Love Stinks

The lyrics present love as frustrating and painful, especially when feelings are not returned or people love someone who loves another. The speaker sounds hurt and fed up, turning personal disappointment into a blunt, repeated complaint. The mood is comic and forceful as well as bitter: the catchy refrain makes heartbreak sound like something to shout about.

“Can’t win” means that success seems impossible in this situation. The list of “blues,” “reds,” and “pinks” may play on the idea of having felt many kinds of emotion; “the blues” especially suggests sadness. Love is also described as something that finds you and makes your heart “fall,” then flies away or soars. These images make love seem powerful and unpredictable, not something the speaker can control.

The song’s claim that love “stinks” is an emphatic expression of frustration, not necessarily a careful judgment about every kind of love. The mention of “diamonds” and “minks” suggests having experienced glamorous things, yet none of them has changed the speaker’s conclusion. The repeated chorus may be sincere, exaggerated for humor, or both, so the lyrics can be heard as a playful complaint about romantic disappointment.