What Is This Thing Called Love

The speaker is puzzled by love and asks what it is, as if it were a mystery no one can solve. At first, love seems wonderful: the speaker sees someone on a memorable day and falls for them. But the feeling turns painful when that person rejects or abandons them. The speaker ends by asking the same question, now with more sadness and frustration.

Calling love a “funny thing” suggests that it behaves in an odd or surprising way, not necessarily that it is amusing. The question “why should it make a fool of me?” implies that love has made the speaker feel naïve or powerless. “You took my heart and threw my heart away” is an image for giving someone strong feelings and then having those feelings dismissed; it is not meant literally. Asking the Lord in Heaven for an answer adds a sense of desperation, as though even a higher power might explain love’s mystery.

The lyrics do not tell us exactly what happened between the two people, or whether the speaker’s heartbreak is temporary. The repeated question could express genuine confusion, but it may also be a playful, dramatic way to describe romantic disappointment. Love appears both exciting and painful: the speaker cannot understand it, yet remains focused on it.