What It Takes

"What It Takes" is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith. It was written by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Desmond Child. It was released in 1990 as the third single from Aerosmith's critically and commercially successful 1989 album Pump. In the video The Making of Pump, A&R man John Kalodner described the song as "a fuckin' masterpiece". The album version of the song is followed by an untitled hidden track. The single reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song contained numerous references to other Aerosmith songs in its lyrics. Tyler spells "F.I.N.E." after the first verse. He mentions that his "heart's been doing time" (Hearts Done Time). The song contains other, smaller references. It is not uncommon for Aerosmith to reference their own songs within their songs (for example, "Eat The Rich" and "Just Push Play" both contain references to "Walk This Way").

[Intro] Ooooh, yeah [Verse 1] There goes my old girlfriend There's another diamond ring And all those late night promises? I guess they don't mean a thing So, baby, what's the story? Did you find another man? Is it easy to sleep in the bed that we made? When you don't look back I guess the feelings start to fade away I used to feel your fire But now it's cold inside And you're back on the street Like you didn't miss a beat, yeah [Chorus] Tell me what it takes to let you go Tell me how the pain's supposed to go Tell me how it is that you can sleep in the night Without thinking you lost everything that was Good in your life to the toss of the dice Tell me what it takes to let you go [Verse 2] Yeah Girl, before I met you I was F.I.N.E, fine But your love made me a prisoner Yeah, my heart's been doing time You spent me up like money Then you hung me out to dry It was easy to keep all your lies in disguise 'Cause you had me in deep with the devil in your eyes [Chorus] Tell me what it takes to let you go Tell me how the pain's supposed to go Tell me how it is that you can sleep in the night Without thinking you lost everything that was Good in your life to the toss of the dice Tell me what it takes to let you go Aw, guitar! [Guitar solo] [Bridge] Tell me that you're happy that you're on your own, yeah, yeah, yeah Tell me that it's better when you're all alone Tell me that your body doesn't miss my touch Tell me that my loving didn't mean that much Tell me you aren't dying when you're crying for me [Chorus] Tell me what it takes to let you go (Ooh) Tell me how the pain's supposed to go (Oh yeah) Tell me how it is that you can sleep in the night Without thinking you lost everything that was Good in your life to the toss of the dice [Outro] Tell me who's to blame for thinking twice No, no, no, no, 'cause I don't want to burn in paradise Ooo Let go, let go, let go Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go Let it go, let it go, let it go Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go I don't want to burn, I don't want to burn Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go[repeat] Yeah