Video hit Aerosmith

Aerosmith - What Could Have Been Love

If you want more guitars, more ‘Legendary Child,’ more of the much-hyped Jack Douglas sound of Aerosmith‘s rockin’ ’70s, then their new single is not going to satisfy.

‘What Could Have Been Love’ is the AC radio hit the group needs to reach a wide audience and sell a ton of copies of ‘Music From Another Dimension‘ on Nov. 6.

Not surprisingly, Douglas didn’t produce this power-ballad. The honor goes to longtime friend and collaborator Marti Frederiksen, who also co-wrote the song along with Steven Tyler and keyboardist Russ Irwin (Frederiksen also helped write ‘Jaded’ from the ‘Just Push Play’ album).

Much like ‘Jaded,’ ‘Cryin’ and ‘Crazy,’ ‘What Could Have Been Love’ is a tight lyric wrapped in bright production that highlights Tyler’s voice.

“I wake up and wonder how everything went wrong / Am I the one to blame / I gave up and left you for a nowhere bound train,” he sings to open the song. (Can we please stop using trains as the ultimate rock metaphor?)

“Now that train (sigh) has come and gone / I close my eyes and see you lying in my bed / And I still dream of that day,” Tyler adds to finish the first verse. The backing vocalists take to repeating his lyrics late in the song, adding the only over-the-top moment of pop sensibility.

The stock chorus lacks imagination or real detail, but Tyler pulls it up with a passion one wouldn’t expect from a man who once broke hearts like Joey Kramer breaks drum sticks.

“What could have been love / Should have been the only thing that was ever meant to be / Didn’t know, couldn’t see what was right in front of me / And now that I’m alone all I have is emptiness that comes from being free / What could have been love will never be,” he sings.

The bottom line is that if this site was called Ultimate Classic Power Ballad, ‘What Could Have Been Love’ would be a staff favorite. Rock fans can appreciate the necessity of this style, but few will embrace it like a song that finds Joe Perry shredding on guitar, or Tyler doing his trademark vocal calisthenics between harmonica solos.

The lyrics:

I wake up and wonder

how everything went wrong

Am I the one to blame

I gave up and left you

For a nowhere bound train

Now that train has come and gone

I closed my eyes and see you

Lying in my bed

and i still dreamed of that day

What could have been love

Should have been the only thing

that was ever meant to be

Didnt know couldnt see

what was right in front of me

And now that Im alone

All I have is emptiness that comes from being free

What could have been love will never be

yeahhh

An old friend who told me that you found somebody new

ohhhhh, youre finally moving on

You think that Id be over you

after all these years

Yeahhh but time is proving wrong

Cause im still holding on

Yea yea Yea

What could have been love

Should have been the only thing

that was ever meant to be

Didnt know couldnt see

what was right in front of me

(What could have been love)

And now that Im alone

All I have is emptiness that comes from being free

What could have been love will never be

yeah

We've gone our separate ways

Say goodbye to another way

Still wonder where you are

Or are you too far from talking back

You were slipping through my hands and I didnt understand

What could have been love

Should have been the only thing

that was ever meant to be

Didnt know couldnt see

what was right in front of me

(What could have been love)

And now that Im alone

All I have is emptiness that comes from being free

What could have been love will never be

What could have been love will never be

What could have been love

What could have been love

What could have been love

(What could have been What could have been)

(Love)