Like I Do

I've spent a lot of my life people watching. Not creepy stalker watching. It's more of a fascination with the hilarious, cruel, illogical things we do. I can't stop. It must be some kind of sick voyeurism.

One common thread is that people in relationships do things that are absolutely, positively, unabashedly ridiculous. My favorite thing in this category is this: people that choose to end a relationship with someone that they know will always be there only to turn around and start a relationship (or a string of relationships) with a bunch of people that won't be there. I still don't understand and I don't think I ever will.

I know there are difficulties in any relationship, but finding someone that does, in fact, care for you unconditionally is such a rare thing. Why would you throw that away, only to turn around and give yourself to someone that doesn't care about you with any depth? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but people do it every day. I don't know...is it the greener grass syndrome, the fact that we're biologically predicated toward change, or some other factor that causes us to throw away people that are willing to take the time to know us and care about us for people that only appear to care? Whatever it is, we've all been there. That's the idea behind this song.

Musically, this is a little different. I don't typically compose riffs but this song is built around 3 little guitar riffs. Two of the riffs are played over the short choruses. The third is played over the final line of each verse. The first three lines of each verse are a simple D5/C5/A5 progression.


Like I Do

Nobody knows you
Nobody cares
Nobody sees you
Like I do

In the pale glass dawn
When you wake up all alone
Do you think of me?
Or do you just shrug off the cold?

I know it's been a few years
since the last time I heard your voice
but somebody mentioned your name
and it brought up all of the pain

The memory of your touch
still ripples across my skin
The heat of your eyes struck me numb
and your smile would still my tongue

Nobody feels you
Nobody cares
Nobody hurts you
Like I do

[Instrumental]

Nobody holds you
Nobody cares
Nobody trusts you
Like I do

On the long ride home,
the last time that we ever spoke
I swore you would fade with time
like a ghost into the fog

Truth is I couldn't forget you
so instead I swallowed the shame
And just kept on pretending
That everything was ok

I knew you were searching
for something that you didn't see
I would be there to catch you
When you finally found it was me

But you reached a different conclusion
and wound up being alone
Now do you see me as you turn out the lights
and the nights get longer and cold?

Nobody knows you
Nobody cares
Nobody loves you
Like I do