I Hate Myself For Loving You – English Lyrics

• By: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the raw emotion and rebellious spirit of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' iconic track, "I Hate Myself for Loving You." This song is a fantastic way to learn English because its straightforward lyrics powerfully convey relatable feelings of love, anger, and inner struggle. Joan Jett's clear, passionate vocals and the song's driving rock rhythm make the words easy to follow, allowing you to grasp idiomatic expressions and emotional vocabulary within a dynamic musical context. Its universal theme of contradictory emotions in relationships makes it special and highly resonant for learners.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
hate /heɪt/ A2	verb - to dislike intensely noun - intense dislike or hatred
love /lʌv/ A1	verb - to have a strong feeling of affection for someone noun - a strong feeling of affection
midnight /ˈmɪdnaɪt/ A2	noun - twelve o'clock at night
town /taʊn/ A1	noun - an urban area that has a name, defined boundaries, and local government, and that is generally larger than a village and smaller than a city.
back /bæk/ A1	noun - the rear surface of a body adverb - towards the rear
heart /hɑːrt/ A1	noun - a hollow muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation.
pride /praɪd/ B1	noun - a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
free /friː/ A1	adjective - not under the control or power of someone else; able to act or be done as one wishes. verb - release (someone or something) from confinement or servitude.
walk /wɔːk/ A1	verb - move at a regular pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn.
run /rʌn/ A1	verb - to move at a speed faster than a walk; never having both or all the feet on the ground at the same time.
daylight /ˈdeɪlaɪt/ A2	noun - the light from the sun during the day.
night /naɪt/ A1	noun - the period from sunset to sunrise in each twenty-four hours
dream /driːm/ A2	verb - to experience a series of thoughts, images, or sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep noun - a series of thoughts, images, or sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep
hell /hel/ B1	noun - a place of torment or misery.
angry /ˈæŋɡri/ A2	adjective - having a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.

Key Grammar Structures

• Midnight, gettin' uptight, where are you

  ➔ Present Continuous Tense (Gettin')

  ➔ The shortened form "gettin'" represents "getting", indicating an action in progress. This showcases an informal use of the present continuous, highlighting the speaker's current state of feeling "uptight".

• You said you'd meet me, now it's quarter to two

  ➔ Conditional Mood (you'd meet) - Contraction of 'you would'

  ➔ "You'd" is a contraction of "you would", indicating a past intention or a statement of what was agreed upon. This shows a broken promise or expectation.

• I'm not getting jealous, don't like lookin' like a clown

  ➔ Negative Present Continuous (I'm not getting), Gerund after 'like' (lookin')

  ➔ The present continuous in the negative shows a current state that is not happening. "Lookin'" is a colloquial shortened form of "looking", used as a gerund (noun form of a verb) after 'like'.

• I think of you every night and day

  ➔ Simple Present Tense

  ➔ The simple present tense expresses a habitual action or a general truth. Here, it indicates a recurring thought or feeling.

• You took my heart and you took my pride away

  ➔ Simple Past Tense

  ➔ The simple past tense indicates completed actions in the past. The actions of "taking" the heart and pride are finished and happened at a specific point in the past.

• I hate myself for loving you

  ➔ Gerund as Object of Preposition (for loving)

  ➔ "Loving" is a gerund (verb acting as a noun) and it functions as the object of the preposition "for". It explains the reason for the self-hatred.

• I wanna walk but I run back to you

  ➔ Informal Contraction ("wanna") and Contrastive Conjunction ("but")

  ➔ "Wanna" is a colloquial contraction of "want to". "But" shows a contrast between what the speaker desires (to walk away) and what they actually do (run back).

• You just don't know what you was missin' last night

  ➔ Non-standard Past Tense Agreement (You was), Indirect Question (what you was missin')

  ➔ "You was" is grammatically incorrect; it should be "you were". However, this is a common non-standard usage in certain dialects or informal speech. The phrase "what you was missin'" acts as a noun clause, functioning as the object of the verb "know".