Where is the Love?

Gotta keep my faith alive 'til love is found

Oct 12, 2024

Hi all,

Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Where is the Love?”, by the American hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.

Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics (written in italics). Comments and questions are welcome. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEIC (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

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The song Where is the Love was released in May of 2003. What was happening in the world at that time?

On March 19, 2003, the U.S. and its allies began its invasion of Iraq. The U.S. government said that Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, had weapons of mass destruction (nuclear or chemical weapons that could kill many, many people) and that he was a danger to the countries around him.

This song is asking questions about the purpose of the war, and about an alternative to war - love.

You’ll find many words written with an apostrophe (‘) at the end, such as livin’ for the word living. This shows how the word is pronounced, although it usually isn’t written that way.

What's wrong with the world, Mama?

People livin' like they ain't got no mamas (in other words, people are behaving without respect for other people)

I think the whole world's addicted to the drama (people enjoy watching the horrors of conflict in the media)

Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma (the images are exciting but can be dangerous for your mental health)

The government was trying to (pronounced tryna) stop terrorism, but the actions of the government organizations like the CIA were also like those of terrorists. The Bloods and the Crips are names of gangs in the U.S. The KKK is a white supremacist organization.

Overseas, yeah, we tryna stop terrorism

But we still got terrorists here livin'

In the USA, the big CIA

The Bloods and the Crips and the KKK

But if you only have love for your own race

Then you only leave space to discriminate

And to discriminate only generates hate

And when you hate, then you're bound to get irate (very angry)

Madness is what you demonstrate

And that's exactly how anger works and operates

Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight (make changes for the better)

Take control of your mind and meditate

Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all (be pulled toward love, not hate)

LOVE HATE sculpture in Munich. Photo by Laurwil (Wikimedia Commons)

People killin', people dyin'

Children hurtin', hear them cryin'

The next line is Can you practice what you preach? This is asking people to act in a way that agrees with their beliefs. If they believe that they should love their neighbor, then they should try to get along with them.

There is also a phrase from the Bible, And would you turn the other cheek? that means if someone hits you, you should turn the other cheek. In other words, don’t hit them back because that only makes things worse.