists.


The song speaks of a desire to rekindle the love and have the other person back in their life, symbolized by “opening up your arms and letting me walk on in” and “opening up your heart and letting me live again” The singer echoes that they are always dreaming of their lost love, and despite being in different places and with different people, the love they had remains unshakable. It shows strength in the persistence of the singer’s love, even though it can be both a blessing and a curse. The lyrics are powerful and relatable to anyone who has experienced a love that they couldn’t shake, and the simple instrumentation and delivery of the song support the sentiments.


Line by Line Meaning

I guess I'll always love you
Despite everything that's happened, I know deep down that my love for you will never fade


You've got the love I need
There's something about you that fulfills a void in me and keeps me coming back


You've got the love I need
I've tried to fill that void with other people, but none of them have what you have


Open up your arms
Let me back into your life and show me that you still care


And let me walk on in
Give me another chance to be with you and make things right


Open up your heart
Let me back into your heart and let me love you like I used to


And let me live again
Being without you has been like living in a constant state of limbo, and I need you to bring me back to life


When you left you left with me
When you left, you took a part of me with you that I can never get back


A dream no longer reality
The fantasies of our life together that I used to hold onto are now just a distant memory


I live the shadows of our past
I can't escape the memories of our time together, even though they now haunt me


With this love that's born to last
Despite everything, my love for you will never die and will always be present


The only time I'm happy
My happiness is dependent on thoughts of you, and without you, I can't be truly happy


Is when you're on my mind
You occupy my thoughts and are always at the forefront of my mind


Every day I live
I do what I need to do to get by, but it's all meaningless without you


All my love I give
I pour all of my love into thoughts of you, hoping that somehow you'll feel it


I've been a thousand places
I've tried to move on and put distance between us, but I can never truly escape memories of you


Seen your smile on a thousand faces
Even though I've seen so many people and places, none of their smiles ever match up to yours


No matter what I try to do
No matter how hard I try to forget you or move on, I can never escape how I feel about you


I'm always dreaming of you
My mind is always consumed with thoughts of you, even when I'm sleeping


Every boy that passes by
Even though I try to move on, every guy I see just reminds me of what I once had with you


I see your sparkle in his eye
I can't help but compare everyone else to you and see you in them


Right away I stop and stare
In those moments, everything else fades away, and I'm left with thoughts of you


Close my eyes and see you there
My memories of you are so vivid that I can feel like you're right in front of me, even when you're not


Whenever I feel almost free
There are times when I feel like I'm moving on and making progress, but those feelings always get interrupted


Memories take hold of me
Whenever I start to forget, memories of you come flooding back and take over


I love you now so much more
My love for you has only grown stronger over time, despite everything that's happened


Than I ever did before
I never realized how much you meant to me until you were gone, and now I know that I need you in my life




Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JR., BRIAN HOLLAND, EDWARD HOLLAND, EDWARD, JR. HOLLAND, LAMONT DOZIER, LAMONT HERBERT DOZIER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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