Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2012
- Genre: show-tunes
Song Meaning of “What You Want With Bess?” by Audra McDonald
“What You Want With Bess?” is a song about young love, and its complicated emotions. It speaks to the feelings of longing and confusion that come when we don’t know how our feelings are reciprocated. It captures the heartache of being unsure and the possibilities of what could be, if things were different. The narrator is trying to decipher what it is that person they have feelings for wants or needs from them. If they’re asking for understanding or wanting more? The speaker is hoping for a sign, even though they don’t truly know what it is they should do. There’s a hope for something more, but whether it will ever come to be remains up in the air. The song speaks to the universal truth of wanting to be understood and accepted, but never truly knowing if what we feel is returned.