She wants to play me a last song, the seven-minute opus that concludes the new album. It’s a knockout. A string-swirling, Garland-invoking, jazzy, campy, swooning delight, packed with world-weary end-of-the-show reflection, and featuring a vocal for the ages. She watches happily as I beam my way through listening to it. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was playing on the television in the studio when she recorded it, and she says it’s the end song the movie should have had. But it’s also the coda on her recent chapter.
Aguirre futher reported “the arrangement is whimsical and wall-of-sound retro, full of strings and vibrato and midcentury romance, but the lyrics deliver a subversive twist” and quoted Adele as explaining:
As [Breakfast at Tiffany’s] finished, we were trying to work out how to end the song, and I said, ‘We should write it as if we were writing the soundtrack—you know, at the end of the movie, where it pans out.’
love is a game
Adele Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Surely you know, that I'm not easy to hold
It's so sad how incapable of learning to grow I am
My heart speaks in puzzle and codes
I've been trying my whole life to solve
God only knows how I've cried
I can't take another defeat
A next time would be the ending of me
That love is a game for fools to play
And I ain't fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain't fooling again (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain
How unbelievable (unbelievable)
Of me to fall for the lies that I tell? (Lies I tell)
The dream that I sell? (Dream I sell)
When heartache, it's inevitable (and unbearable)
But I'm no good at doing it well
Not that I care (I don't care)
Why should anything about it be fair?
When love is a game for fools to play
And I ain't fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain't fooling again (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain
No amount of love, can keep me satisfied (satisfied, satisfied)
I can't keep up (can't keep up, can't keep up)
When I keep changing my mind (change my mind, change my mind)
The feelings flood me to the heights of no compromise
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain't fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain't fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing)
To self-inflict that pain
I can love, I can love again
I love me now, like I love him
I'm a fool for that
You know I, you know I'm gonna do it
Oh, oh, oh, oh
I'd do it all again like I did it
Adele's "Love is a game" is a song about the inevitable pain that comes with love. The singer of the song conveys the impossibility of meeting someone's expectations of love as she experiences difficulties in giving and receiving love. She admits to her inability to grow and how her heart speaks in riddles and codes, which she has been trying to solve her entire life. She can't take another defeat as it would be the end of her, and she cannot bear to inflict that pain on herself again. She speaks of the cruelty of love, describing it as a game for fools to play, a cycle that she cannot afford to go through again.
She seems to understand that loving someone isn't enough to keep her satisfied, and she finds it hard to keep up, changing her mind constantly. She says that the feelings flood her to the point where she can't compromise, but she ultimately acknowledges that love isn't always fair. In the end, the singer admits that she is a fool for love, and she would do it all again like she did it, even if she knows it's a game with painful consequences. The song conveys an intense emotional struggle with love and a realization of the harsh truth that love can be both beautiful and cruel.
Line by Line Meaning
All your expectations of my love are impossible
You expect too much from me and it is beyond what I can do for you.
Surely you know, that I'm not easy to hold
You probably know that it's challenging to keep a relationship with me.
It's so sad how incapable of learning to grow I am
It's unfortunate that I am unable to improve myself and grow as a person to become better in a relationship.
My heart speaks in puzzles and codes I've been trying my whole life to solve
I have a hard time figuring out my own heart, and I've been struggling with it all my life.
God only knows how I've cried
I've cried numerous times, and only God knows how much it hurts me.
I can't take another defeat, A next time would be the ending of me
I can't handle another heartbreak, and it could be the death of me.
Now that I see, That love is a game for fools to play
I have come to realize that love is a game that only fools play.
And I ain't fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing), To self-inflict that pain
I'm not going to fool myself anymore, and it's cruel to inflict pain on myself by playing a game that only causes heartache.
How unbelievable (unbelievable), Of me to fall for the lies that I tell?
It's unbelievable that I still fall for my own lies.
(Lies I tell) The dream that I sell? (Dream I sell)
I'm selling myself a dream, a lie that I keep falling for.
When heartache, it's inevitable (and unbearable), But I'm no good at doing it well
Heartache is unavoidable and unbearable, but I'm not good at handling it.
Not that I care (I don't care), Why should anything about it be fair?
I don't care about the unfairness of the situation because there's nothing I can do about it.
No amount of love, can keep me satisfied (satisfied, satisfied), I can't keep up (can't keep up, can't keep up)
No matter how much love I receive, I can't be satisfied, and I can't keep up with it.
When I keep changing my mind (change my mind, change my mind), The feelings flood me to the heights of no compromise
I keep changing my mind, making it hard for me to compromise and leading to overwhelming feelings.
I can love, I can love again, I love me now, like I love him, I'm a fool for that
I can love again, and now I love myself as much as I love him, even though it makes me foolish.
You know I, you know I'm gonna do it, Oh, oh, oh, oh
You know I'm going to keep falling for this even though I know it's foolish.
(Chorus) Love is a game for fools to play, And I ain't fooling (fooling), what a cruel thing (cruel thing), To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game that only fools play, and I'm not going to fool myself anymore because it's cruel to inflict pain on myself.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, Dean Wynton Josiah Cover
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Qalelwkaseeraladab
from egypt 🌺
@mattsimon9554
The ending is my favorite part. The entire song she says love is a game and only fools play this game, but at the end she says "I'll do it all again". So freaking relatable.
@rebeccamoore187
SAME❤️
@FIFI6912
very true
@spicysizzling1600
Thanks for pointing that out Matt
@elervs
Also in "Adele, one night only" says at the end: "I'll do it all again, like I did then, cuz I'm addicted, I'm addicted, you know, I'm gonna do it...again"
@emillyfreitas561
and this is the last song of the album, like after all the process she admitted she’ll do it all again HAUAHSUHS SHES A GENIUS
@tylersnead7639
“What a cruel thing , to self inflict that pain” hits me every time
@shibeseaba6730
That part!😥
@nemnymeria7873
right? we know it will hurt but we need love anyway xD