Love, Hate, Love

Album: Facelift (1990)
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  • I'm gonna sing you a love song

    Written for a
    Special little girl
    This song is called "Love, Hate, Love"

    Wow

    Ooh

    I tried to love you
    I thought I could
    I tried to own you
    I thought I would
    I want to peel the
    Skin from your face
    Before the real you
    Lays to waste

    You told me I'm the only one
    Sweet little angel
    You should have run
    Lying, crying, dying to leave
    Innocence
    Creates my hell

    Cheating myself
    Still, you know more
    It would be so easy
    With a whore
    Try to understand me
    Little girl
    My twisted passion to
    Be your world

    Lost inside my sick head
    I live for you but
    I'm not alive
    Take my hand before I kill
    I still love you, but
    I still burn, yeah

    Love

    Love, yeah

    Love, hate, love
    Yeah
    Love, hate, love
    Yeah
    Yeah
    Love, hate, love, yeah
    Oh, oh
    Love, hate, love

    Yeah
    Yeah
    Love, hate, love

    Thanks Writer/s: Jerry Cantrell, Layne Staley, Michael Starr, Sean Kinney
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 13

  • Jf from Atlanta, GeorgiaI agree with a lot already said here. That this is about Layne's love for Demri and his twisted passion for heroin. But I think the song is talking about their breakup as a result of both of them using. With Layne using first then Demri getting into it. Because he says he would like to peel the skin from her face before her real self lays to waste, by what he knows the heroin will eventually do to her. He tells her she should have run, rather than stay with him, an addict, and get involved herself. It would have been easier with a whore( than get involved with someone he truly loved) because of what heroin has already done to him and will do to her. He wants to be her world but his love for her is twisted, twisted passion, with his addiction. Her past innocence creates his hell, he feels the guilt of her getting into heroin. Lying, crying, dying to leave, all because of the heroin (which leads to lies and tears); him feeling he had to leave her as a result yet still loving her. He loved her but wasnt even alive anymore. The hate is for what the heroin does and feeling the need to split up because of it. I know there is controversy over who turned who onto heroin and it really doesn't matter. But I think this song describes Layne using first then seeing the love of his life getting involved in heroin, too. I recently heard an interview about Layne with AIC's producer (Toby? last name) which was an interesting perspective to hear about Layne'sp singing genius, the bands awesome talent, in general. When Toby was asked about how Layne felt about Demri, he said Layne was madly in love with her until the day he died. But yet they split in 1994 and my guess is the heroin played a big role.
  • D from PittsburghAwesome song
  • Boydie from SomersetMy god, not every song is about heroin. He wrote this about the girl he couldn't be without, Demri Parrott, he even says 'this song is about a special little girl' on the alice in chains live album, recorded at The Barrowlands in Glasgow
  • Skippy from PaOmg .... after all these years isn't it obvious that the song is about his initial love with heroin?
  • Geophysique from Nyclast sunday august 14 2022 "Alice in Chains" is to play Jones Beach Amphitheater, a great location where I caught a first ever viewing of Phish a few weeks prior, when a friend hooked me up with tickets...
    So this time, I'm thinking to go out there, as I have a car and its not far.. still, a treacherous feat if you want to 'party' at the show... well you need a good cool-down before the drive.
    So I have a young Serbian friend who is interested to see AIC, even though he knows almost none of their songs, besides maybe a hit or two, but they're famous, legendary, so he's game to go see them.
    I wanna watch a few videos of their recent shows to make sure I'm interested to see them... and when I watch these performances, I see some big rock band, with a singer who closely resembles .. say the nephew of Muamar Ghaddafi, not just in his appearance, but more in the way he performed and communicated with the audience. It was surreal, and cringe, and completely uninteresting. If I had the some notion that I would be revisiting some ghostly beautiful connection with what I felt in 1993.. that hot June afternoon in a field where they built the concert stage for Lollapalooza III, where I was blessed to be just 20 feet from Layne as he ripped through this number, me deep on the lsd had the experience of my life, revisited when watching some old footage from that year on the road.. I liked the Rio de Janeiro concert video the most. I wish I could get ahold of the Lollapalooza concert - does anyone have a link?
  • Matt D from Florida Love all the comments and absolutely love this song! There is no doubt in my opinion that Lanye’s performance of Love, Hate, Love Live at the Moore it the best Vocal performance Ever!

    Layne - Love, Hate, Love
    Trent - Hurt
    Corey - Snuff
    Kurt - Where did you sleep last night
    Eddie - Black
    Chris - Nothing Compares to You
    Aaron - Outside

    Iconic performances, filled with raw emotion and filled with pain, goes to show that some of the best music comes from the heart and life’s experiences

    Seems these all have have one thing in common the subject of the song a woman in their life or just going to throw this out there could Love, Hate, Love be about Heroin? the feeling you got from using “love”, “hate” the control it has on you and the physical effects from using, “love” the addiction always brings you back to the feeling you crave
  • Eric from San DiegoLove, Hate, Love is an expression the deepest emotions of being torn between two passions. The first "Love" for the forbidden fruit is rivaled by the second "Love", that emotinal connection to another human being. This "Love" dichotomy is creating internal conflict, a rift so deep that it becomes the primal source for his "Hate". His love for the female subject in this song is extremely intense and he feels the passion of her presense in his life. The conflict is that when he is with her, his addictions (which is represented by the other "Love" in question) tears at the very fabric of his being. "Hate" thematically gets represented by his feelings of guilt towards her innocence as she has no idea about his addiction. Unwilling to reveal this reality to his lover, he essentially resents this internal hell he has been confined to. The waves of emotion, while Layne sings, are from this tortured soul in the grips of his hidden reality.
  • E. Smith from Mason Dixon Line Ky/tmFirst thing out the gate. I believe I've read every commit. I'm glad so many others feel the same as I do about Layne.. well almost because damnit man not one evened mentioned the greatest vocal performance of layne and the chains everyone get ready to slap yourselfs lol. love hate love.You want to know how good this young man could sing simply listen to this track . I'll never get to here him live . One of biggest regrets ever. I would have traded all to he other bands I've come to see to trade it for a front row ticket to be right against his moniters.. the show that they played at the Moore jn 91 . . The. Video is on you tube. This man comes out to open the show with it.. no warm up ,not s--t. He sang incredible on all there songs.confusion is really great too. I can't remember, another haunting Staley jaw dropper. Nutshell. Just to name a little range of softness.ill be cruisified on here but I don't even like listening to rooster anymore. Haven't in years now. Now keep in in mind I've been a fan listening since 91. I skip it . There i said it. You don't want to be the one who says .hey can you play rooster? Lol bleed the freak maybe a close second to love hate love. Rip Layne. I got the balls to say it. How come only Mike star seemed to be the only one who seemed to come by and check on Layne.? They got into an argument on Mike's birthday .Mike later recanted later that he could here Layne yelling don't leave , don't leave like this .more than likely because Mike seen what suppose to be like a brother weighing 86 lbs. He wanted to save him . I know I would have. Layne knowing the end was near. The saddest of all is as I sit in my own angry chair it wrenches my heart to know how it feels to be left by friends that no one even knew he died. It took the album's company account to be the one who noticed. They hadn't been no money withdrawnn from his account in 2weeks. If it hadn't been for him .how long till a "brother " found him. It was his poor mother. Who did.. I digress.i know I'll probably be the whipping boy for all the "fans" . Keep your heaven beside you..
  • Pamedictim from DelawareThe best of Layne, hands down. He felt this, Demri is a big reason he used, thatvand his inside insecurities.
    Amazing voice and a likable guy, Goddam shame.
    #LHL
  • Craig from NjJoe in Georgia, u r right on, best Staley song ever.
  • Egeberk from Istanbul, TurkeyI think it's about a man who is so addicted to his lover that he can't leave her even he has biting memoirs which makes him hate her. Layne's vocal is so strong that one can believe that this song is about his real feelings. Showing conflicting emotions like love and hate with such a powerful vocal is the reason why layne is one of the bests.
  • Joseph from Canton, GaTo go with what I said above it's kinda like when you love someone so much but they did you wrong or hurt you so bad the only way to get over them is to hate them (or try to). To me this is vocally Laynes best song.. I mean WOW he puts some power, feeling, and emotion in this song.. This is one of my all time favorite alice songs that you will NEVER hear on the radio.. It's a damn shame to..
  • Justin from A Place, CtI think it's about a psychopath in love
see more comments

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