Foreigner - I wanna know what love is
"I Want to Know What Love Is" is a 1984 power ballad recorded by the British-American rock band Foreigner.
The song hit #1 in both the United Kingdom and the United States and is the group's biggest hit to date.
It remains one of the band's best known songs and most enduring radio hits charting in the top 25 in 2000, 2001, and 2002 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents chart.
"I Want to Know What Love Is" reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart on 15 January 1985, displacing Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and stayed there for three weeks. It reached the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 on 2 February 1985 where it stayed for two weeks. It was Foreigner's first and only pop chart topper in either country, although the band had four #1 Mainstream Rock and one #1 Adult Contemporary radio hits in the US.
This was the band's third of four #1 singles on the mainstream rock chart.
The song spent five weeks at #1 in Australia and also hit the top of the charts in Canada, Norway, and Sweden, peaking at #2 in Switzerland and South Africa.
The song has received positive retrospective reviews from critics, with Bret Adams of AllMusic writing: "It's not hard to see why it became Foreigner's first #1 single. Its dreamy, hypnotic feel is due in part to Lou Gramm's soulful lead vocals and the New Jersey Mass Choir's background vocals."
In 2004, "I Want to Know What Love Is" was voted #476 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2006, it was included on VH1's program "Top 100 Songs of the 80's" at #65.
The song was also issued as a 12" single with a slightly longer time length of 6:23. This version contains a slightly longer intro and an extended vocal chorus/fadeout ending. The single's B-Side "Street Thunder (Marathon Theme)" is an instrumental track originally appearing on The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad - Los Angeles 1984 and later on the band's 2-CD compilation Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology in 2000.
The Foreigner song was ranked by Billboard as the #4 Hot 100 single of 1985. It was the band's fourth Gold single in the U.S. and their first and only Gold single in the UK.
Originally consisting of three verses, a pre-chorus and a chorus, the song was extended with a bridge written by original songwriter Mick Jones specifically for Tina Arena's cover in 1998.
The song was used on the 16th episode of Miami Vice in the first season, entitled "Rites of Passage" on 8 February 1985.
The song was made part of the videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories soundtrack in 2006, and was the background music for the game's first trailer and intro cutscene. In 2007, the game SingStar '80s included the song. The song was played in a scene in Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector and in the "Valentine's Day" episode of the TV show Ed.
The song also features in the 1998 Swedish film Show Me Love.
The song was sung twice on General Hospital in 2009; first by the character Spinelli to his girlfriend Maxie at Jake's karaoke night, and second by guests at a reception, to Spinelli and Maxie.
The song appears in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
The song also has an appearance on American Dad! (Series 7, Episode 9).
The lyrics:
I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older
Aaaah woah-ah-aah
Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-ooh
I'm gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me, oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I've got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
I can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me
Let's talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I'm feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let's talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah
