More Than Words

Written by Extreme lead singer Gary Cherone and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, this song is about a guy who loves a girl and knows she loves him too, but he wants her to show it by more than just saying "I love you." He's saying that if she would show him more affection and emotion she wouldn't have to say she loves him because he would already know. In a Songfacts interview with Nuno, he explained: "The word 'love' itself gets really diluted, so we just wanted to say, 'It's not really about saying it,' because everybody gets really worked up when somebody says that to each other. They say, 'I love you,' and everybody goes, 'Oh my God! It must be serious. It must be heavy.' It's like, 'Eh... it's easy to say that.' It's really about showing it constantly and continuously in a relationship. We knew that was the message."

"More Than Words" did have a real-life inspiration. "It has some biographical history to it with a certain person, so when I hear it, it reminds me of that time," Gary Cherone said in a Songfacts interview.

An acoustic love ballad, this was a showcase for the sensitive side of the band, but it didn't represent their body of work. The group's self-titled debut was released in 1989 and was mostly comprised of rockers like "Play With Me." Their next album was Pornograffitti, which contained this song and also another acoustic number, "Hole Hearted," which also became a huge hit. The group recorded songs in a variety of styles, but rock was their mainstay. Since "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted" were so successful, many listeners assumed they were indicative of Extreme's sound, and got a shock when they bought the album or went to a show.