I will love you as long as
As long as
You meet my needs, you make enough money, you change to meet my expectations
I will love you so long as
So long as
You don’t let me down, you don’t make any demands, you don’t make life hard.
I will love you until
or
This feeling fades
Reader: So, did you get dumped or something and now you’re bitter?
Author: I have to admit, this did have part of its impetus while I was brooding over some failed relationships, the bleak dating scene where I live, and the similar experiences of some friends. But also its impetus is a talk I once heard about the unrealistic expectations people put on relationships. The song really is intended to capture the irony of pursuing relationships out of the desire for romantic love that is ultimately or really simply a selfish gratification.
R: What? A desire for physical gratification?
A: Not really, I think people get addicted to that rush of romantic feelings that usually initiate a relationship. And once that starts to settle or fade they move on to the next rush.
R: Why does anyone stay for the long term or stay together once the romance fades?
A: Ultimately there has to be a genuine concern for and interest in the other person – something like friendship. Once the buzz of early romance starts to fade, if there is nothing left but a selfish preoccupation with one’s needs, the relationship is probably doomed to failure.
This song tries to capture the irony of singing about romantic love from an ultimately selfish stance. It also tries to capture the irony of putting selfish conditions on a romantic relationship which I think people do all the time but never express it so bluntly to themselves – or at least never think about clearly. The conditions they put on the relationship at that point are unreasonably rosy expectations that probably won’t (can’t) come true. When the rosy visions of romantic love fade and life gets hard, the speaker of this poem says sayonara.
“True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well-being of one’s companion.” Gordon B. Hinckley (Conference Report, April 1971).
