What Do You Want From Life [Tommy Shaw]

What Do You Want From Life
Written by Tommy Shaw
Lead Vocals by Tommy Shaw

You can't eat
And you can't sleep
You fell in love
And you feel too deep
But it wasn't returned
And now you been burned
Oh yeah

You can't go out
You're in such a slump
You need to shout
But you're down in the dumps
It won't do any good
Til you find your way out of the woods

All she did for you
Was let you be an idiot
What else could she do
Everyone knew but you weren't ready yet

Hey now
What do you want from life
What do you want from love
What do you want from me

Hey now
What do you want from life
What do you want from love
What do you want from me, me, me

I feel your pain
I've been there before
Standing in the rain
In the dark outside her door
Feeling like the fool that you are

All she did for you
Was make you feel
Like a millionaire
What else could you do
If you had it for real
You'd give it all away to her

Hey now
What do you want from life
What do you want from love
What do you want from me

Hey now
What do you want from life
What do you want from love
What do you want from me, me, me

Interpretation

Here it is, in Tommy's own words (from a 1998 interview with Midwestern Skies):

"What Do You Want From Life" is from someone I know in my neighborhood.

You're in love but it didn't work out, and you were hurt so bad that you can't get going again. You're going to have to work this out. You may feel like a fool right now (I've been there, too). You would have given her everything if you had more. Now you just need to figure out what you want from life.  Let me know how I can help.