From the recording Short Stories
TK/Buddy Mondlock
©1993
Occasionally someone will ask me which of my songs is my favorite, and I usually tell them it’s this one.
It’s hard to say in a few words where this song came from or to name much of the personal experience that went into it–but I can say that I was on the backside of a breakup, and I was working it out as best I could. I think I was wanting to feel sorry for myself, but I was also contemplating my part in the train wreck.
I worked on the song off and on for quite a while. I played the changes over and over and wrote many pages of lyrics–until one day I realized I’d lost my way with it. I then had the impulse to call my friend Buddy Mondlock and ask if he’d take a look.
Buddy came over with a fresh perspective and a clear eye, added a couple of lines and quickly helped pull the loose ends together. He then tweaked a couple of key chord changes, and we were done.
[Buddy also recorded a strong rendition of this, and Maura O’Connell recorded a lovely version on her album Stories.]
Lyrics
So I was not the one you wanted
Well you can see I’m reconciled
Must you be so disappointed?
Can you not carry on in style?
Is it too much to say we loved hard
Till the world fell back in place
And left us where we are?
I feel like the king when the queen loses faith
And the crowd rushes in to tear down the gate
While the whole palace slept, and I never rang the bell
Maybe that’s poetic justice, but it’s pretty hard to tell
When the fortune wheel is spinning
Luck is fortune’s dirty joke
And a player’s chance of winning
Is diminished by his hope
Can’t you laugh just to think of the gold
We had running through our hands
When we were on a roll?
I feel like the king when the queen loses faith
And the crowd rushes in to tear down the gate
And declare what was mine I stole from someone else
Maybe that’s poetic justice, but it’s pretty hard to tell
It’s hard to tell why solid ground surprised us when we fell
It’s hard to say it’s life or death
Or just so many bitter words beneath your breath
Is it too much to say we loved hard
Till the world fell back in place
And left us where we are?
I feel like the king when the queen loses faith
And the crowd rushes in to tear down the gate
And declare what was mine I stole from someone else
Maybe that’s poetic justice, but it’s pretty hard to tell
I feel like the king when the queen loses hope
And the crowd rushes in to raise the gallows pole
And declare what they must do, I’m doing to myself
Well if that’s poetic justice, how can anybody tell?
words & music: Tom Kimmel & Buddy Mondlock
©1993 Marada Music/Drala Music (admin. by Criterion Music Corp.)/Global Music (admin. by Chrysalis Music)/Major Bob Music/Winning Circle Music/Sparking Gap Music (ASCAP)