George Michael - You Have Been Loved - Royal Opera House - Symphonica - 6.11.2011

George Michael performing "You Have Been Loved" in Royal Opera House - London - Symphonica Tour - 6.11.2011 (Album: Older, Released: 1996)
George dedicated this song to Elizabeth Taylor

George Michael wrote this song about his lover, Anselmo Feleppa, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1993. The beginning of the song describes Anselmo's mother, who visits his grave, while passing by the school he attended. The first chorus has Anselmo's mother saying goodbye, telling him "You have been loved." The ending chorus has Anselmo dying, telling George, "You have been loved." The line, "If I was weak, forgive me; but I was terrified," refers to the trauma George felt during Anselmo's decline in health.

While an intense song about grief and death, it also involves a spiritual struggle - while Anselmo and his mother both say that God is not dead, George counters their comments, challenging God, "What's the use in pressing palms, if you [God] won't keep such love from harm? It's a cruel world. You've so much to prove."

You Have Been Loved
(George Michael And David Austin)

She takes the back road and the lane
Past the school that has not changed
In all this time
She thinks of when the boy was young
All the battles she had won
Just to give him life

That man
She loved that man
For all his life
But now we meet to take him flowers
And only god knows why

For what's the use in pressing palms
When children fade in mother's arms
It's a cruel world
We've so much to lose
And what we have to learn, we rarely choose

So if it's god who took her son
He cannot be the one living in her mind

Take care my love, she said
Don't think that god is dead
Take care my love, she said

You have been loved

If i was weak, forgive me
But i was terrified
You brushed my eyes with angels wings, full of love
The kind that makes devils cry

So these days
My life has changed
And i'll be fine
But she just sits and counts the hours
Searching for her crime

So what's the use of pressing palms
If you won't keep such love from harm
It's a cruel world
You've so much to prove

And heaven help the ones who wait for you

Well i've no daughters, i've no sons
Guess i'm the only one
Living in my life

Take care my love, he said
Don't think that god is dead
Take care my love, he said

You have been loved
(George Michael And David Austin)