If You Don't Know Me By Now

The speaker is addressing a long-term partner after repeated arguments. He believes their shared experiences should have helped them understand and trust each other, but small conflicts keep returning. His tone is both reassuring and frustrated: he wants peace at home, yet warns that the relationship may end if they cannot get along.

“Know me by now” means more than recognizing someone; it suggests understanding their character and trusting their intentions. The speaker asks his partner not to become upset when he comes home late, presenting this as something she should understand about him. Calling their arguments “acting like children” implies that their quarrels seem immature or out of proportion to him. “See eye to eye” means agree or understand one another.

The lyrics present the speaker’s view, not a neutral account of the relationship. He says he trusts his partner and asks for the same in return, but his insistence that she should already understand him could sound loving, impatient, or defensive. The song does not explain why he comes home late or whether his partner has good reason to worry. Its central appeal is for mutual trust, while the repeated warning that she may never know him leaves some tension unresolved.