Music Review: Tiffany "It's The Lover (Not The Love)"

Tiffany

It’s The Lover (Not the Love)

Album: Hold An Old Friend’s Hand

Year: 1989

           Tiffany tries to keep her friend from becoming bitter in the vapid “It’s The Lover (Not The Love).”

          A bleeding synth opens the single, setting a sympathetic tone.  Her friend lets her in her house, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.  She gives her friend a hug and tells her it’s going to be ok. She sniffs and says she was such a fool. She can’t believe she thought he would actually take her to New York one day. She changed her schedule around so they could see each other more. She really cared for him and he will be the only one she could ever love. Her friend tells her she’s swearing off relationships.  (“He broke your heart and said goodbye/After promising forever/You wonder why you even tried/He was such a good pretender/The love you gave was all in vain/And nothing anyone can say/Could ever make you love that way again.”)

In the chorus, she tells her friend that it was her ex who doesn’t know what love actually is. Love does exist. She may not realize it now but she will find someone again. Her ex is the one to blame, not the idea of love. (“It's the lover not the love/Who broke your heart last night/It's the lover not the dream/That didn't work out right/If you listen to your heart/Ooh you'll know it's true/It's the lover not the love/Who deserted you.”)

          She tells her friend to not to give up. She says a guy is not worth changing who she is. She’s going to experience much heartbreak. Eventually she will have a real, true love with a guy. (“Don't stop reaching for the stars/Let tomorrow live inside you/And just remember who you are/Keep the faith and love will find you/A heart in love can lose its true/But don't give up in time to find/The one who's right will come to you.”)

The chorus is sung again.

             In the bridge, her friend keeps going over everything he said, asking if she missed anything. Her friend wonders if they will get back together and if she should call him to apologize. She tells her no. He wouldn’t have left so easily if he did actually love her. (“It does no good to second guess/Whether love is wrong or right/If it was really meant to be/He'd be with you tonight, tonight.”)

            An agonized saxophone wails in its solo, asking over and over, why, why, why?

             The chorus is sung again to end the single.

             Tiffany’s callow vocals pat her friend on the arm, as she rubs in all the experience she had. But she can’t stay long. She and her boyfriend (high school sweethearts, voted cutest couple senior year) are going to a movie. However, she promises another night of ice cream and tears. But her boyfriend needs her, too. She whisks back to her perfect life.

            The  gauche  “It’s The Lover (Not the Love)” acts like it knows it all and is above heartbreak.