I've always heard "had" too but "past" makes more sense.

Had makes more sense to me. But the hardness of the P in Past is more aurally obvious.

Or could it be 'passed'?

yes, and he also obviously says "august" and not "april" if you listen well enough.

It's "had." Watch the acoustic performance of it at Webster Hall.

Grammatically "had" also makes sense -- you have love for someone, you had love for someone. You don't pass love - which would be the present tense if he sang "past." You could have a past love -- if love is a person, but the way the sentence is structured he's not talking about love as a person.

lurker316 said:

I believe he’s singing “past”. Yes, he swallows the last “t”, so it sounds like he’s saying “pass”. But “past” makes the most sense because it rhymes with the final word from the previous line, “last”, and because it makes sense in the context of the sentence. He saying you don’t realize how much you love someone until you no longer have them. [Edited 7/4/24 18:05pm]

Right, and the past tense of have is had, not past/passed.

It sure sounds to me like the first letter of the word he sings is a "p". At the same time, I don't hear a "t" on the end of the word. So it sounds like he's singing "pass".

Which is "pass" closer to: "past" or "had"? "Past" obviously. That's why I'm going with "past". It's the closest to what I hear. I just assume he swallowed the "t".

you don't realise what you have/had, what it is/was until it's gone - over - finished - past.

leecaldon said:

Or could it be 'passed'?

Well, for years when it first came out, I was singing "passed."

TrivialPursuit said:

leecaldon said:

Or could it be 'passed'?

Well, for years when it first came out, I was singing "passed."

same here

LILpoundCAKE said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Well, for years when it first came out, I was singing "passed."

same here

Me three.

FWIW, it's documented as 'past' in the Parade song book issued by Warners.

langebleu said:

FWIW, it's documented as 'past' in the Parade song book issued by Warners.

I thought about that, too. Wasn't sure who had one.

ItsOnlyMountains said:

It's "had." Watch the acoustic performance of it at Webster Hall.

Grammatically "had" also makes sense -- you have love for someone, you had love for someone. You don't pass love - which would be the present tense if he sang "past." You could have a past love -- if love is a person, but the way the sentence is structured he's not talking about love as a person.

I always thought that was a changed lyric for the performance.

I hear "past", which also rhymes with "all good things they say never last".

Now, whether it's passed or past, doesn't matter to me. But I know it's not "Had".

It's past or passed. Past or passed makes a ton more sense within the context of the song. It isn't love until it's gone (past or passed). Inferring that you don't really know it's love until it's gone. I've always gone with passed, myself!

Se7en said:

Been considering this. "Passed" makes sense in that he does say "those kinds of cars don't pass you every day...."

Not that he's conjugating a verb to death. But he's also being poetic in that love isn't just out there, it's a thing to be experiences. We don't know the depth of love until we're in a place where suddenly we're not getting it back anymore. That special "car" you were once with is no more with you, so now you realize what the "it" was all along - love.

Maybe he's saying we don't really recognize love in its completeness until passed us completely. And we're like "Whoa, what was that?!?!"