About The Song
“Why Can’t This Be Love” is a song by the American rock band Van Halen for their seventh studio album, 5150 (1986). The song was the group’s first single with Sammy Hagar, replacing founding member David Lee Roth. It was released on both 7″ and 12″ formats with the latter having an extended version featuring extra lyrics.
In the US, it went to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one on the Cashbox Top 100, the week of May 16. It was a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany and a top 20 single in Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden
5150 was a detour from the band, and the direction they would follow centered on a more keyboard-driven sound.
“The old people that were in doubt, they heard (imitates keyboard riff notes) ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ and they just went, ‘Whoa, this is a new sound for Van Halen,’” said Hagar in 2023. “You know that keyboard riff sounded like a guitar riff. [Whereas] previous stuff like ‘Jump’ sounded like a synthesizer. So some of the hardcore guitar people rebelled a little bit, but they got a whole new audience with that. And we just satisfied them, and they stayed. And we just went out, and every show sold out in minutes, and we went out and just killed it.
Cash Box called it “a powerful pop/rock kicker.” Billboard said “hard-rocking hooks alternate with trademark guitar workouts.”
Chuck Klosterman of Vulture.com ranked it the worst Van Halen song, saying that the band’s decision to release the song as the first single of the Sammy Hagar era was “the worst decision the band ever made,” but said it was not his least favorite Van Halen song to listen to.
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Lyrics
Whoa, here it comes
That funny feeling again
Winding me up inside
Every time we touch
Hey, I don’t know
Oh, tell me where to begin
‘Cause I never, ever, felt so much
Hey!
And I can’t recall
Any love at all
Oh, baby, this blows ’em all away
It’s got what it takes
So, tell me why can’t this be love?
Straight from my heart
Oh, tell me why can’t this be love?
I tell myself
Hey, only fools rush in
Only time will tell if we stand the test of time
All I know
You’ve got to run to win
And I’ll be damned if I’ll get
Hung up on the line, hey
No, I can’t recall
Anything at all
Ah, baby, this blows ’em all away
Woo!
It’s got what it takes
So, tell me why can’t this be love?
You want it straight from the heart, hey
Tell me why can’t this be love?
Woo! It’s got what it takes
So, tell me why can’t this be love?
Straight from the heart, oh
Tell me why can’t this be love?
Baby, why can’t this be love?
Got to know why can’t this be love?
I wanna know why can’t this be love?