"Makes Me Wonder" is the first single released from Maroon 5's second album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long (2007). It premiered on the Las Vegas radio station Mix 94.1, and became an instant hit worldwide. Upon release, the song set a record for the biggest jump to number-one in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, rising from number 64 to number-one. However, the record was later broken by Kelly Clarkson's 2009 single, "My Life Would Suck Without You".
"Makes Me Wonder" began as a love song which Levine wrote about a "failed relationships", which he said went horribly wrong. However, when he revisited the song for Won't Be Soon Before Long a few years later, Levine "recognized a whole new dimension" to it which resulted to his adding political insights on the lyrics.
The lyrics of "Makes Me Wonder" have two different meanings. It contains political insinuations disguised as a love song because of Levine's not wanting to be preachy. It combines lyrics about his being in a state of a failed relationship and his "failure to understand or trust" the leadership of his country.
One meaning is about Levine's frustration at the state of politics and the United States' role in the war in Iraq. From the original lyrics, they incorporated the line "Give me something to believe in/Because I don't believe in you anymore" which became the refrain to the chorus. Levine revealed that the lyrics "maybe not targeted at the Bush administration, but maybe dancing around that territory a little bit". "Makes Me Wonder" shows the band's confusion about the politics in the country. Levine explains:
I really wanted to write a political song, a song that reflected the way I felt about everything. It's one of the most difficult things in the world to do without coming off as a total arse and preachy - all the things that I hate about a lot of songwriting. So I didn't want to overtly say it. I just wanted to allude to it.
I wake up with blood-shot eyes
(Crying about a lost love?)
Struggled to memorize
The way it felt between your thighs
(Forgot what it was like to make love to her)
Pleasure that made you cry
Feels so good to be bad
(Maybe an affair)
Not worth the aftermath, after that
After that
Try to get you back
(Trying to get his relationship back with his girlfriend)
I still don't have the reason
(Answer to why he had an affair)
And you don't have the time
(She doesn't want him to waste her time)
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
(It wasn't a good relationship, nor did it have a good outcome)
Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore
(Aimed at the politics side of the song as explained in the analysis above)
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to try
(Yeah)(Make an attempt to sort the situation out)
So this is goodbye
Got them resting in my head
Decisions that made my bed
(Taken from the saying, ''you've made your bed now sleep in it'')
Now I must lay in it
And deal with things I left unsaid
(Regrets not saying certain things through out the relationship)
I want to dive into you
Forget what you're going through
I get behind, make your move
(It's your turn to make the decision)
Forget about the truth
I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference,
It even makes a difference to try
And it's over, hurt the feeling
But I don't believe it's true anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
(Oh no)
So this is goodbye
I've been here before
One day a week
And it won't hurt anymore
You caught me in a lie
I have no alibi
The word is set on how to mean me
Cause
I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
And I...and so this is goodbye
Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference,
It even makes a difference to try
And it's over, hurt the feeling
But I don't believe it's true anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
(Oh no)
So this is goodbye
So this is goodbye, yeah [x3]
(Oh no)
(Crying about a lost love?)
Struggled to memorize
The way it felt between your thighs
(Forgot what it was like to make love to her)
Pleasure that made you cry
Feels so good to be bad
(Maybe an affair)
Not worth the aftermath, after that
After that
Try to get you back
(Trying to get his relationship back with his girlfriend)
I still don't have the reason
(Answer to why he had an affair)
And you don't have the time
(She doesn't want him to waste her time)
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
(It wasn't a good relationship, nor did it have a good outcome)
Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore
(Aimed at the politics side of the song as explained in the analysis above)
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to try
(Yeah)(Make an attempt to sort the situation out)
So this is goodbye
Got them resting in my head
Decisions that made my bed
(Taken from the saying, ''you've made your bed now sleep in it'')
Now I must lay in it
And deal with things I left unsaid
(Regrets not saying certain things through out the relationship)
I want to dive into you
Forget what you're going through
I get behind, make your move
(It's your turn to make the decision)
Forget about the truth
I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference,
It even makes a difference to try
And it's over, hurt the feeling
But I don't believe it's true anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
(Oh no)
So this is goodbye
I've been here before
One day a week
And it won't hurt anymore
You caught me in a lie
I have no alibi
The word is set on how to mean me
Cause
I still don't have the reason
And you don't have the time
And it really makes me wonder
If I ever gave a fuck about you
And I...and so this is goodbye
Give me something to believe in
Cause I don't believe in you anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference,
It even makes a difference to try
And it's over, hurt the feeling
But I don't believe it's true anymore
Anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to cry
(Oh no)
So this is goodbye
So this is goodbye, yeah [x3]
(Oh no)
