You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand/
You don’t have to stay forever I will understand.
When I first listened to the lyrics of “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”, I thought this had to have been written by a man. Interestingly, the lyrics were written by women. The lyric is interesting. The woman is so lonely that she would do anything to have her man back.
She won’t ask anything of him: she doesn’t need him to say “I love you” or be in a committed relationship as long as he is ‘close at hand’. I suppose that is a good way to describe the loneliness and desperation one might feel after a breakup. I have had friends do and say similar things in an attempt to not be alone.
The music sounds very haunting, especially the introduction. The verses of the song sound really sad (musically). The chorus sound like Springfield is delivering a loving declaration. But the words are desperate. It is kind of paradoxical and creates a weird effect.
The orchestration and production are really good: especially some of the choices in the introduction. Of course, like all of Dusty Springfield’s songs, her great voice and subtle vocal decisions she makes truly make the song great. This is about as emotional as Dusty’s voice gets. She is a great contrast to the pop divas of the past 20 years.
You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me Lyrics
When I said I needed you
You said you would always stay
It wasn’t me who changed but you and now you’ve gone away
Don’t you see that now you’ve gone
And I’m left here on my own
That I have to follow you and beg you to come home
You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don’t have to stay forever I will understand
Believe me, believe me I can’t help but love you
But believe me I’ll never tie you down
Left alone with just a memory
Life seems dead and quite unreal
All that’s left is loneliness there’s nothing left to feel
You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don’t have to stay forever
I will understand believe me, believe me
You don’t have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don’t have to stay forever
I will understand, believe me, believe me
Songwriters: Giuseppe Donaggio / Simon Napier-Bell / Vito Pallavicini / Vicki Heather Wickham