Painted From Memory

On a hot city day
When your white shirt turns to grey
That's when she'll arrive
When you look how you feel
Someone steps upon your heel
That's when she will come
Listen now
I'm not saying that there will be violins
But don't be surprised if they appear
Playing in some doorway
Still i can't believe that this is happening

We're such unlikely lovers
Though no one seems to notice as they hurry by
Ask me what i'm thinking, and i won't deny it
Can you believe it's happening?
Can you believe it's happening?

There were no magic spells
You can keep the flowers and bells
They just don't seem right
Can it actually be?
Me and you and you and me
Though we're like day and night

Listen now
I'm not saying that there will be violins
But don't be surprised if they appear
Playing in some doorway
Still i can't believe that this is happening

We're such unlikely lovers
Though no one seems to notice as they hurry by
Ask me what i'm feeling, and i won't deny it
Can you believe it's happening?
I am bewildered
Can you believe it's happening?
Somebody help me
Can you believe it's happening?

When i go to sleep, you become my thief
Why don't you steal what you can keep?
But you won't let me be
You break into my dreams
And every day seems different
Sometimes i pretend you'll come back again
And you'll console the heart you stole
Have pity on the man
Who knows that you have gone
And has begun to break down

I feel almost possessed
So long as i don't lose this glorious distress then
You can take all i have left
I know it's over
If you can't be my lover
Be my thief

I'm so drowsy now, i'll unlock the door
What fades in time will hurt much more
So here's that happy scene
Where you come back to me
It's only found in fiction

I feel almost possessed
So long as i don't lose this glorious distress then
You can take all i have left
I know it's over
If you can't be my lover
Be my thief

"i didn't lead you on,
But there will always be
A little larceny in everyone

So hush and don't you cry
I'm trying to be kind
Because i have a perfect alibi"

You only saw red
After i said, "how can we continue?"
Hidden from your view
In the blue corner that i painted myself into
Then we started to fight
And it changed everything
Here's the ring

You dropped the band, i can't understand it
Not after all we've been through
Words start to fly, my glass jaw and i
Will find one to walk right into

You knocked me out
It was the sweetest punch
The bell goes...

I can hear it ringing, but i didn't see it coming
We all say things we don't mean
You can't take it back

Now the room is spinning, but was i the last to notice?
I can see i'll never win
So if you're going
Then you better go to him
Then you better go to him

I only saw stars
I dropped my guard, and that's how it ended
What was i to do
In the blue corner where i seemed to hang suspended?

Then with seconds to go
You delivered the blow
Here i go

You dropped the band, i can't understand it
Not after all we've been through
Words start to fly, my glass jaw and i
Will find one to walk right into

You knocked me out
It was the sweetest punch
The bell goes...

I can hear it ringing, but i didn't see it coming
We all say things we don't mean
You can't take it back

Now the room is spinning, but was i the last to notice?
I can see i'll never win
So if you're going
Then you better go to him
Then you better go to him

Did somebody try to catch your eye
And almost change your sad expression?
Did somebody's hand linger too long?
Must i now make my confession?
But you'll never know
What suspicion is
Until you lie awake

And every night you ask yourself
"what am i to do?"
Can it be so hard to calculate?
When three goes into two
There's nothing left over

How's it gonna feel? this time it's real
It's not a temporary fracture
This is what you get, the stage is set
For you and your attempted rapture

Is he gonna smile
That indulgent smile
When you come running home?

And every night you ask yourself,
"what am i to do?"
Can it be so hard to calculate?
When three goes into two
There's nothing left over

What am i gonna say? you turn away
And you leave me here despairing
What am i going to do? i look at you
You seem to be so long past caring

Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"
Only to find out now that it's a joke

So ask yourself,
"what am i to do?"
Can it be so hard to calculate?
When three goes into two
There's nothing left over

Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"
Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"

Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"
Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"

Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"
Did somebody say,
"can we still be friends?"

(costello/bacharach)
These rooms play tricks upon you
Remember when they were always filled with laughter
But now they're quite deserted
They seem to just echo voices raised in anger
Maybe you will see my face
Reflected there on the pane
In the window of our poor forlorn
and broken home

Yet this house is empty now
There's nothing i can do
To make you want to stay
So tell me how am i supposed to live without you

These walls were lined with pictures
Remember the glass we charged in celebration
But now i fill my life up
With all that i can to deaden this sensation
Do you recognize the face
Fixed in that fine silver frame
Were you really so unhappy there
You never said

So this house is empty now
There's nothing i can do to make you want to stay
So tell me how am i supposed to live without you

Oh, if i could just become forgetful
When night seems endless
Does the extinguished candle care
About the darkness

It's funny how the memory
Will bring you so close then make you disappear
Meanwhile all our friends must choose
Who they will favour, who they will lose
Hang the garland high, or close the door
Or throw away the key

This house is empty now
There's no one living here
You have to care about
This house is empty now
There's nothing i can do
To make you want to stay
So tell me how am i supposed to live without you

This house is empty now
This house is empty now
There's nothing i can do
This house is empty now
This house is empty now

What's her name today?
What's her name today?
She could be anyone
I might have known you'd leave her crying
What's her name again?
You should be ashamed
How could you treat her so unspeakably?
Or did you think she was a different girl?

For as the radio played in the bedroom wall
What was that name you called her?
Was she the one who took away your pride
And your reason?
Oh, why did you decide that
You'd punish any girl you meet
To try and make that feeling go away?

What's her name today?
What's her name today?
Is her hair hanging down?
Or maybe it's fixed with a ribbon

Are her eyes still blue?
Should she trust in you?
Because it's a lonely world
She wants to believe for a while in all the things you say

But as the radio played in the bedroom wall
What was that name you called her?
Isn't her smile reminiscent of someone else?
Well, is it or isn't it?
Oh, why did you decide that
You'd punish any girl you meet
To try and make that feeling go away?

What's her name today?
Is she going to stay
So you can ruin her?
And soon she'll be twisted in chiffon

Dress her like a doll
String her like a pearl
She hears peals of bells, but it's hard to tell
Now that she's hung up like a chandelier

What's her name?
What's her name?
What's her name today?