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
4 comments:
You're right. Nobody. But perhaps it was unfair to place on that girl the burden of a choice you should have made yourself before initiating that last meeting. Saying yes would not just have initiated something which was obviously the right answer, it would also have ended something she had no right to end.
After everything you'd been through together, she deserved nothing less than you coming to her from a place of freedom, unentangled frome someone else and wholely available. Bonus points if you had done it while she was also available, which she would have been come summer.
Here you go. I hope you don't mind; it just sort of came out. I tried to keep the rhyme, metre, and sentence structures the same, and every kept or changed word is considered and intentional. Two versions of the same song, a tragic call and response. Like you say, you love a good tragic love song.
Like I Do (her version)
Nobody loves you
Nobody cares
Nobody sees you
Like I do
In the pale moon's light
When you're alone with with your thoughts
Do you still see me?
Or do you still hide from the cold?
I know it's been a few years
since the last time I heard your voice
but someone made me speak your name
and brought up all of the pain
The memory of your touch
still ripples across my skin
The heat of your eyes struck me dumb
Love, your smile was like the sun
Nobody feels you
Nobody cares
Nobody trusts you
Like I do
On the long ride home
the last time we ever spoke
I swore you would fade with time
like a promise on the wind
Truth is, I couldn't forget you
So instead I swallowed my pain
and just kept on pretending
That I'd ever be okay
I knew I was looking
for something you didn't see
You kept her there to catch you
When you finally admitted it was me
And you reached the same old conclusion
I wound up cold and alone
Now do you feel me when you lie next to her
when the nights grow longer and cold?
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