(Great temptation...)

Ooh, and on you run...
You search for love...and you hate searching
You wait for love...and you hate waiting
You say, "I hate this!"
Well, it's just another test
'Cause there are two kinds of love
To do the thing that we do the best
My masterpiece...

Who in the world do you think that you are fooling?
Well, I've already done everything that you are doing
Well, the two of us, well, we must be
A great temptation to have even started
Well, don't you know, as you walk on by
That great temptations never really die

Well, I talked to my famous friend last night
My third day up...well, his second nighter
He says, "I don't know how you do what you do
How do you let the world in?"
Well, I say, "Well, there's no way out"
Then I just play out the game
Well, the two of us...Widow and a Dove

Who in the world do you think that you are fooling?
Well, I've already done everything that you are doing
Well, the two of us, well, we must be
A great temptation to have even started
Well, don't you know, as you walk on by
That great temptations never really die

Ooh, the two of us
Estranged sometimes for their very survival
Outraged at each other
Engaged to each other in their hearts
But they live apart

Two kinds of love
One for the way you walk
One for the way you love me
(You're a great temptation)

Two kinds of love
One for the way you walk
One for the way you love me
(Two kinds of love...great temptation)

Two kinds of love
One for the way you walk
One for the way you love me
(Two kinds of love...great temptation)
(Two kinds of love...great temptation)

---

WEBMISTRESS speculates:

There are parts of this song I like, but it's very uneven. It's another song about the toll of fame, especially as it regards one's love life - in Stevie's case, the most obvious instance would be with Lindsey. I think that the two kinds of love are the love of the path they have chosen, music ("the way you walk") and true love ("the way you love me"). Both are needed "to do the things that we do best" (making music and making love! Another thing which could apply specifically to Lindsey.) While love never seems to work out, it can't be ignored, because the passion involved is a "great temptation" - a passion that is just as strong as the passion for music.

The "famous friends" commiserate about having to stay up all the time and having to "let the world in." Considering how much of her own experience Stevie pours into her songs, it's a good point. She answers that "there's no way out" - that's the only way she knows how to write. It wreaks havoc on the love life, though!

She switches to talking directly about Lindsey here: describing their love/hate relationship where they're "estranged...for their very survival, outraged at each other" but still "engaged to each other in their hearts." (I love that line!) Still, "they live apart." The two kinds of love are at cross purposes sometimes.

 

KELLY speculates:

Well, about all of them (could be). Really seein' Don Henley here, again - she just wants to let him know. Could be about all of 'em Lindsey (do see a lot of him here), Don, and Mick, even Jimmy.

 

MIKE speculates:

Stevie said in several interviews, radio, print & phone, that this song is about Tom Petty. They are the Widow and the Dove. It was written in February 1986 after the Australian tour Stevie did with Tom and Bob Dylan. She's gone on record with this one.

The two different kinds of love, Stevie says in her interviews, are literally the lines. "One for the way you walk" is that kinda sexy feeling she gets watching a certain man walk that gets her heart racing. The other kind is the gentle way he loves her and takes care of her. And, since Stevie herself has said it's about Tom, not much else to speculate on.