As Close As You Can Be Without Touching Lyrics
As Close As You Can Be Without Touching
Please can you be close as you can be without touching
Because I wanna try to touch as little as goes by before I’m nothing
I swing north and back, your name I must untack from on my ceiling
So love me a bit but not enough to make me start feeling
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
And please can I scream loud as I can scream without speaking
Frozen lips, they feel like sinking ships once they start leaking
I try to be fine but water left on high will boil over
So let me set until my heart is tangled with the clover
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Myself
I saved up all the letters never written
Soaked empty pages til the ink ran dry
Soon solitude was sweet as being forgiven
It’s better to say nothing than to lie
It’s better to say nothing
So please can you be close as you can be without my knowing
Knowing takes so long and when I know I will be gone without going
It’s better to break a heart that’s bound to ache and once it’s broken
I’ll cast it to sea, existing partially, forever floating
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Because I wanna try to touch as little as goes by before I’m nothing
I swing north and back, your name I must untack from on my ceiling
So love me a bit but not enough to make me start feeling
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
And please can I scream loud as I can scream without speaking
Frozen lips, they feel like sinking ships once they start leaking
I try to be fine but water left on high will boil over
So let me set until my heart is tangled with the clover
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Myself
I saved up all the letters never written
Soaked empty pages til the ink ran dry
Soon solitude was sweet as being forgiven
It’s better to say nothing than to lie
It’s better to say nothing
So please can you be close as you can be without my knowing
Knowing takes so long and when I know I will be gone without going
It’s better to break a heart that’s bound to ache and once it’s broken
I’ll cast it to sea, existing partially, forever floating
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Only when I’m with somebody else do I feel all by myself
Good At Goodbye
So good at goodbye
It’s always simple in the movies
They start out smiling by the end they’ll cry
Life is simple til it happens to me
So good at hello
Though toward the end the plot it tends to slow
I’m so good at goodbye
Until you have to go
Something else that the phone won’t let me hear
Is lost inside the crumpled letters
There’s precision with which only words can steer
But accurate is not the same as better
Stars entwine as we bridge the dots
The sweetness of laughter is lost in thought
I’m so good at goodbye
When it isn’t you I want
And no, who told you to go so far away
But worse it comes to worst
Could you say it first, it first
Worse it comes to worst
Could you say it first
What’s it in a word I can’t take?
Partings without sugar soaked by sorrow
And I’d rather suffer distance and it’s ache
Than admit that we have run through our tomorrows
Never wrote a word in the script
The ones fresh on my tongue tend to slip
I’d be good at goodbye
If I wasn’t saying it
Wait I say things could stay the same for us
But worse it comes to worst
Could you say it first
Worse it comes to worst could you say it first
It’s always simple in the movies
They start out smiling by the end they’ll cry
Life is simple til it happens to me
So good at hello
Though toward the end the plot it tends to slow
I’m so good at goodbye
Until you have to go
Something else that the phone won’t let me hear
Is lost inside the crumpled letters
There’s precision with which only words can steer
But accurate is not the same as better
Stars entwine as we bridge the dots
The sweetness of laughter is lost in thought
I’m so good at goodbye
When it isn’t you I want
And no, who told you to go so far away
But worse it comes to worst
Could you say it first, it first
Worse it comes to worst
Could you say it first
What’s it in a word I can’t take?
Partings without sugar soaked by sorrow
And I’d rather suffer distance and it’s ache
Than admit that we have run through our tomorrows
Never wrote a word in the script
The ones fresh on my tongue tend to slip
I’d be good at goodbye
If I wasn’t saying it
Wait I say things could stay the same for us
But worse it comes to worst
Could you say it first
Worse it comes to worst could you say it first
Losing Las Vegas
Sit alone at the counter
Silent phone hour after hour
Drunk by this city’s bitter wine
Last sip at the end of the communion line
But I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m already gone
Solaced by those passing car lights
The flickers on your ceiling match the whites of your lies
Put out like your unlit cigarette
An empty ashtray and penniless debt
But I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m already gone
Who flips back an hour glass?
What’s gone is gone what’s passed is past
Who flips back an hour glass?
What’s gone is gone what’s passed is past
Silent phone hour after hour
Drunk by this city’s bitter wine
Last sip at the end of the communion line
But I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m already gone
Solaced by those passing car lights
The flickers on your ceiling match the whites of your lies
Put out like your unlit cigarette
An empty ashtray and penniless debt
But I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m not losing Las Vegas
I’m already gone
Who flips back an hour glass?
What’s gone is gone what’s passed is past
Who flips back an hour glass?
What’s gone is gone what’s passed is past
The Lucky One
I am the lucky one
I am the only one
Must be the happy one
I’m such a lonely one
God you should see me
Wouldn’t will you to be me
I’m a lucky one
I am the fabled queen
It’s not regal where I’ve been
Singe easy as velveteen
Better still, forget what you’ve seen
Someone, melt my crown
Somebody, put me down
No I’m too lucky for that
I live without a beat
Fueled only by defeat
But sorrow steps so discreet
She guides me through the street
Don’t trick me with fairy tales
The sun makes the stars feel pale
I’m a lucky, I’m a lucky, I’m a lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky girl
I am the only one
Must be the happy one
I’m such a lonely one
God you should see me
Wouldn’t will you to be me
I’m a lucky one
I am the fabled queen
It’s not regal where I’ve been
Singe easy as velveteen
Better still, forget what you’ve seen
Someone, melt my crown
Somebody, put me down
No I’m too lucky for that
I live without a beat
Fueled only by defeat
But sorrow steps so discreet
She guides me through the street
Don’t trick me with fairy tales
The sun makes the stars feel pale
I’m a lucky, I’m a lucky, I’m a lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky girl
Young and Haunted
Maybe I’m too sick from all this weather
Maybe I’m too sick to leave my bed
Too sick to fathom now and then or never
Too sick to fathom thoughts I’ve never said
Maybe I’m just sick of those I run to
Running through the slopes inside my mind
Maybe it’s from what I didn’t tell you
Honey, I’m just not the telling kind
But I am laying in the park on a sunny day
Willing my thoughts away
Who thought that they would stay
Thumbing abandoned byways for a ride
Take me for a drive
A risk to feel alive
I want to feel alive
Maybe we’re alone because we want it
Abandoned when we’re wondering why we are we sad
Life is long; we’re so young and haunted
By normality, the things we’ve never had
I’m sitting in a room with all my worries
My soul is too full to be afraid
If I drop it all, I stop and I do not hurry
I need only me to get away
But today
I’m laying in the park on a sunny day
And I’m willing my thoughts away
Who thought that they would stay
Thumbing abandoned byways for a ride
Take me for a drive
A risk to feel alive
I want to feel alive
Maybe I’m just sick of pretending
Today could be the day my life begins
I find poetry in shadows unending
Poetry in soil and in skin
But I am laying in the park on a sunny day
And I’m willing my thoughts away
Who thought that they would stay
Thumbing abandoned byways for a ride
Take me for a drive
A risk to feel alive
I want to feel alive
Maybe I’m too sick to leave my bed
Too sick to fathom now and then or never
Too sick to fathom thoughts I’ve never said
Maybe I’m just sick of those I run to
Running through the slopes inside my mind
Maybe it’s from what I didn’t tell you
Honey, I’m just not the telling kind
But I am laying in the park on a sunny day
Willing my thoughts away
Who thought that they would stay
Thumbing abandoned byways for a ride
Take me for a drive
A risk to feel alive
I want to feel alive
Maybe we’re alone because we want it
Abandoned when we’re wondering why we are we sad
Life is long; we’re so young and haunted
By normality, the things we’ve never had
I’m sitting in a room with all my worries
My soul is too full to be afraid
If I drop it all, I stop and I do not hurry
I need only me to get away
But today
I’m laying in the park on a sunny day
And I’m willing my thoughts away
Who thought that they would stay
Thumbing abandoned byways for a ride
Take me for a drive
A risk to feel alive
I want to feel alive
Maybe I’m just sick of pretending
Today could be the day my life begins
I find poetry in shadows unending
Poetry in soil and in skin
But I am laying in the park on a sunny day
And I’m willing my thoughts away
Who thought that they would stay
Thumbing abandoned byways for a ride
Take me for a drive
A risk to feel alive
I want to feel alive
When I Drive
Sometimes when I drive
I close my eyes
So long, so tight
Sometimes when I drive
I close my eyes
Not enough, I find time
To arrive, to arrive, to arrive
The best parts of me are all given away
And sold for a kiss on the foggiest day
Don’t hold me too close, I feel like a ghost
Too far for you to know
Don’t hold me too close, I feel like a ghost
Feet too slow and no need to go home alone, home alone, home alone
Because the best parts of me are all given away
And sold for a kiss on the sunniest day
Don’t leave me here I love ya so dearly
It’s my myself that I fear
Don’t leave me here I love you so dearly
Close my eyes and then you steer
Til it’s clear, til it’s clear, til it’s clear
It’s so hard to start when I never can win
I think the best way to end is to never begin
And it’s so hard to talk so I feed them the line
That same old one that goes “I feel fine”
Because the best parts of me are all given away
And sold for a kiss on the loneliest day
On the emptiest day
I close my eyes
So long, so tight
Sometimes when I drive
I close my eyes
Not enough, I find time
To arrive, to arrive, to arrive
The best parts of me are all given away
And sold for a kiss on the foggiest day
Don’t hold me too close, I feel like a ghost
Too far for you to know
Don’t hold me too close, I feel like a ghost
Feet too slow and no need to go home alone, home alone, home alone
Because the best parts of me are all given away
And sold for a kiss on the sunniest day
Don’t leave me here I love ya so dearly
It’s my myself that I fear
Don’t leave me here I love you so dearly
Close my eyes and then you steer
Til it’s clear, til it’s clear, til it’s clear
It’s so hard to start when I never can win
I think the best way to end is to never begin
And it’s so hard to talk so I feed them the line
That same old one that goes “I feel fine”
Because the best parts of me are all given away
And sold for a kiss on the loneliest day
On the emptiest day
Ease
I left the station yesterday
You never knew and you never came
It’s easier leaving than making a reason to stay
And I wouldn’t wanna interrupt
But you never heard when I spoke up
Quiet is easy, easy it’s enough
You were all I had
When it all went bad
I broke myself easy in spite of that
So let me be guilty that’s just my kind
It’s not you, it’s me; the fault’s all mine
It’s easy to be unhappy most of the time
Though I know it’s just pretend
I never believe it until the end
It’s easy, lie to me still until then
You say you’d want me back in better health
But I’m all hung up on myself
It’s easier dying than living for someone else
You never knew and you never came
It’s easier leaving than making a reason to stay
And I wouldn’t wanna interrupt
But you never heard when I spoke up
Quiet is easy, easy it’s enough
You were all I had
When it all went bad
I broke myself easy in spite of that
So let me be guilty that’s just my kind
It’s not you, it’s me; the fault’s all mine
It’s easy to be unhappy most of the time
Though I know it’s just pretend
I never believe it until the end
It’s easy, lie to me still until then
You say you’d want me back in better health
But I’m all hung up on myself
It’s easier dying than living for someone else
Never My Friend
No one’s ever hurt me a bit
It’s on my own legs I trip
So don’t you do me right or wrong
It’s with myself I can’t get along
I play my cards
And if I win
I’m unsatisfied
Until I am losing again
Feels so good when good ends
But never again
I won’t be my friend, my friend
Won’t be my friend
And I don’t want to get my way
My spectrum’s only grey
So don’t you dare put me through hell
I wanna do that myself
I’m losing sleep
Because I keep
My eyes wide
Until the brightness it seems
To greet me again
I’m never my friend
Be my friend
I’m all spent up
I’m a bottomless cup
It was never enough
When I had too much
Had it all til then
But never again
I won’t be my friend
It’s on my own legs I trip
So don’t you do me right or wrong
It’s with myself I can’t get along
I play my cards
And if I win
I’m unsatisfied
Until I am losing again
Feels so good when good ends
But never again
I won’t be my friend, my friend
Won’t be my friend
And I don’t want to get my way
My spectrum’s only grey
So don’t you dare put me through hell
I wanna do that myself
I’m losing sleep
Because I keep
My eyes wide
Until the brightness it seems
To greet me again
I’m never my friend
Be my friend
I’m all spent up
I’m a bottomless cup
It was never enough
When I had too much
Had it all til then
But never again
I won’t be my friend
Sonnet 17
Adapted from "Sonnet 17" by Pablo Neruda
I do not love you,
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, topaz,
Arrows of carnations that propagate fire
I love you as one loves certain dark things
Secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love
A certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth
Lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly
where I does not exist, nor you
I love you for I know no other way than this
so close that your hands on my chest are my hands,
And so close that your eyes close with my dreams
With my dreams
I do not love you,
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, topaz,
Arrows of carnations that propagate fire
I love you as one loves certain dark things
Secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love
A certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth
Lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly
where I does not exist, nor you
I love you for I know no other way than this
so close that your hands on my chest are my hands,
And so close that your eyes close with my dreams
With my dreams
No One Needs Anyone
Don’t count your steps on bridges expired
Don’t rob the sun when she’s overcast and tired
And don’t measure breath in smokey lungs fired
Waste your time driving, trying to find signs sighing lonely hearts for hire
No one needs to need me
No knots left undone
No one needs to need me
No one needs anyone
So why be the one stuck inside dusty mirrors?
Who but you can see yourself clearer
And you have a ride, are you ready to steer?
Who but you will never leave, will always be there?
No one needs to need me
No knots left undone
No one needs to need me
No one needs anyone
And it’s all in your head
I am a story to tell before bed
And it’s all in your head
I am a story to tell before bed
So why need me? You need you
I can’t see what you are going through
You don’t need a red light to end your mistakes
You don’t need a stop light
Your foot is on the brake
Don’t rob the sun when she’s overcast and tired
And don’t measure breath in smokey lungs fired
Waste your time driving, trying to find signs sighing lonely hearts for hire
No one needs to need me
No knots left undone
No one needs to need me
No one needs anyone
So why be the one stuck inside dusty mirrors?
Who but you can see yourself clearer
And you have a ride, are you ready to steer?
Who but you will never leave, will always be there?
No one needs to need me
No knots left undone
No one needs to need me
No one needs anyone
And it’s all in your head
I am a story to tell before bed
And it’s all in your head
I am a story to tell before bed
So why need me? You need you
I can’t see what you are going through
You don’t need a red light to end your mistakes
You don’t need a stop light
Your foot is on the brake
Sun and Moon
You are the sun I am the moon
Shine for me, I’ll shine for you
People know only one of my sides
A reflection of you, the rest I hide
You are bright and I am blue
The best part of me is you
You shine on me and I pretend
To be seen but all nights end
You are needed, I’m unknown
I am seated far from your throne
But some come to me for midnight’s silence
Tired of light and of days violence
You are warm; I am cold
You stay young but I grow old
We never stop spinning, spinning
I am lost but you say I’m winning
You say I’m winning
I feel you from somewhere far away
Though we’re different as night and day
As things come to pass and come to light
Somewhere this night is day, this day is night
You are the sun, I am the moon
Shine for me, I’ll shine for you
Because all darkness needs some light
And all days need some night
Shine for me, I’ll shine for you
People know only one of my sides
A reflection of you, the rest I hide
You are bright and I am blue
The best part of me is you
You shine on me and I pretend
To be seen but all nights end
You are needed, I’m unknown
I am seated far from your throne
But some come to me for midnight’s silence
Tired of light and of days violence
You are warm; I am cold
You stay young but I grow old
We never stop spinning, spinning
I am lost but you say I’m winning
You say I’m winning
I feel you from somewhere far away
Though we’re different as night and day
As things come to pass and come to light
Somewhere this night is day, this day is night
You are the sun, I am the moon
Shine for me, I’ll shine for you
Because all darkness needs some light
And all days need some night