What Is This Thing Called Love?

The speaker is puzzled by love and by how strongly it affects them. After seeing someone on what seemed like a wonderful day, they feel rejected, and their questions suggest both hurt and disbelief. The song moves from curiosity about love’s mystery to the pain of having one’s feelings discarded, then returns to the unanswered question.

Calling love a “funny thing” means it seems strange or hard to understand, not necessarily amusing. The question “Why should it make a fool of me?” suggests the speaker feels love has made them act unwisely or left them looking foolish. Saying the other person “took my heart and threw it away” is a metaphor: the speaker’s affection was not valued or returned. Asking the Lord in Heaven for an answer adds a note of desperation, as if ordinary explanations are not enough.

The lyrics do not explain exactly what happened between the two people, or whether the rejection was deliberate. The repeated memory of the encounter may show how fixed the hurt is in the speaker’s mind. At the same time, the repeated question could be sincere confusion, a playful way of expressing romantic frustration, or both.